Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Apple iPhone 12 Pro
58
out of 100
VS
62
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 ) that was released on January 4, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic 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.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 1685 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 2815 mAh
- Modern USB Type-C port
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- The phone is 1 year and 3 months newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- 17% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1328K versus 1138K)
- 14% higher pixel density (460 vs 403 PPI)
- 46% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2160 and 1481 points
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 403 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 86.7% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 97% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 247 Hz | 277 Hz |
| Response time | 6 ms | 3.6 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
iPhone 12 Pro
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~10% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 177 g (6.24 oz) | 189 g (6.67 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Green, Purple | Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 780 | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 660 | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 840 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1290.2 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4514 | 16822 |
| Single-core score | 1481 | 2160 |
| Multi-core score | 3173 | 5104 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 415282 | 372871 |
| GPU | 207688 | 322471 |
| Memory | 174461 | 168174 |
| UX | 341497 | 464616 |
| Total score | 1138928 | 1328132 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | [15 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 71% | - |
| Graphics test | 3 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 390 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2668 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 68% | 71% |
| Graphics test | 9 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1666 | 2149 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13606 | - |
| Video editing | 7043 | - |
| Photo editing | 28743 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10563 | - |
| Writing score | 14216 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-08 -> AlicanTuTu | AnTuTu 11 | 1198886 |
| 📘 2026-07-21 (Psycho0Dream) | AnTuTu 11 | 1157836 |
| 📘 2026-07-06 (Puzatik) | AnTuTu 11 | 1118460 |
| 📘 2026-05-10 -> AlicanTuTu | AnTuTu 11 | 1197004 |
| 📘 2026-05-10 (Alican TuTu) | AnTuTu 11 | 1197004 |
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-06-29 (Kirillkryt) | AnTuTu 11 | 1284629 |
| 📘 2026-06-02 -> FoolishJevinTECH | AnTuTu 11 | 1378105 |
| 📘 2026-05-31 (Cour27) | AnTuTu 11 | 1340740 |
| 📘 2026-04-21 (PANDUSHA LOVER) | AnTuTu 11 | 1236057 |
| 📘 2026-04-15 (Flaffer) | AnTuTu 11 | 1341072 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | - |
| OS size | 17.5 GB | 14 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | - |
| Security updates | 5 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (51% in 30 min) | Yes (59% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:15 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:11 hr | 07:12 hr |
| Watching video | 11:05 hr | 12:00 hr |
| Gaming | 04:48 hr | 04:33 hr |
| Standby | 100 hr | 101 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 2x |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | 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 | 123° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 8 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 76 mm | 52 mm |
| Sensor | Hynix Hi847 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/4.5" (≈ 0.22 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX258 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 70 |
| Preview | - | 77 |
| Zoom | - | 111 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 4290 x 2800 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX616 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | - |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 127 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 3.2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 19 | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
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 2022 | October 2020 |
| Release date | January 2022 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $790 | $1000 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S25 FE | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro |
| SAR (head) | 0.95 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.48 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the camera, performance, gaming, software, and design are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 12 Pro. But if the display, battery life, and connectivity are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 232