Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
57
out of 100
VS
77
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 14 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A16 Bionic and came out 1 year and 8 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Reverse charging feature
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Weighs 71 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 6.4 mm narrower
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Shows 68% longer battery life (30:06 vs 17:54 hours)
- Delivers 105% higher peak brightness (1751 against 855 nits)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Has a 0.5 inch larger screen size
- 22% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1324K versus 1081K)
- The phone is 1 year and 8 months newer
- 80% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2669 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 | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1290 x 2796 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 421 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-120 Hz) | Yes (1-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.9% | 88.3% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 5 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 14 Pro Max
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Galaxy S21
6.2″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.4 in2
~18% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) | 160.7 mm (6.33 inches) |
| Width | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) | 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 7.85 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 169 g (5.96 oz) | 240 g (8.47 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Pink, Purple | Black, Silver, Gold, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Apple A16 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 3460 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 2.02 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | 5 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 448 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS | ~1789.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 6754 | 22851 |
| Single-core score | 1484 | 2669 |
| Multi-core score | 3767 | 7024 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 418023 | 329807 |
| GPU | 191872 | 444294 |
| Memory | 170606 | 150297 |
| UX | 301277 | 400202 |
| Total score | 1081778 | 1324600 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | [8 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 72% | - |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 328 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 74% |
| Graphics test | - | 16 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 20 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 16 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 4266 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 64% | 71% |
| Graphics test | 10 FPS | 19 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1800 | 3335 |
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 14 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-09 -> Kryon296 | AnTuTu 11 | 1425670 |
| 📘 2026-08-09 -> Kryon296 | AnTuTu 11 | 1302538 |
| 📘 2026-08-09 (Trinh Anh Khoi) | AnTuTu 11 | 1302538 |
| 📘 2026-07-17 (Astreeek) | AnTuTu 11 | 1267503 |
| 📘 2026-07-16 (Oleg) | AnTuTu 11 | 1267503 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | iOS 16 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | - |
| OS size | 28.1 GB | - |
| OS updates | 2 years | 6 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 6 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 4323 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 (55% in 30 min) | Yes (48% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:13 hr | 1:52 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:01 hr | 11:49 hr |
| Watching video | 11:06 hr | 18:59 hr |
| Gaming | 04:21 hr | 06:50 hr |
| Standby | 95 hr | 144 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#42nd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Optical, 1.1x | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual 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: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Sony IMX803 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 64 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | 28 mm | 77 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung Bright S5KGW2 | Sony IMX713 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) | 1/3.5" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | Sony IMX633 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | 80 |
| Preview | 61 | 91 |
| Zoom | 114 | 139 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | Sony IMX714 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| 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 | - | 139 |
| Video | - | 154 |
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 version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - USB-Host mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | - | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 24 | 20 |
| 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 | September 2022 |
| Release date | February 2021 | September 2022 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $800 | $1099 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S22 | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| SAR (head) | 0.46 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.51 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 14 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 34