Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G vs Galaxy A21s

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.5-inch Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G) that was released on August 17, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy A21s, which is powered by Exynos 850 and came out 1 year and 3 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • 2.9x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (758K versus 258K)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • 50% higher pixel density (405 vs 270 PPI)
  • Delivers 63% higher peak brightness (799 against 491 nits)
  • Optical image stabilization
  • More recent OS version: Android 14 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
  • Super AMOLED display (versus competitor's PLS TFT)
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A21s
  • Shows 16% longer battery life (25:00 vs 21:34 hours)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A52s 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
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
4 / 128 GB
VS
2 / 32 GB
303.9
(Excellent)
Value Index
109.2
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED PLS TFT
Size 6.5 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 720 x 1600 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 405 ppi 270 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 400 nits 540 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 800 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 85% 82.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
-
Display tests
RGB color space 138.1% 88.4%
PWM 231 Hz 500 Hz
Response time 9 ms 30.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 1500:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
799 nits
491 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 159.9 mm (6.3 inches) 163.6 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 75.1 mm (2.96 inches) 75.3 mm (2.96 inches)
Thickness 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 189 g (6.67 oz) 192 g (6.77 oz)
Waterproof IP67 No
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple Black, Blue, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, rear
Screen-to-body ratio
85%
82.9%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G and Samsung Galaxy A21s
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Samsung Exynos 850
Max clock 2400 MHz 2000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (8)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78)
- 1 core at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 670 Prime (Cortex-A78)
- 8 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 6 nanometers 8 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon 770 No
GPU
Graphics Adreno 642L Mali-G52 MP6
GPU shading units 512 16
GPU clock 550 MHz 1001 MHz
FLOPS ~563.2 GFLOPS ~48 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G and Samsung Galaxy A21s
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1021
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
2969
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 2487 -
Single-core score 1021 300
Multi-core score 2969 836
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
758767
258064
CPU 313434 100392
GPU 100484 18008
Memory 135397 86289
UX 209450 53375
Total score 758767 258064
Samples [17 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 98% -
Graphics test 2 FPS -
Graphics score 225 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 99% 96%
Graphics test 4 FPS -
Graphics score 685 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
12464
Web score 11369 4948
Video editing 7181 5163
Photo editing 25824 8993
Data manipulation 9429 3929
Writing score 13416 5825

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-10-11 (RM_Phil)Geekbench 7 CPU808 / 3022
πŸ“˜ 2026-10-11 (RM_Phil)AnTuTu 12769103
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-27 (Andy Swas)AnTuTu 11725254
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-22 (bebequinhamota)AnTuTu 12805881
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-03 (Jaegerr)AnTuTu 11791396
Samsung Galaxy A21s
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-18 -> HABIBOAnTuTu 12304257
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-16 (Abdul ahad)AnTuTu 11258064
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-29 -> quandzvl12AnTuTu 11316736
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-08 (MinxK)AnTuTu 11231817
πŸ“˜ 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 2.1 eMMC 5.1
Memory card MicroSD MicroSD
Memory card max size Up to 1024 GB Up to 512 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 12)
ROM One UI 6.0 One UI 4.1
OS size 26 GB 12 GB
OS updates 2 years 2 years
Security updates 4 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 4500 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
Fast charging Yes (53% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 60 min)
Full charging time 1:28 hr 2:10 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:27 hr 09:45 hr
Watching video 12:42 hr 14:13 hr
Gaming 04:56 hr 05:34 hr
Standby 116 hr 128 hr
General battery life
21:34 hr
25:00 hr

Main camera

Matrix 64 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 9000 x 7000 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 123Β° 123Β°
Lenses 1) Standard: 64 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
4) Depth: 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 64 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX682 Samsung S5KGM2
Sensor size 1/1.7" (β‰ˆ 0.59 inch) 1/2.0" (β‰ˆ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor size - 1/4.0" (β‰ˆ 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
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 4128 x 3096
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.8" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch) 1/3.1" (β‰ˆ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 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 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP 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
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* No No
Hybrid slot Yes No
LTE Cat* 18 13
5G support Yes No

Sound

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

Other

Category Mid-range Budget
Announced August 2021 May 2020
Release date September 2021 June 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $495 $200
Successor - - Samsung Galaxy A24 4G
SAR (head) 0.88 W/kg 0.23 W/kg
SAR (body) 0.84 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
*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 A52s 5G is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
40 (81.6%)
9 (18.4%)
Total votes: 49

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