Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Motorola Moto G (2025)
57
out of 100
VS
52
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 Motorola Moto G (2025), which is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 6300 and came out 4 years and 1 month 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
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- 2.1x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1081K versus 526K)
- 60% higher pixel density (421 vs 263 PPI)
- Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- The rear camera has a 1.1x optical zoom
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Ability to record video in 4K resolution
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Dynamic AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
Reasons to consider the Motorola Moto G (2025)
- Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4000 mAh
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Has a 0.5 inch larger screen size
- The phone is 4 years and 1 month newer
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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 | IPS LCD |
| Size | 6.2 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 720 x 1604 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 421 ppi | 263 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-120 Hz) | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 1100 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.9% | 85% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | - |
| PWM | 240 Hz | - |
| Response time | 5 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Screen space comparison
Moto G (2025)
6.7″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.8 in2
Galaxy S21
6.2″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.4 in2
~16% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) | 167.05 mm (6.58 inches) |
| Width | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) | 76.3 mm (3 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.16 mm (0.32 inches) |
| Weight | 169 g (5.96 oz) | 193 g (6.81 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | Yes |
| Rear material | Plastic | Eco-leather |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Gray, Pink, Purple | Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | MediaTek Dimensity 6300 |
| Max clock | 2900 MHz | 2400 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| 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 |
- 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 2 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A76 |
| L3 cache | - | 2 MB |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 6 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Yes |
| Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Mali-G57 MP2 |
| GPU shading units | 448 | 64 |
| GPU clock | 854 MHz | 1072 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS | ~137.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 6754 | 1450 |
| Single-core score | 1484 | 786 |
| Multi-core score | 3767 | 2023 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 418023 | 196090 |
| GPU | 191872 | 59995 |
| Memory | 170606 | 97600 |
| UX | 301277 | 173032 |
| Total score | 1081778 | 526717 |
| Samples | [17 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 72% | - |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 328 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 64% | - |
| Graphics test | 10 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1800 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13238 | 15054 |
| Video editing | 7092 | 5903 |
| Photo editing | 29658 | 25250 |
| Data manipulation | 10433 | 8701 |
| Writing score | 15614 | 13597 |
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 |
Motorola Moto G (2025)
No benchmark results yet
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 2.2 |
| Memory card | No | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | - | Up to 1024 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) | Android 15 |
| ROM | One UI 7.0 | Hello UI |
| OS size | 28.1 GB | - |
| OS updates | 2 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 2 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Bypass charging | No | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (55% in 30 min) | Yes (50% in 40 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:13 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:01 hr | - |
| Watching video | 11:06 hr | - |
| Gaming | 04:21 hr | - |
| Standby | 95 hr | - |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 8192 x 6144 |
| 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 | No |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | No |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | - |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 64 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Macro: 2 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX555 | Samsung S5KJN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) | 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.8 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| 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 | - |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | - |
| Focal length | 13 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX563 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
| Image resolution | - | 2 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Stabilization | - | No |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | - |
| Preview | 61 | - |
| Zoom | 114 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 16 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 4920 x 3264 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX374 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) 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 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - 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 |
| DisplayPort | - | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | January 2021 | January 2025 |
| Release date | February 2021 | January 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $800 | $199 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S22 | - Motorola Moto G (2026) |
| 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 Samsung Galaxy S21 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1