Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus vs Galaxy S21
71
out of 100
VS
57
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy S21, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 2 years and 1 month before. 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 S23 Plus
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Shows 48% longer battery life (26:32 vs 17:54 hours)
- 61% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1744K versus 1081K)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Delivers 40% higher peak brightness (1196 against 855 nits)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
- Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 4700 vs 4000 mAh
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 15
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
- The phone is 2 years and 1 month newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Weighs 26 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 5 mm narrower
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 | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.6 inches | 6.2 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 393 ppi | 421 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (24-120 Hz) | Yes (48-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89% | 85.9% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97.4% | 99.5% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 5 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23 Plus
6.6″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 16.6 in2
Galaxy S21
6.2″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.4 in2
~15% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 157.8 mm (6.21 inches) | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) |
| Width | 76.2 mm (3 inches) | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 195 g (6.88 oz) | 169 g (5.96 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow | White, Gray, Pink, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | Samsung Exynos 2100 |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 2900 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
- 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78 - 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1 |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Yes |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Mali-G78 MP14 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 448 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 854 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 8934 | 6754 |
| Single-core score | 2064 | 1484 |
| Multi-core score | 5334 | 3767 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 581203 | 418023 |
| GPU | 446806 | 191872 |
| Memory | 272465 | 170606 |
| UX | 443849 | 301277 |
| Total score | 1744323 | 1081778 |
| Samples | [23 tests] | [17 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 79% | 72% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 2 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1068 | 328 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 78% | - |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 18 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5364 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 66% | 64% |
| Graphics test | 22 FPS | 10 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3712 | 1800 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 14728 | 13238 |
| Video editing | 7866 | 7092 |
| Photo editing | 33422 | 29658 |
| Data manipulation | 12880 | 10433 |
| Writing score | 18951 | 15614 |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-07 (Azure) | AnTuTu 12 | 1945847 |
| 📘 2026-10-04 (Gordon) | AnTuTu 12 | 1994946 |
| 📘 2026-10-02 (Gordon) | AnTuTu 12 | 1966748 |
| 📘 2026-09-26 (Moha_X) | AnTuTu 12 | 1931558 |
| 📘 2026-09-26 (Bo) | AnTuTu 12 | 1822126 |
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 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 2750 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | One UI 7.0 |
| OS size | 42.5 GB | 28.1 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4700 mAh | 4000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (55% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:05 hr | 1:13 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:37 hr | 06:01 hr |
| Watching video | 15:54 hr | 11:06 hr |
| Gaming | 06:37 hr | 04:21 hr |
| Standby | 128 hr | 95 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#119th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 4000 x 3000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 1.1x |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (1080p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 64 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGN3 | Sony IMX555 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.76" (≈ 0.57 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | 64 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 70 mm | 28 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3K1 | Samsung Bright S5KGW2 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | 1/1.72" (≈ 0.58 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.8 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 IMX564 | Sony IMX563 |
| 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 | 70 |
| Preview | 72 | 61 |
| Zoom | 126 | 114 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 10 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 3872 x 2592 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Sony IMX374 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - USB-Host mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 24 |
| 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 | February 2023 | January 2021 |
| Release date | February 2023 | February 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $800 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus | - Samsung Galaxy S22 |
| SAR (head) | 0.57 W/kg | 0.46 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.4 W/kg | 1.51 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - 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 S23 Plus is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 40
