Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G vs Google Pixel 8

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 Google Pixel 8, which is powered by Google Tensor G3 and came out 1 year and 9 months after. 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 S21 FE 5G
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 8
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 82% higher peak brightness (1437 against 790 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • 27% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1443K versus 1138K)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
  • The phone is 1 year and 9 months newer
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 8 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
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
6 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
168.7
(Excellent)
Value Index
41.8
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.4 inches 6.2 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 403 ppi 428 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 800 nits 2000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1200 nits 1400 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 86.7% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97% 99.2%
PWM 247 Hz 170 Hz
Response time 6 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S21 FE 5G
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
Pixel 8
6.2″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.4 in2
~8% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
790 nits
Pixel 8 +82%
1437 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) 150.5 mm (5.93 inches)
Width 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) 70.8 mm (2.79 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 177 g (6.24 oz) 187 g (6.6 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Green, Purple Black, Gray, Rose gold
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 8
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Google Tensor G3
Max clock 2840 MHz 3000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 9 (1 + 4 + 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 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 4 cores at 2.37 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X3
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon 780 Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 660 Immortalis-G715s MC10
GPU shading units 768 896
GPU clock 840 MHz 890 MHz
FLOPS ~1290.2 GFLOPS ~1594.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Google Pixel 8
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 8 +16%
1722
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Pixel 8 +40%
4458
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 4514 -
Single-core score 1481 1722
Multi-core score 3173 4458
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Pixel 8 +27%
1443431
CPU 415282 535125
GPU 207688 387735
Memory 174461 186665
UX 341497 333906
Total score 1138928 1443431
Samples [17 tests] [10 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Pixel 8 +149%
971
Stability 71% 73%
Graphics test 3 FPS 7 FPS
Graphics score 390 971
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 68% -
Graphics test 9 FPS -
Graphics score 1666 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 13606 -
Video editing 7043 -
Photo editing 28743 -
Data manipulation 10563 -
Writing score 14216 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-08 -> AlicanTuTuAnTuTu 111198886
📘 2026-07-21 (Psycho0Dream)AnTuTu 111157836
📘 2026-07-06 (Puzatik)AnTuTu 111118460
📘 2026-05-10 -> AlicanTuTuAnTuTu 111197004
📘 2026-05-10 (Alican TuTu)AnTuTu 111197004
Google Pixel 8
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-28 (asfiii-malik)AnTuTu 111515235
📘 2026-08-28 (asfiii-baloch)AnTuTu 111515235
📘 2026-05-04 (reazz)AnTuTu 111356451
📘 2026-04-29 -> tonymennyAnTuTu 111446448
📘 2026-03-16 (Quan)AnTuTu 111479583

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5X
Memory clock 3200 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM One UI 8.0 Stock Android
OS size 17.5 GB 14 GB
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 4575 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 27 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (18 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (51% in 30 min) Yes (56% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:16 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:11 hr 08:08 hr
Watching video 11:05 hr 14:06 hr
Gaming 04:48 hr 04:49 hr
Standby 100 hr 81 hr
General battery life
18:37 hr
Pixel 8 +6%
19:39 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
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° 126°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 8 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.7
Focal length 26 mm 25 mm
Sensor Sony IMX555 Samsung GNV
Sensor size 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) 1/1.31" (≈ 0.76 inch)
Pixel size 1.8 micron 1.2 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 8 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Focal length 76 mm -
Sensor Hynix Hi847 -
Sensor size 1/4.5" (≈ 0.22 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX258 Sony IMX386 Exmor RS
Sensor size 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.25 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Pixel 8 +28%
152
Video quality
Pixel 8 +38%
148
Generic main camera score
Pixel 8 +26%
148
Bokeh - 70
Preview - 64
Zoom - 129
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 8 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 10.5 megapixels
Image resolution 6464 x 4864 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 21 mm
Sensor Sony IMX616 -
Sensor size 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
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 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort - Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
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 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Speakers test
Max loudness
89 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2022 October 2023
Release date January 2022 October 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $790 $699
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S25 FE - Google Pixel 10
SAR (head) 0.95 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.48 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
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included 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 Google Pixel 8 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

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30 (60%)
Total votes: 50

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