Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
58
out of 100
VS
73
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 13 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 4 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
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Reverse charging feature
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Weighs 63 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
- Shows 51% longer battery life (28:08 vs 18:37 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Delivers 33% higher peak brightness (1049 against 790 nits)
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- 14% higher pixel density (458 vs 403 PPI)
- 64% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2427 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 | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1284 x 2778 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 403 ppi | 458 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | Yes (10-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 1000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1200 nits | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 86.7% | 87.7% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 97% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 247 Hz | 238 Hz |
| Response time | 6 ms | 8.5 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 13 Pro Max
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
~9% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) | 160.8 mm (6.33 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 177 g (6.24 oz) | 240 g (8.47 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Green, Purple | Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2840 MHz | 3230 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 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche |
| 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 (5 cores) |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 840 MHz | 1338 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1290.2 GFLOPS | ~1712.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4514 | 21357 |
| Single-core score | 1481 | 2427 |
| Multi-core score | 3173 | 6142 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 415282 | 276639 |
| GPU | 207688 | 369897 |
| Memory | 174461 | 116764 |
| UX | 341497 | 390373 |
| Total score | 1138928 | 1153673 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | [3 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 71% | - |
| Graphics test | 3 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 390 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 75% |
| Graphics test | - | 14 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 19 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 14 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 3785 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 68% | 73% |
| Graphics test | 9 FPS | 17 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1666 | 2960 |
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 13 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 -> HotPower | Geekbench 7 CPU | 2155 / 5548 |
| 📘 2026-09-23 -> HotPower | AnTuTu 11 | 1184759 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 GPU | 21284 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2423 / 5985 |
| 📘 2026-09-12 (Simon) | AnTuTu 11 | 1146332 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 2133 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 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | - |
| OS size | 17.5 GB | 13 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | - |
| Security updates | 5 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 4352 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 23 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 (42% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:15 hr | 1:46 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:11 hr | 11:16 hr |
| Watching video | 11:05 hr | 17:03 hr |
| Gaming | 04:48 hr | 06:41 hr |
| Standby | 100 hr | 136 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#89th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 3x |
| 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/1.5 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Sony IMX703 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/1.66" (≈ 0.6 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 1.9 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | 76 mm | 77 mm |
| Sensor | Hynix Hi847 | Sony IMX713 |
| 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/1.8 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX258 | Sony IMX772 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 75 |
| Preview | - | 81 |
| Zoom | - | 119 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6464 x 4864 | 4032 x 3024 |
| 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 | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | No | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| 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 | - | 128 |
| Video | - | 143 |
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 | - |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, 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 | September 2021 |
| Release date | January 2022 | September 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $790 | $1100 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S25 FE | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| SAR (head) | 0.95 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.48 W/kg | 0.98 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 - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
*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 Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 210