The S21 Ultra is Samsung’s second shot at an S-series Ultra flagship, and here’s something interesting we figured out about the company. More often than not, it seems to have a stronger second act than its first. Think back to the first Galaxy S. It was an okay phone. The S2, though? Great phone, huge hit. The first Galaxy Fold? It had its issues. The Fold2? Much better, much easier to recommend (if you have the money).
We’re not saying we’ve spotted a trend or theme that’s been elusive to everyone else, but we would be remiss not to mention the above because it so neatly ties into the S21 Ultra and its relationship to the S20 Ultra. Call the first paragraph foreshadowing, if you will, but we can just hit you with the spoiler itself – the S21 Ultra is a much better product than its predecessor was. It’s more polished, more refined, and it doesn’t suck at any of the smartphone fundamentals – quite the contrary, in fact.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra long-term Price
128GB 8GB RAM $ 1,199.99 128GB 12GB RAM $ 849.88 256GB 12GB RAM $ 957.99
So maybe it’s not fair to generalize and say you should always wait for the second-generation product when it’s a Samsung, but – wait, we just remembered yet another example, the original Galaxy Buds vs. the Galaxy Buds+. Same general idea. Well, maybe it’s not fair, but it could be a good rule of thumb to keep in mind.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra long-term Specifications
| NETWORK | Technology | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE / 5G |
|---|
| LAUNCH | Announced | 2021, January 14 |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2021, January 29 |
| BODY | Dimensions | 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm (6.5 x 2.98 x 0.35 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 227 g (Sub6), 229 g (mmWave) (8.01 oz) | |
| Build | Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus), aluminum frame | |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM, dual stand-by) | |
| IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) Stylus support |
| DISPLAY | Type | Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1500 nits (peak) |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 6.8 inches, 112.1 cm2 (~89.8% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~515 ppi density) | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus | |
| Always-on display |
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 11, One UI 3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Exynos 2100 (5 nm) – International Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) – USA/China | |
| CPU | Octa-core (1×2.9 GHz Cortex-X1 & 3×2.80 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A55) – International Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680) – USA/China | |
| GPU | Mali-G78 MP14 – International Adreno 660 – USA/China |
| MEMORY | Card slot | No |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 128GB 8GB RAM, 128GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM | |
| UFS 3.1 |
| MAIN CAMERA | Quad | 108 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide), 1/1.33″, 0.8µm, PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 10 MP, f/4.9, 240mm (periscope telephoto), 1/3.24″, 1.22µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm (telephoto), 1/3.24″, 1.22µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF, Super Steady video |
|---|---|---|
| Features | LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama | |
| Video | 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS |
| SELFIE CAMERA | Single | 40 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.7µm, PDAF |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Dual video call, Auto-HDR | |
| Video | 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps |
| SOUND | Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 3.5mm jack | No | |
| 32-bit/384kHz audio Tuned by AKG |
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| Radio | FM radio (Snapdragon model only; market/operator dependent) | |
| USB | USB Type-C 3.2, USB On-The-Go |
| FEATURES | Sensors | Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung DeX, Samsung Wireless DeX (desktop experience support) Bixby natural language commands and dictation Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) Ultra Wideband (UWB) support |
| BATTERY | Type | Li-Ion 5000 mAh, non-removable |
|---|---|---|
| Charging | Fast charging 25W USB Power Delivery 3.0 Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging 15W Reverse wireless charging 4.5W |
| MISC | Colors | Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Titanium, Phantom Navy, Phantom Brown, Navy |
|---|---|---|
| Models | SM-G998B, SM-G998B/DS, SM-G998U, SM-G998U1, SM-G998W, SM-G998N, SM-G9980 | |
| SAR | 0.77 W/kg (head) 1.02 W/kg (body) | |
| SAR EU | 0.71 W/kg (head) 1.58 W/kg (body) | |
| Price | $ 849.88 / € 1,011.26 / £ 926.00 / ₹ 97,850 |
| TESTS | Performance | AnTuTu: 657150 (v8) GeekBench: 3518 (v5.1) GFXBench: 33fps (ES 3.1 onscreen) |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal) | |
| Camera | Photo / Video | |
| Loudspeaker | -25.5 LUFS (Very good) | |
| Battery life | Endurance rating 114h |
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. Read more
All that aside, the S21 Ultra is now old enough that we can bring you our thoughts about what it was like to live with it for an extended period of time, way longer than we usually get for our normal reviews. On paper, this one’s a monster – and, as you’ll see in the next section, it’s also a monster in your hand.
But specs only tell a very small part of the story, and this long-term review’s reason for existing is to bring you the rest of that story, with more subjective opinions and less cold objective numbers. It’s not about whether it outperforms its closest rival by 1% in a synthetic benchmark, it’s about whether this phone was a joy to use or not, day in, day out, as our one and only smartphone. Does it have what it takes to be easy to recommend or is it more hype than substance? Join us over the next few pages as we try to find out.
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