Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone 12
57
out of 100
VS
60
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 12, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 3 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
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Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 1185 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 2815 mAh
- Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Delivers 33% higher peak brightness (855 against 643 nits)
- The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12
- Shows 19% longer battery life (21:15 vs 17:54 hours)
- 24% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1341K versus 1081K)
- 35% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1997 and 1484 points
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 | 6.2 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 421 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 625 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.9% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 226 Hz |
| Response time | 5 ms | 16 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 169 g (5.96 oz) | 164 g (5.78 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Pink, Purple | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 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 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 448 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 6754 | 17099 |
| Single-core score | 1484 | 1997 |
| Multi-core score | 3767 | 4665 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 418023 | 402035 |
| GPU | 191872 | 336490 |
| Memory | 170606 | 153915 |
| UX | 301277 | 449135 |
| Total score | 1081778 | 1341575 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | [10 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 72% | - |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 328 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2651 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 64% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 10 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1800 | 2155 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13238 | - |
| Video editing | 7092 | - |
| Photo editing | 29658 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10433 | - |
| Writing score | 15614 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S21
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-14 (Vadim250905) | AnTuTu 12 | 1268986 |
| 📘 2026-09-30 (Luckyy) | AnTuTu 12 | 1281558 |
| 📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1446 / 3772 |
| 📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627) | AnTuTu 11 | 1115971 |
| 📘 2026-07-05 (Luckyy) | AnTuTu 11 | 1086158 |
Apple iPhone 12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 (Z0tacxyz) | AnTuTu 11 | 1294739 |
| 📘 2026-10-04 (Timur) | AnTuTu 11 | 1199214 |
| 📘 2026-06-26 (Hellomt) | AnTuTu 11 | 1334721 |
| 📘 2026-03-25 (🇷🇺010) | AnTuTu 11 | 1384982 |
| 📘 2026-03-23 (Roma) | AnTuTu 11 | 1326030 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | - |
| OS size | 28.1 GB | 7 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | - |
| Security updates | 4 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 18 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 (55% in 30 min) | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:13 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:01 hr | 08:00 hr |
| Watching video | 11:06 hr | 12:09 hr |
| Gaming | 04:21 hr | 04:35 hr |
| Standby | 95 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 1.1x | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | 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 | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 64 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| 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 | 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 | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | 55 |
| Preview | 61 | 74 |
| Zoom | 114 | 60 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | 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, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 3.2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - USB-Host 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* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | January 2021 | October 2020 |
| Release date | February 2021 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $800 | $800 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S22 | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 0.46 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.51 W/kg | 0.99 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 |
*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. But if the display and connectivity are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 1874