Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Google Pixel 7

57 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21
VS
62 out of 100
Google Pixel 7

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 Google Pixel 7, which is powered by Google Tensor G2 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
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • Weighs 28 grams less
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 7
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 9% longer battery life (19:30 vs 17:54 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 15
  • 11% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1203K versus 1081K)
  • Delivers 14% higher peak brightness (973 against 855 nits)
  • The phone is 1 year and 9 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Google Pixel 7 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)

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Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
44.1
(Average)
Value Index
159.2
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
vs

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 421 ppi 416 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 90 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (48-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 800 nits 450 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1400 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus
Screen-to-body ratio 85.9% 84.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.5% 98.5%
PWM 240 Hz 360 Hz
Response time 5 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
855 nits
Pixel 7 +14%
973 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 155.6 mm (6.13 inches)
Width 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) 73.2 mm (2.88 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.7 mm (0.34 inches)
Weight 169 g (5.96 oz) 197 g (6.95 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gray, Pink, Purple White, Black, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
85.9%
84.2%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Google Pixel 7
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Google Tensor G2
Max clock 2900 MHz 2850 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 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: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.35 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 2 cores at 2.85 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache - 4 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Next-gen Tensor Processing Unit
GPU
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali-G710 MC10
GPU shading units 448 448
GPU clock 854 MHz 848 MHz
FLOPS ~765.2 GFLOPS ~759.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Google Pixel 7
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1484
1462
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
3767
Pixel 7 +3%
3871
Compute Score (GPU)
Galaxy S21 +83%
6754
3696
Compute Score (GPU) 6754 3696
Single-core score 1484 1462
Multi-core score 3767 3871
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1081778
Pixel 7 +11%
1203381
CPU 418023 420771
GPU 191872 289075
Memory 170606 204670
UX 301277 288865
Total score 1081778 1203381
Samples [17 tests] [24 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Pixel 7 +114%
703
Stability 72% 77%
Graphics test 2 FPS 5 FPS
Graphics score 328 703
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
1800
Pixel 7 +2%
1841
Stability 64% 75%
Graphics test 10 FPS 11 FPS
Graphics score 1800 1841
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Galaxy S21 +23%
13533
10994
Web score 13238 7923
Video editing 7092 6434
Photo editing 29658 18842
Data manipulation 10433 11061
Writing score 15614 15053

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S21
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-14 (Vadim250905)AnTuTu 121268986
📘 2026-09-30 (Luckyy)AnTuTu 121281558
📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627)Geekbench 6 CPU1446 / 3772
📘 2026-07-10 (TechNova0627)AnTuTu 111115971
📘 2026-07-05 (Luckyy)AnTuTu 111086158
Google Pixel 7
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-28 -> putkin_prosrochka59AnTuTu 121477460
📘 2026-07-20 -> Dnhlst244.AnTuTu 111258304
📘 2026-07-14 (Ndraa)AnTuTu 111259081
📘 2026-07-11 (zeesun)AnTuTu 111232487
📘 2026-07-08 (Олах #teamPixel)AnTuTu 111184600

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM One UI 7.0 Stock Android
OS size 28.1 GB 14 GB
OS updates 2 years 5 years
Security updates 4 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 4355 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (20 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 30 min) Yes (48% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:13 hr 1:40 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:01 hr 07:58 hr
Watching video 11:06 hr 13:42 hr
Gaming 04:21 hr 05:14 hr
Standby 95 hr 82 hr
General battery life
17:54 hr
Pixel 7 +9%
19:30 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Digital
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° 114°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 64 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.9
Focal length 26 mm 25 mm
Sensor Sony IMX555 Samsung GN1
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 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 -
Sensor Sony IMX563 Sony IMX381
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.25 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Pixel 7 +23%
145
Video quality
Pixel 7 +59%
143
Generic main camera score
Pixel 7 +26%
140
Bokeh 70 70
Preview 61 72
Zoom 114 106
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 7 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 10.8 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 21 mm
Sensor Sony IMX374 Samsung S5K3J1
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 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 No
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 134
Video - 144

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (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 5.2
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
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 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
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 No
Speakers test
Max loudness
87 dB
Pixel 7 +1%
88.3 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 October 2022
Release date February 2021 October 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $800 $599
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S22 - Google Pixel 10
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
- Fingerprint
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 Google Pixel 7 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
93 (33.2%)
187 (66.8%)
Total votes: 280

User opinions

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