Samsung Galaxy A35 5G vs Galaxy A21s

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy A35 5G (with Exynos 1380) that was released on March 11, 2024, against the Samsung Galaxy A21s, which is powered by Exynos 850 and came out 3 years and 10 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • 3x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (768K versus 258K)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 107% higher peak brightness (1015 against 491 nits)
  • 44% higher pixel density (390 vs 270 PPI)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Optical image stabilization
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 12
  • Slow-motion recording at 240FPS
  • Has 2x more RAM: 4GB versus 2GB
  • Ability to record video in 4K resolution
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A21s
  • Shows 12% longer battery life (25:00 vs 22:25 hours)
  • Weighs 17 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A35 5G and Galaxy A21s 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 84% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy A21s to Samsung Galaxy A35 5G is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: display, camera, and performance.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED PLS TFT
Size 6.6 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 720 x 1600 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 390 ppi 270 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1000 nits 540 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 No
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Plus Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 84.8% 82.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
-
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 88.4%
PWM 240 Hz 500 Hz
Response time 2 ms 30.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 1500:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
1015 nits
491 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.7 mm (6.37 inches) 163.6 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 78 mm (3.07 inches) 75.3 mm (2.96 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 209 g (7.37 oz) 192 g (6.77 oz)
Waterproof IP67 No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors Black, Blue, Purple Black, Blue, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, rear
Screen-to-body ratio
84.8%
82.9%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A35 5G and Samsung Galaxy A21s
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 1380 Samsung Exynos 850
Max clock 2400 MHz 2000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 8 (8)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 8 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 8 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes No
GPU
Graphics Mali-G68 MP5 Mali-G52 MP6
GPU shading units 160 16
GPU clock 949 MHz 1001 MHz
FLOPS ~303.7 GFLOPS ~48 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A35 5G and Samsung Galaxy A21s
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1006
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
2855
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 3033 -
Single-core score 1006 300
Multi-core score 2855 836
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
768212
258064
CPU 311721 100392
GPU 89942 18008
Memory 136276 86289
UX 230273 53375
Total score 768212 258064
Samples [23 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 98% -
Graphics test 2 FPS -
Graphics score 279 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
13073
Web score 11340 4948
Video editing 7357 5163
Photo editing 25659 8993
Data manipulation 10930 3929
Writing score 16320 5825

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A35 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-13 (Lazy)AnTuTu 11893295
📘 2026-09-28 (P3RF3CT)AnTuTu 12866054
📘 2026-09-27 -> LessPlum3393AnTuTu 12857296
📘 2026-09-25 (ttk:kotakbass.official)Geekbench 6 CPU1010 / 2895
📘 2026-09-22 (ttk:kotakbass.official)AnTuTu 12922710
Samsung Galaxy A21s
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 -> HABIBOAnTuTu 12304257
📘 2026-05-16 (Abdul ahad)AnTuTu 11258064
📘 2026-03-29 -> quandzvl12AnTuTu 11316736
📘 2025-10-08 (MinxK)AnTuTu 11231817
📘 2025-10-04 (zayedbinnahyan)AnTuTu 11218341

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 2 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 1866 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 32 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 eMMC 5.1
Memory card MicroSD MicroSD
Memory card max size Up to 1024 GB Up to 512 GB

Software

Operating system Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 12)
ROM One UI 8.5 One UI 4.1
OS size 28 GB 12 GB
OS updates 4 years 2 years
Security updates 5 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 15 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (52% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 60 min)
Full charging time 1:26 hr 2:10 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:47 hr 09:45 hr
Watching video 14:03 hr 14:13 hr
Gaming 05:56 hr 05:34 hr
Standby 106 hr 128 hr
General battery life
22:25 hr
25:00 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 8000 x 6000
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS No
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) No
Angle of widest lens 123° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
4) Depth: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/2.0
Focal length - 26 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN8 Samsung S5KGM2
Sensor size 1/1.95" (≈ 0.51 inch) 1/2.0" (≈ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor GalaxyCore GC08A3 -
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 5 MP 2 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 50 -
Preview 52 -
Zoom 71 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A35 5G from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 13 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4160 x 3120 4128 x 3096
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5K3L6 CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/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
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Depends on the region Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot Yes No
LTE Cat* 18 13
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Mono
Headphone audio jack No Yes
FM radio No Yes
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.9 dB
79.5 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Budget
Announced March 2024 May 2020
Release date March 2024 June 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $380 $200
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G - Samsung Galaxy A24 4G
SAR (head) 0.44 W/kg 0.23 W/kg
SAR (body) 0.92 W/kg 1.38 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included -
Further details
Notes on Galaxy A35 5G:
    - The 128 GB variant features UFS 2.2 memory, other models have UFS 3.1.
    - Only SM-A356E/DS and SM-A356B/DS models support two physical SIM cards.
*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 A35 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
26 (89.7%)
3 (10.3%)
Total votes: 29

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
🌐 Register your profile and become part of DeviceFacts community!