Samsung Galaxy S25 vs S21 Ultra
80
out of 100
VS
62
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 4 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 S25
- 2.7x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2920K versus 1074K)
- Shows 9% longer battery life (24:10 vs 22:05 hours)
- Delivers 38% higher peak brightness (1393 against 1013 nits)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 15
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- The phone is 4 years and 1 month newer
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4000 mAh
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- 24% higher pixel density (515 vs 416 PPI)
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 | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.2 inches | 6.8 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1440 x 3200 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 416 ppi | 515 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (10-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 2600 nits | 1500 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | 240 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 91.1% | 89.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97.4% | - |
| PWM | 240 Hz | - |
| Response time | 2 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S21 Ultra
6.8″ (20:9 ratio) = 17.3 in2
Galaxy S25
6.2″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.6 in2
~18% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 146.9 mm (5.78 inches) | 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) |
| Width | 70.5 mm (2.78 inches) | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.2 mm (0.28 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 162 g (5.71 oz) | 227 g (8.01 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | Good (3.23/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Samsung Exynos 2100 |
| Max clock | 4470 MHz | 2900 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 6) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M) - 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L) |
- 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 | 3 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Yes |
| Graphics | Adreno 830 | Mali-G78 MP14 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 448 |
| GPU clock | 1100 MHz | 854 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3379.2 GFLOPS | ~765.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 19829 | 6870 |
| Single-core score | 3012 | 1486 |
| Multi-core score | 9766 | 3800 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 899843 | 420330 |
| GPU | 1139434 | 186151 |
| Memory | 330975 | 193925 |
| UX | 549780 | 273776 |
| Total score | 2920032 | 1074182 |
| Samples | [44 tests] | [11 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 59% | - |
| Graphics test | 16 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 2216 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 38 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 48 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 37 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 29 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 10045 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 51% | - |
| Graphics test | 33 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5664 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 21815 | - |
| Video editing | 8619 | - |
| Photo editing | 34466 | - |
| Data manipulation | 17708 | - |
| Writing score | 27109 | - |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#126th place)
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S25
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 (Niki) | AnTuTu 12 | 3324487 |
| 📘 2026-09-24 (Icecream) | AnTuTu 12 | 3297029 |
| 📘 2026-09-18 (S25 owner) | AnTuTu 12 | 3476989 |
| 📘 2026-08-23 (S25 owner) | AnTuTu 11 | 3149606 |
| 📘 2026-08-14 (Atharva0999) | AnTuTu 11 | 3027002 |
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-06 (Nurik) | AnTuTu 12 | 900228 |
| 📘 2026-09-30 -> fh_hxx19 | AnTuTu 12 | 1191592 |
| 📘 2026-09-30 -> fh_hxx19 | AnTuTu 12 | 1191592 |
| 📘 2026-07-22 (Squizzyyy) | AnTuTu 11 | 857016 |
| 📘 2026-06-02 (My name) | AnTuTu 11 | 1271841 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 5300 MHz | 2750 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) |
| ROM | One UI 9.0 | One UI 7.0 |
| OS size | 30.1 GB | 26.4 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | Yes | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (56% in 30 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:17 hr | 1:11 hr |
| Battery cycles | 2000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 09:09 hr | 07:58 hr |
| Watching video | 17:15 hr | 13:59 hr |
| Gaming | 05:32 hr | 05:14 hr |
| Standby | 108 hr | 111 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 108 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 12000 x 9000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 10x |
| 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 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 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: 108 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Telephoto: 10 MP 4) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 108 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3 | Samsung S5KHM3 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.33" (≈ 0.75 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Laser autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | 10 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/4.9 |
| Focal length | 67 mm | 240 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5K3K1 | Samsung S5K3J1 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1.22 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 |
| Preview | - | 67 |
| Zoom | - | 106 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 40 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 7864 x 5200 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Samsung S5KGH1 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| 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 | - | 133 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | 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 | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| 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* | - | 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 | January 2025 | January 2021 |
| Release date | February 2025 | February 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $1200 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) | - Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra |
| SAR (head) | 1.29 W/kg | 0.71 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.36 W/kg | 1.58 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 | - |
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S25:
- Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. model has 1.
*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 S25 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 7