Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs A54 5G

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1380 and came out 2 years and 2 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 Plus
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Handles wireless charging up to 15W
  • The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 31% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1017K versus 779K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Thinner bezels – 5.9% more screen real estate
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Delivers 11% higher peak brightness (974 against 878 nits)
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
  • The phone is 2 years and 2 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and A54 5G 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
8 / 128 GB
VS
4 / 128 GB
53.0
(Average)
Value Index
73.7
(Good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.4 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 394 ppi 403 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (48-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 1000 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate - 240 Hz
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 88.7% 82.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 99.6%
PWM 240 Hz 253 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S21 Plus
6.7″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.8 in2
Galaxy A54 5G
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
~7% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
878 nits
974 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 158.2 mm (6.23 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 76.7 mm (3.02 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 8.2 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 202 g (7.13 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling - Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple White, Black, Green, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
88.7%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy A54 5G
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Samsung Exynos 1380
Max clock 2900 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache - 4 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali-G68 MP5
GPU shading units 448 160
GPU clock 854 MHz 949 MHz
FLOPS ~765.2 GFLOPS ~303.7 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy A54 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
6699
Compute Score (GPU) 6699 3003
Single-core score 1259 1009
Multi-core score 3255 2865
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1017773
779380
CPU 380634 320379
GPU 187261 91502
Memory 186352 118771
UX 263526 248788
Total score 1017773 779380
Samples [9 tests] [28 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 97%
Graphics test - 2 FPS
Graphics score - 278
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 99%
Graphics test - 4 FPS
Graphics score - 808
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 11039
Video editing - 7267
Photo editing - 25604
Data manipulation - 9921
Writing score - 15745

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-01 (Md. Iqbal Talukder)AnTuTu 111014567
📘 2026-05-30 (Júnior)AnTuTu 111049711
📘 2026-05-08 (Arcytechsure)AnTuTu 111125806
📘 2026-04-18 (Aziz Jr)Geekbench 6 GPU6699
📘 2026-04-18 (Aziz Jr)Geekbench 6 CPU1124 / 3273
Samsung Galaxy A54 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-05 -> Danielfikri98_AnTuTu 12843108
📘 2026-09-08 (Chillorgil)AnTuTu 12856948
📘 2026-06-23 -> samueltailsGeekbench 6 CPU1027 / 3015
📘 2026-06-23 -> samueltailsAnTuTu 11811942
📘 2026-05-27 (Matheus)AnTuTu 11779380

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2750 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 7.0 One UI 8.0
OS size 27.2 GB 28 GB
OS updates 2 years 4 years
Security updates 4 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 4800 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (56% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 1:03 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:28 hr 08:04 hr
Watching video 13:15 hr 14:16 hr
Gaming 05:04 hr 05:24 hr
Standby 105 hr 106 hr
General battery life
20:53 hr
21:52 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8160 x 6120
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Digital
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 26 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX555 Sony IMX766
Sensor size 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1.8 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 64 MP -
Aperture f/2.0 -
Focal length 28 mm -
Sensor Samsung Bright S5KGW2 -
Sensor size 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) -
Pixel size 0.8 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX563 Samsung S5K3L6
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution - 5 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Focal length - 25 mm
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Stabilization - Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 70 55
Preview 60 53
Zoom 114 79
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A54 5G from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 32 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 6464 x 4864
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX374 Sony IMX616
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) 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 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 5.3
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes 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 Yes
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat* 24 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
87.8 dB
88.7 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced January 2021 March 2023
Release date February 2021 March 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $1000 $490
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg 0.69 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 1.34 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger - Not included
Further details
Notes on Galaxy A54 5G:
    - Only phones with model numbers SM-A546B and SM-A546E support eSIM.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance, gaming, connectivity, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus. But if the battery life and software are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
185 (62.3%)
112 (37.7%)
Total votes: 297

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
michael bryner July 13, 2023 at 06:48 PM
If micro sd card slot, battery, more major os updates, newer phone is important to you, get Galaxy A54. If unnecessary extra features, more power for gaming, less storage for stuff without micro sd card slot, then get older Galaxy S21 Plus. It is a no brainer to get newer A54 over S21 Plus older phone.
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