Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Google Pixel 9a
57
out of 100
VS
67
out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Google Pixel 9a, which is powered by Google Tensor G4 and came out 4 years and 3 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
- The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Reverse charging feature
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
- Weighs 17 grams less
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9a
- Delivers 125% higher peak brightness (1927 against 855 nits)
- Comes with 1100 mAh larger battery capacity: 5100 vs 4000 mAh
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Shows 13% longer battery life (20:15 vs 17:54 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 15
- 22% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1321K versus 1081K)
- The phone is 4 years and 3 months newer
- 13% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1677 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 | POLED |
| Size | 6.2 inches | 6.3 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1080 x 2424 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 421 ppi | 422 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-120 Hz) | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 2700 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1800 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.9% | 84.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 98.2% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 5 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) | 154.7 mm (6.09 inches) |
| Width | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) | 73.3 mm (2.89 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 169 g (5.96 oz) | 186 g (6.56 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | - | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Gray, Pink, Purple | White, Black, Red, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | - | Good (3.53/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Excellent (A) · 270 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Google Tensor G4 |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 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 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A520 - 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720 - 1 core at 3.1 GHz: Cortex-X4 |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Yes |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Mali-G715 MP7 |
| GPU shading units | 448 | 896 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 940 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS | ~1684.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 6754 | 7784 |
| Single-core score | 1484 | 1677 |
| Multi-core score | 3767 | 4067 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 418023 | 445318 |
| GPU | 191872 | 410687 |
| Memory | 170606 | 175537 |
| UX | 301277 | 289527 |
| Total score | 1081778 | 1321069 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | [7 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 72% | 81% |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | 8 FPS |
| Graphics score | 328 | 1060 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 64% | - |
| Graphics test | 10 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1800 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13238 | 10570 |
| Video editing | 7092 | 7547 |
| Photo editing | 29658 | 21264 |
| Data manipulation | 10433 | 12988 |
| Writing score | 15614 | 16308 |
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 |
Google Pixel 9a
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-21 (Leif) | AnTuTu 11 | 1590049 |
| 📘 2026-05-13 (kiriguap) | AnTuTu 11 | 1182042 |
| 📘 2026-03-09 (d1ldo) | AnTuTu 11 | 943849 |
| 📘 2026-01-03 (Joy) | AnTuTu 11 | 1487240 |
| 📘 2025-11-11 (VLAD) | AnTuTu 11 | 1507185 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 4200 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| 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 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | Stock Android |
| OS size | 28.1 GB | 14 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 5100 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 23 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| 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 (47% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:13 hr | 1:41 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 06:01 hr | 08:20 hr |
| Watching video | 11:06 hr | 12:40 hr |
| Gaming | 04:21 hr | 06:06 hr |
| Standby | 95 hr | 91 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 8000 x 6000 |
| 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° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 64 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 13 MP |
| 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/1.7 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 25 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Samsung GN8 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 0.8 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 | 13 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 16 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | Sony IMX712 |
| 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 |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | 145 |
| Preview | 61 | - |
| Zoom | 114 | 99 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Google Pixel 9a from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 13 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 20 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1.12 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 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 | 5.3 |
| 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 |
| DisplayPort | - | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 24 | - |
| 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | January 2021 | March 2025 |
| Release date | February 2021 | April 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $800 | $499 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S22 | - Google Pixel 10a |
| SAR (head) | 0.46 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.51 W/kg | 1.39 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- 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 9a is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 6