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Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Sony Xperia 5 III (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888) that was released on April 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy S21, which is powered by Exynos 2100 and came out 3 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the gadgets.
- Differences
- Review
- Specs
- Benchmarks
- Battery life
- Camera
- Comments
Key differences
An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Sony Xperia 5 III
- The rear camera has a 4.4x optical zoom
- Shows 19% longer battery life (30:20 vs 25:31 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
- Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 4000 mAh
- 9% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1128 and 1034 points
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21
- Delivers 45% higher peek brightness (856 against 591 nits)
- Supports wireless charging up to 15W
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Thinner bezels – 5.8% more screen real estate
- Reverse charging feature
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation
Value for money
You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Display
Type | OLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
Size | 6.1 inches | 6.2 inches |
Resolution | 1080 x 2520 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
Aspect ratio | 21:9 | 20:9 |
PPI | 449 ppi | 421 ppi |
Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
Max rated brightness | 350 nits | 800 nits |
Max rated brightness in HDR | 600 nits | - |
HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | Yes, HDR10+ |
Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 | Gorilla Glass Victus |
Screen-to-body ratio | 81.4% | 87.2% |
Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
RGB color space | 100% | 99.5% |
PWM | 490 Hz | 240 Hz |
Response time | 14 ms | 5 ms |
Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]
Design and build
Height | 157 mm (6.18 inches) | 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) |
Width | 68 mm (2.68 inches) | 71.2 mm (2.8 inches) |
Thickness | 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
Weight | 168 gramm (5.93 oz) | 169 gramm (5.96 oz) |
Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
Frame material | Metal | Metal |
Colors | Black, Green, Pink | White, Gray, Pink, Purple |
Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in home button | Yes, in-display |
Performance
Tests of Sony Xperia 5 III and Samsung Galaxy S21 in the benchmarks
SoCChipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Samsung Exynos 2100 |
Max. clock | 2840 MHz | 2900 MHz |
CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) | - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 3 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A78 - 1 core at 2.9 GHz: Cortex-X1 |
L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
Graphics | Adreno 660 | Mali-G78 MP14 |
GPU clock | 840 MHz | 760 MHz |
FLOPS | ~1720 GFLOPS | - |
RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 2750 MHz |
Channels | 2 | 2 |
Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 128, 256 GB |
Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 3.1 |
Memory card | MicroSD | No |
Memory card max. size | Up to 1000 GB | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
CPU | 152244 | 190831 |
GPU | 278585 | 245573 |
Memory | 103244 | 124639 |
UX | 143374 | 130708 |
Total score | 680882 | 693086 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Stability | - | 66% |
Graphics test | - | 33 FPS |
Graphics score | - | 5640 |
PCMark 3.0 score | - | 13868 |
Sources: 3DMark [3]
Software
Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) |
ROM | - | One UI 4.1 |
OS size | 17.6 GB | 28.1 GB |
Battery
SpecificationsCapacity | 4500 mAh | 4000 mAh |
Charge power | 30 W | 25 W |
Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
Replaceable | No | No |
Wireless charging | No | Yes (15 W) |
Reverse charging | No | Yes, (wireless) |
Fast charging | Yes (49% in 30 min) | Yes (55% in 50 min) |
Full charging time | 1:50 hr | 1:35 hr |
Web browsing | 09:32 hr | 07:17 hr |
Watching video | 17:37 hr | 12:26 hr |
Gaming | 05:12 hr | 04:20 hr |
Standby | 84 hr | 92 hr |
Camera
Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main cameraMatrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4000 x 3000 |
Zoom | Optical, 4.4x | Optical, 1.1x |
Flash | LED | Dual LED |
Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
8K video recording | No | 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 | 124° | 120° |
Lenses | 3 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP) | 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) |
Wide (main) lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.7 - Focal length: 24 mm - Pixel size: 1.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.7", Sony IMX557 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.76", Sony IMX555 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
Telephoto lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.3 - Focal length: 105 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/2.9", Sony IMX663 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization | - 64 MP - Aperture: f/2.0 - Focal length: 28 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
Ultra-wide lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 16 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX363 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX563 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
Samples | - | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 from DxOMark |
Megapixels | 8 megapixels | 10 megapixels |
Image resolution | 3264 x 2448 | 3872 x 2592 |
Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.2 |
Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
Pixel size | 1.12 microns | 1.22 microns |
Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | CMOS |
Sensor size | 1/4" | 1/3.24" |
Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Connectivity
Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 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 | 5.2 | 5 |
Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
USB version | 3.1 | 3.2 |
USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - USB-Host mode - OTG |
GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
NFC* | Yes | Yes |
Infrared port | No | No |
Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
eSIM support* | No | Yes |
Hybrid slot | No | No |
LTE Cat* | 18 | 24 |
5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
FM radio | No | No |
Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Other
Category | Flagship | Flagship |
Announced | April 2021 | January 2021 |
Release date | October 2021 | February 2021 |
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 | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the performance, battery life, and design are more important to you, then choose the Sony Xperia 5 III. But if the software and camera are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S21.
Cast your vote
So, which phone would you choose?
Sony Xperia 5 III
28 (75.7%)
Samsung Galaxy S21
9 (24.3%)
Total votes: 37
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