Samsung Galaxy S21 review

Our Verdict

Samsung'south Galaxy S21 is a more refined, smarter and crucially cheaper new flagship phone.

For

Excellent dynamic 120Hz display
Powerful performance
Refined blueprint
Powerful camera zoom

Against

No charger or microSD card slot
Plastic back
Some camera inconsistencies

Tom's Guide Verdict

Samsung's Galaxy S21 is a more refined, smarter and crucially cheaper new flagship telephone.

Pros

+
First-class dynamic 120Hz display
+
Powerful performance
+
Refined blueprint
+
Powerful camera zoom

Cons

-
No charger or microSD card slot
-
Plastic back
-
Some camera inconsistencies

Samsung Galaxy S21: Specs

OS:Android 11 with I UI three
Screen size: 6.2 inches (2400 x 1080)
Refresh rate:48-120Hz
Processor: Snapdragon 888
RAM: 8GB
Storage:128GB, 256GB
microSD: none
Rear cameras: 12MP broad (f/1.viii), 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), 64MP telephoto (f/ii.0) with 3x hybrid zoom/30x digital
Video:Up to 8K at 24 fps
Front cameras:10MP
Battery: 4,000 mAh
Battery life: 9 hours and 53 minutes (60hz), 6 hours and 31 minutes (adaptive)
Charging: 25W (charger non included)
Colors: Phantom Violet, Phantom Pink, Phantom White, Phantom Gray
Size:v.97 x 2.eight x 0.31 inches
Weight:5.95 ounces

For years, the Galaxy S serial accept been exercise-everything, accept-everything flagship phones. But with the Milky way S21, Samsung has decided to take abroad almost every bit much every bit it's upgraded. What could be a recipe for failure has really yielded an fantabulous Android smartphone that'south $200 cheaper than the Galaxy S20.

With its 6.ii-inch display, trio of rear cameras, and the same 4,000 mAh battery, the Galaxy S21 isn't much of an upgrade over its predecessor. Sure, information technology comes with a new camera module and colour schemes, as well as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888. But the Galaxy S21 turns out to exist very much an iterative upgrade; the big changes come in the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra this fourth dimension around.

Check out our Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra review
These are the best phones yous can buy right now
Don't miss our listing of the best Samsung phones

Still there's a lot more to this take-away tale. Keep reading our Samsung Galaxy S21 review to detect out why removing stuff has worked out rather well for Samsung's new flagship phone.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Release date and cost

You tin buy the Samsung Galaxy S21 right now, either by itself or via a carrier contract.

In the U.S., for a starting price of $799 you tin get the Galaxy S21 with 128GB of storage, but fork out an extra $50 and yous can go the 256GB model for $849. That'southward $200 cheaper than the Galaxy S20 cost a year ago — quite the saving.

In the U.Chiliad. the Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at £769 for the 128GB model, with double the storage setting you dorsum £819. The 5G Galaxy S20 came in at £899, so the S21 is £130 cheaper.

Just conduct in mind, there'south simply a USB-C cablevision in the box, so you'll need to pay out for a charger if y'all don't have one already. And the S21 only comes with 8GB of RAM, with no choice to become the 12GB of the Galaxy S20, unless you opt for the considerably more expensive Milky way S21 Ultra.

Do bear in mind that the Samsung Galaxy S22 is on the horizon, tipped for a February reveal. So if you're not in a hurry to become a new Samsung telephone, information technology may be worth waiting for the Milky way S22 given we're accept high hopes for its rumored upgrades.

Equally if y'all exercise desire the Samsung Galaxy S21 right now, shop effectually and yous should detect it well below the original launch price In fact, you're likely to discover information technology'south cheaper than the supposedly affordable Samsung Galaxy S21 Atomic number 26.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Design

From the forepart, the Galaxy S21 looks alot similar the Milky way S20, with its 6.2-inch brandish complete with a neat dial-hole selfie photographic camera in the acme middle of the screen. Look closer and you'll see the S21 has dropped its predecessor's curved display and opted for flat edges.

This might sound similar a downgrade, given the new phone doesn't look tranquility as sleek, merely I'm fine with it. I think curved screens on Android phones with displays nether 6.5 inches tend to be a little glace to hold, especially equally you can mostly use them one-handed; big handsets tend to experience a bit more comfortable with curved edges when y'all're performing finger gymnastics to reach apps on the display'due south far side.

The flat edges on the Samsung Galaxy S21 pb to the metal edges flowing to the new "Contour Cutting" camera design, where the rear camera module seems to alloy into the S21's left-manus edge, as well every bit the back.

Speaking of which, the metallic gives way to what's arguably the Samsung Galaxy S21's biggest modify: a plastic back. Samsung calls it polycarbonate but information technology'due south basically fancy plastic, whereas the S20 makes use of glass.

Opting for a plastic back is likely the biggest reason Samsung can offer the Milky way S21 at its cheaper price. And while the lack of a drinking glass back might seem odd for a flagship telephone, I was pleasantly surprised to detect that information technology didn't feel cheap. Not only practise I think it feels a little nicer than the polycarbonate on the S20 Fe's rear, information technology also has a more tactile terminate than the glass-backed Galaxy S series, making it feel less likely to escape your grip or suck up fingerprints. Personally, I'm happy to pocket the savings if this helps keep costs down.

And the Phantom Violet S21 I had to review looks fantastic, fifty-fifty if the name sounds a little daft. The violet console has a pleasantly soft hue, while the faint copper color of the camera bump and edges give the S21 a pseudo retro sci-fi look; think Star Trek meets Art Deco.

3 other colour options — Phantom Gray, Phantom Pinkish, Phantom White — are available but I've yet to see them in the metal and plastic.

Measuring 6 10 2.8 x 0.31 inches and weighing 6.07 ounces, the Galaxy S21 is a bit smaller yet a lilliputian heavier than the Galaxy S20 (v.9 x 3 x 0.31, 5.seven ounces). Only I think information technology is the ideal size and weight for one-hand utilize; small enough for my pollex to reach 2-thirds of the brandish, simply large plenty to sit down down and sentinel hours of videos on.

The Galaxy S21's in-display ultrasonic fingerprint reader is besides more than responsive thanks to using Qualcomm'due south new scanner, which is 1.7x larger and 50% faster than the previous generation. I constitute the S21 rarely rejected a hasty tap from my pollex, which does wonders for my quick-temper.

What's not platonic is the Milky way S21 dropped the microSD card slot its predecessors have sported for a while. I'g non sure why Samsung did this, every bit there'due south no obvious limitations of space within the Galaxy S21, nor would I expect its removal to change manufacturing costs by much. Perhaps it'southward one mode for Samsung to encourage people to buy the 265GB version, though with so many gratuitous cloud storage services, I'g ultimately non too fussed about the lack of expandable storage.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Display

Samsung has both downgraded and upgraded the Milky way S21'southward 6.2-inch AMOLED display from what the S20 previously featured. You lot no longer accept to choose between a total HD+ resolution running at 120Hz or a QHD running at 60Hz, similar you did with the Galaxy S20, but that's because the S21 tops out at 1080p resolution.

While that'south more restrictive, I experience it removes complexity. You tin can go and set the display to stick to 60Hz, if y'all want to eek out as much battery life as possible, or yous just love a scrap of judder when scrolling through web pages. But then you'd be given up a dynamic refresh rate, which allows the S21 to drop its refresh charge per unit from 120Hz to 48Hz depending on the task at paw. It's not an upgrade you'll necessarily notice when you're non scrolling, but information technology's a smart 1 that quietly makes the S21 more enjoyable to utilise.

Testing its "natural" screen setting, the Galaxy S21 display delivers 109.2% sRGB and 77.iv% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage, and a Delta-E of 0.29. Those are good scores, though the iPhone 12 and the Samsung Milky way Note 20 Ultra beat the S21 in terms of coverage and color accuracy.

However, in applied utilise the Milky way S21'south brandish is fantastic. Stick it in "Vivid" mode and you'll see heaps of contrast and color, even if the latter errs on the side of oversaturation. The display is not bad for watching videos and movies, ogling Instagram pics, and playing games on. Samsung has long had fantabulous displays on its Galaxy S phones, and the S21 is no exception.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Cameras

Hardware-wise, the Galaxy S21 cameras are exactly the same as the Galaxy S20. The triple photographic camera array comprises a main 12MP wide-bending lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 64MP telephoto lens with 3x hybrid optic zoom and 30x space zoom.

Simply Samsung is pulling a Google and leaning hard on software and computational photography upgrades to improve the trio of rear cameras. And for the most role, the Galaxy S21 achieves this.

Allow's start with the standard photograph manner. Take a look at the photo below; with multiple colors and shades to deal with, plus the light coming in from the left, it presents a smartphone photographic camera workout.

The Milky way S21's photo is flush with color and detail, though similar Galaxy phones in the past, the colors are maybe a little more saturated than those of the Google Pixel 5 I used for comparison. The Pixel v delivers a warmer tone and more than true-to-life colors, with better dynamic range.

Withal zooming in, the S21 picks out some finer details, likely due to its telephoto photographic camera, with the grill on the model Aston Martin DB5 and the numbers on the Voice headphone amp clearer than in the Pixel five's photo.

It's worth noting I switched off the Scene Optimizer feature, which uses AI to place what's in-frame and conform the camera appropriately to get the all-time shot. In practice, I feel this tin result in some over-processing.

Outdoors in natural light and the S21's master camera does a fine job. While information technology was hardly an ideal photography situation, in the shot beneath, the Galaxy S21 picks out more detail than the Pixel 5 in the tower buildings on the right and London's Canary Wharf in the groundwork. However, the Pixel five offers more than dynamic range and colors that are truer to life.

Speaking of which, things get a little complicated in lower-light situations or environments lit by artificial calorie-free. I found the Pixel v was ameliorate at edge detection and resolving item in low calorie-free areas, whereas the S21 occasionally throws upward smudged and over-smoothed results.

You really have to go looking for this though, and I believe information technology'south downwardly to the Galaxy S21 ramping up the ISO and introducing more noise into darker sections of a shot equally a consequence. I suspect this could be some teething issues with the AI processing being applied to depression-light areas, something which Samsung could prepare with a software update.

Poor light doesn't help the portrait mode either. Thanks to social distancing rules in the U.Thou. I had to snap a picture of my friend Claire on her doorstep as the sunday went down; this meant there was the claiming of dealing with low lite on one side and a porch light on the other.

The Pixel 5 copes admirably, delivering more natural skin tones and picking out details in the highlights and the shadows. But S21 struggles a bit, washing out and over-smoothing Claire'southward face. And it fails to pick out much item in her hair especially on the left-hand side.

Non-portrait S21 photos fare better, so I suspect the portrait style'south algorithm is struggling to pick out what's in the foreground and what should be blurred out; something the Pixel five is specially good at.

In better light conditions, the portrait mode is much meliorate for both the rear and 10MP front-facing camera; take a wait at the photo beneath of Tom's Guide's Marking Spoonauer as an example.

And shooting objects rather than faces sees the Galaxy S21 evangelize a nice portrait photo.

The Milky way S21 doesn't deliver the sharpest of portrait way cutouts like the Pixel five, equally Samsung opts for a more gradual blur effect. I prefer the clarity of Google'south handset but the S21 still gets some nice results.

Switch over to the S21 nighttime mode, and the low-light problems are swept away. In the shot below, the S21 delivers a vivid image that's more detailed (notably in street lights) than the Pixel 5. With more than cameras to apply for capturing light and detail, the S21 shows upwards the limitations of the Pixel five's dual rear cameras.

I adopt the colors the Pixel 5 offers, though. And the S21 seems to apply a good amount of sharpening to its dark shots. Night mode tin also be used beyond all 3 of the Galaxy S21's cameras.

Ultra-wide bending shots are expensive on the Galaxy S21, but once yous zoom in things come apart. While it captures a wider view than the Pixel v, punching into a shot reveals hazy details, whereas Google's phone is much clearer. You lot'll have to weigh upward whether a lack of fine particular is worth a more than expensive photo.

It's with the telephoto camera's 20x and 30x "Space Zoom" where the S21'due south existent camera upgrades come into play. Notably, the new Zoom Lock feature, which uses AI to identify the subject and steady the shot.

This works rather well and yous can get shots that are surprisingly clear for such extreme zooms, fifty-fifty if you have rather shaky hands. And then the processing afterward cleans upwards the photo and results in a zoomed shot that'southward not a muddy mess.

Samsung Galaxy S21 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Using Space Zoom I could get a reasonably clear pic of a pocket-size mint tin on my window however from the other side of the room. I'm not sure how applied it is for every-day smartphone photography, but information technology's an impressive showcase for AI tech.

On the video front, the Galaxy S21 covers a lot of bases. Similar the Galaxy S20 it offers upward to 8K capture at 24 fps, which its overkill for well-nigh, just information technology lets y'all snap high-quality photos while recording very high resolution videos. Other high-end features include 1080p video recording at 120 fps, which makes them super-smooth. Speaking of polish, the Super Steady mode, which uses AI to compensate for shaky recording, will works on 1080p 60 fps video capture.

Another highlight is the new Director's View when you lot're shooting video. Y'all can shoot using the front and rear cameras at the same time, as well as view live thumbnails from the multiple cameras. This makes it easier to switch to the best shot for your video. It works rather well and is less of a gimmick than I start thought.

The portrait video, which is basically a renaming of live focus video, is also rather slick, delivering footage where the subjects are in focus while the groundwork is blurred. If you move around a lot you tin see the S21 working its algorithms, which results in sometimes over smoothing details on faces.

Other camera upgrades include an improved Unmarried Take feature that takes a agglomeration of stills and photos with a single tap. Single Have now delivers Highlight Video and Dynamic Slow-Mo clips.

All the above taken into account, the Galaxy S21 delivers an upgrade over the Galaxy S20. I don't think it has what information technology takes to knock the iPhone 12 Pro Max off our best phone cameras list and the iPhone 12 could still have it beat, Merely the S21 trades blows with the Pixel 5, and beats Google'due south phone in a lot of areas. Potential for farther refinement on the AI and computational photography side by Samsung leaves plenty of scope for the S21s photographic camera to go meliorate over time.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Performance

In the U.S, the Milky way S21 comes with the latest Snapdragon 888 flake, which promises 20% amend CPU performance, 35% more GPU speed, too as boosted AI performance. Fifty-fifty though in that location's no 12GB of RAM option, the S21 does plenty with its 8GB, and I didn't encounter any slowdown in my testing.

Speaking of which, putting the Snapdragon 888-equipped S21 through a serial of benchmarks, saw the chip deliver a multi-core score of 3,302 in Geekbench 5. That'due south slower than the iPhone 12, which raked in a score of 3,859. Merely the S21, unsurprisingly, outpaces a lot of other Android phones with the older Snapdragon 865.

Equally for the graphics performance, the S21 topped out at 33 frames per second in 3DMark's Wild Life graphics benchmark. Information technology'southward beaten past the iPhone 12's 39 fps, just is ahead of other flagship Android phones. In practical use, though, the S21 chews through games.

Both Telephone call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends ran smoothly at max settings, with the 120Hz refresh rate farther adding to the smoothness. It's worth noting that while we tested the Snapdragon 888 Galaxy S21, I was using a handset with the Exynos 2100.

Built on a five-nanometre process node similar the Snapdragon 888, the Exynos 2100 is meant to deliver 20% improvement in free energy efficiency and a ten% improvement in performance over the last-gen 7nm Exynos 990. Throwing the S2100 at Geekbench 5, it got a score of iii,391 so is on par with the Snapdragon chip, which is gratifying equally Exynos chips have previously lagged backside.

With those games open up and a load of other apps running at the same time, I didn't notice any slowdown or lack of responsiveness from the S21, though its back got a little warm.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Battery life and charging

Like its predecessor, the Milky way S21 comes with a 4,000 mAh battery. That'south fine for a telephone of its size, though it's a pity Samsung didn't up the chapters a little. Still the adaptive refresh rate and improved chip efficiency should deliver better battery life.

Set at the 60hz refresh rate, the Galaxy S21 managed 9 hours and 53 minutes in Tom's Guide battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen effulgence over 5G.

That's non long enough to make our best phone battery life list, but information technology beats the 8 hours and 25 minutes of the iPhone 12. And information technology just about outlasts the Galaxy S20 with its 9 hours and 31 minutes, then the new silicon seems to exist playing its part.

Left in its default "Adaptive" fashion, which dynamically adjusts the display'southward refresh rate, the Galaxy S21 lasted 6 hours and 31 minutes. That's non amazing, but information technology's far from bad when you get a vibrant display with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Furthermore, the AI smarts in the S21 should larn virtually my phone utilize over fourth dimension and better optimize battery consumption, simply that'south not going to be something that happens over dark.

Charging is where things get a little messy. Fast charging is on offer over the USB-C PD standard, juicing up the battery to 55% in 30 minutes in our testing. The problem is, you need to make sure you take a charging brick to mitt, as Samsung only puts the USB-C cable in the box. If y'all don't accept a charger so Samsung volition sell you lot a 25W charger.

Samsung made a big vocal and dance virtually this conclusion being environmentally friendly; of course, it saves Samsung money too. Ultimately, I feel this is the right move, whatever the motivation. Helping cut downwardly on electronic waste is worth the extra expense and small inconvenience it might cause some S21 buyers who aren't flush with phone chargers.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: One UI three and software

While I've used Samsung phones for years, I'thou not the biggest fan of the user interface it drops on Android. Just with the introduction of One UI in 2018, I've been slowly warming to Galaxy serial have on Google's mobile operating system. One UI 3 featured on the Galaxy S21 (and at present older Samsung models that accept upgraded to Android 11) builds upon this goodwill.

The interface is more elegant, complete with a redesigned Quick Panel and a notifications screen that feels less chaotic. I especially appreciate the redesigned lock screen widgets besides as the power to place widgets on the screen and adjust their transparency.

One UI 3 still comes with a lot of options to tweak your Milky way experience, which some will honey. Only information technology can go a bit overwhelming at times when you merely want to find ane item setting.

And my word, do I dislike the main apps drawer of the I UI. Despite its third iteration, the apps are bundled north a seemingly random manner which if you're moving from one app-heavy phone to another can make finding the apps you want to ready your homescreen a minor nightmare. Compared to the elegance of the app drawer in stock Android, Samsung'southward is a mess.

I understand Samsung would like me to apply its services, but then many other Android phones default to Google features, such every bit automobile-fill for passwords. But One UI 3 tries to strength me to use Samsung Pass and my Samsung account, which ironically I often forget the password for. It's fine one time you get setup, but it tin be frustrating to use until you lot adapt to information technology. There's still definitely room for Samsung to improve hither.

Nevertheless, One UI 3 is better that previous version. And information technology'southward useful to remember that it comes with a lot of powerful tools such a Samsung DeX, which allows for the Galaxy S21, and other uniform Galaxy devices, to be connected to an external monitor to turn the phone into a pseudo Chrome OS experience.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Android 12 update

Samsung released One UI 4 for the Milky way S21 in mid-November 2021. This update brings Android 12, which offers several primal improvements to the UI and privacy elements. You can now cull your arrangement accent color with the Colour Palette, or access the privacy dashboard to see which apps are using your mic, camera, and location.

While Samsung has modified something from what yous'll find on a Pixel phone, you can read our Android 12 review to learn more well-nigh what yous tin await with the update.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Verdict

With Samsung removing as much from this phone every bit it adds, I was prepared to be allow down by the Galaxy S21. Only I needn't have worried.

Sure, a plastic back isn't platonic on a flagship phone but I soon got used to the polycarbonate, and the overall design of the Galaxy S21 is lovely, as well equally more practical than the S20. The lack of any hardware upgrades for the cameras was a little disappointing, but then they however produce flagship-form results and take a huge corporeality of features and tools to really dig into.

I would take liked to take seen Samsung push the hardware envelope for the Galaxy S21, simply that'southward the domain of the Milky way S21 Ultra. By making what I feel was the right choice when it came to removing features, the Galaxy S21 withal offers the latest flagship chips, a fantastic display and powerful cameras in a refined smartphone at a competitive price; i that should worry the iPhone 12.

The only fly in the ointment, is the Galaxy S20. If yous already have an S20 and then I don't recollect y'all'll benefit from an upgrade. I feel Samsung knows this and the S21 is more than for people with older Galaxy phones or looking to move to their next phone. If yous're in such a position, and so I really advise you consider the Galaxy S21 as you lot won't be disappointed.

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Roland Moore-Colyer is U.Chiliad. Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and stance manufactures. He frequently writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he'due south also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland tin be constitute wandering around London, ofttimes with a look of curiosity on his face.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-s21

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