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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus

76 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
VS
53 out of 100
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Apple iPhone 8 Plus

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 8 Plus, which is powered by Apple A11 Bionic and came out 40 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Comes with 2309 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 2691 mAh
  • Thinner bezels – 22.4% more screen real estate
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • 2x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (833K versus 409K)
  • Has a 1.3 inches larger screen size
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Delivers 64% higher peak brightness (1023 against 624 nits)
  • 28% higher pixel density (515 vs 401 PPI)
  • Shows 14% longer battery life (31:14 vs 27:25 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 8 Plus
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • Weighs 25 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Apple iPhone 8 Plus crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Galaxy S21 Ultra
vs
iPhone 8 Plus

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED IPS LCD
Size 6.8 inches 5.5 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1080 x 1920 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 16:9
PPI 515 ppi 401 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 625 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 89.8% 67.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display 		-
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.9%
PWM - Not detected
Response time - 32 ms
Contrast - 1471:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S21 Ultra +64%
1023 nits
iPhone 8 Plus
624 nits

Design and build

Height 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) 158.4 mm (6.24 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 7.5 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 227 g (8.01 oz) 202 g (7.13 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue Silver, Gold, Gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Apple iPhone 8 Plus in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Apple A11 Bionic
Max clock 2840 MHz 2390 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1 		- 4 cores at 1.42 GHz: Mistral
- 2 cores at 2.39 GHz: Monsoon
Lithography process 5 nanometers 10 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Apple A11 GPU
GPU shading units 896 192
GPU clock 854 MHz 1066 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~409.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 236566 116319
GPU 255535 97105
Memory 157504 75477
UX 183564 118162
Total score 833650 409550
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 40.8 °C 42.6 °C
Stability 69% 71%
Graphics test 31 FPS 20 FPS
Graphics score 5221 3432

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12, 16 GB 3 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4
Memory clock 2750 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256, 512 GB 64, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) iOS 11 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.5)
ROM One UI 5.1 -
OS size 26.4 GB 6 GB

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 2691 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes, Qi (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:11 hr 1:25 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 08:56 hr
Watching video 15:32 hr 11:09 hr
Gaming 05:26 hr 04:25 hr
Standby 98 hr 102 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S21 Ultra +14%
31:14 hr
iPhone 8 Plus
27:25 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 108 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 12000 x 9000 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 10x Optical, 2x
Flash Dual LED Quad LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° -
Lenses 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 2 (12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 108 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung S5KHM3 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Laser autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 10 MP
- Aperture: f/4.9
- Focal length: 240 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.65", Samsung S5K3J1 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Focal length: 57 mm
- Phase autofocus
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX563 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
-
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support 		- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 8 Plus from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 40 megapixels 7 megapixels
Image resolution 7864 x 5200 3088 x 2320
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 32 mm
Pixel size 0.7 microns 1 microns
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS BSI CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.65" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display 		- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5.2 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG 		- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support * Yes No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 24 16
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 September 2017
Release date February 2021 September 2017
SAR (head) 0.71 W/kg 0.94 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.58 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint 		- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

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