This is the current high-end chipset from both companies and the Galaxy S21 is one of the first phones to use them. Like Apple’s A14, they’re both built on a highly efficient 5nm process which to non-techies is a key reason why it offers improved battery life compared to the S20. Reverse wireless charging is also supported, so you can use your phone’s power to top up devices such as Qi-compatible wireless headphones, but we found that to be slow, and it’s a feature you’d likely only want to use in emergencies.

Has Samsung made the right decision here? Largely, we think, yes. It won’t be popular with everyone, but crucially it’s allowed Samsung to cut the price of its Galaxy S21 series, and it won’t be hugely detrimental to most people’s everyday experience with the phone. As a result, if you’ve used the older phone then you won’t notice a drastic improvement in photo quality but that’s no bad thing. This is a reliable camera that performs well in a variety of environments. Highlights include good low-light performance and a very good ultra wide option. For a look at the specs, see the table below: Model When you’re shooting with that main 12MP sensor with its f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilisation (OIS), the pictures are generally very pleasing. The Samsung S21 was officially unveiled on January 14, 2021 which was the earliest in a year we've seen the company introduce its new smartphone technology. They might not be huge jumps forward from the S20, but I have to say that I do like the pictures from the S21 and they’re especially great for social media sharing as they have a real colour punch. The ultra-wide is great and the new Director’s Views is a useful way to record video from multiple cameras at once. 3. You don’t want to spend nearly a grand

There’s a 6.2-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display on this handset, which we’ll dive into more in the display section below. This phone is the smallest member of the Galaxy S21 family, and while it may not be as trim as the iPhone 13 mini, those with smaller hands shouldn’t have too much trouble using it.

Even though the panel is of a high quality, 6.2-inches is a little small if you want a phone for lots of gaming and media binges. Thankfully there’s the 6.7-inch Plus model which has a far roomier display. 2. You want a camera with an amazing zoom Battery life on the Samsung Galaxy S21 is solid, although it’s not a game-changing improvement over the S20, as the company may have led some to believe with its new Exynos 2100 chipset. Benchmarking doesn't show everything, but we've found everyday tasks on the phone have been faster than previously with the handset more than capable at handling gaming, multi-tasking and having multiple apps open in split-screen view too.Aside from some minor bugs inside Samsung’s OneUI software, the Galaxy S21 is very fast. You won’t notice it on the daily if you’re coming from a phone from 2020 or 2019, however if you’re upgrading from an S8 or S9 then prepare to be impressed. Samsung used the same material on the Galaxy Note 20, but the matte finish feels more suitable here and it’s much less shiny than the glass rear on the Galaxy S20, which means it’s less of a fingerprint magnet. The metal edges around the outside of the device add a touch of premium polish. As mentioned, Samsung has done this to help keep the price of the new phone down, and unless you’ve used a phone with a QHD resolution we don’t believe you’ll be able to easily tell the difference– we found that all the videos we watched on the S21 looked suitably high-quality on the Full HD+ panel. We’ve yet to test the Samsung Galaxy S21 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset inside, but the Galaxy S21 Ultra performed well with this chipset inside so we’d expect similar results from the S21.