Well, the Galaxy S21 Ultra makes up for everything. It has a large 1440p screen with native 120Hz support, adaptive at that. It also brings two dedicated telephoto snappers - one for 3x and another one for 10x optical zoom. Its ultrawide camera does feature autofocus, which works for macro shots. The new Ultra also offers ultrawide-band support, and surprise, surprise, S-Pen support as well. This has to be the first non-Note Galaxy phone to offer that - one for the history books.
There is no S-Pen socket on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, and neither is there a bundled stylus. But you can use any S-Pen that's been in circulation, as well as the newly announced S-Pen for S21 Ultra and the upcoming S-Pen Pro. Samsung has also opened the S-Pen to third-party companies that make Wacom-based styluses, so you can expect even more options in the upcoming months. Finally, you can store the stylus in your pocket or opt for some S21 Ultra cases with dedicated pen holders.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is the only S21 model to come with a 1440p OLED screen, unlike the previous generation. And even better, it now supports 120Hz at that high resolution, so you don't need to choose between high res and high refresh rate. This new Ultra screen also supports Adaptive Refresh Rate that can vary between 10Hz and 120Hz, just like the Note20 Ultra.
The latest Galaxy bears the latest chipset, of course. All international models use the new Exynos 2100 SoC by Samsung (like the one we are reviewing), while the USA and China will be getting devices running on the Snapdragon 888 instead. The RAM has been bumped to 12GB, and there is a limited 16GB model, too.
The camera has seen a welcome upgrade. The wide snappers remain relatively the same - a 108MP shooter with f/1.8 26mm lens and a 12MP cam with f/2.2 13mm optics, but now it features autofocus. The zoom system has been completely revamped, though - it now features two 10MP imagers, one for 3x optical zoom and another for 10x optical zoom via a 240mm periscopic lens.
Other flagship tidbits worth mentioning - a 40MP selfie eye with AF, stereo speakers, Wi-Fi 6e, 5G connectivity, ultrawide-band support short-range communication, fast wired and wireless charging for the large 5,000mAh battery.
This year isn't off to a good start for the fans of the rich retail bundles, though. Like Apple and Xiaomi, Samsung has removed the chargers and headphones from the retail boxes and ships each Galaxy S21 only with a cable.
Let's take a deep dive in the specs now.
The lengthy specsheet (summarized below) includes what appears to be the brightest display on a smartphone to date, latest chipsets from Qualcomm or Samsung (depending on locale, as usual), a 1TB storage option (next to a 128GB base tier not befitting the UItra's stature), and a bump in battery capacity and rated charging power (we'll see about that).
The lengthy specsheet (summarized below) includes what appears to be the brightest display on a smartphone to date, latest chipsets from Qualcomm or Samsung (depending on locale, as usual), a 1TB storage option (next to a 128GB base tier not befitting the UItra's stature), and a bump in battery capacity and rated charging power (we'll see about that).
| Model | Samsung Galaxy S8 | |
| Single-SIM | ||
| NETWORK | Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE |
| 2G bands | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | |
| 3G bands | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 | |
| 4G bands | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 66(1700/2100), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) | |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (4CA) Cat16 1024/150 Mbps | |
| LAUNCH | Announced | 2017, March |
| Status | Available. Released 2017, April | |
| BODY | Dimensions | 148.9 x 68.1 x 8 mm (5.86 x 2.68 x 0.31 in) |
| Weight | 155 g (5.47 oz) | |
| Build | Front/back glass (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminum frame | |
| SIM | Nano-SIM | |
| Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) | ||
| IP68 dust/water proof (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) | ||
| DISPLAY | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Size | 5.8 inches, 84.8 cm2 (~83.6% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels, 18.5:9 ratio (~570 ppi density) | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | |
| HDR10 | ||
| 3D Touch (home button only) | ||
| Always-on display | ||
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 7.0 (Nougat), upgradable to Android 9.0 (Pie); One UI |
| Chipset | Exynos 8895 Octa | |
| CPU | Octa-core (4x2.3 GHz & 4x1.7 GHz) | |
| GPU | Mali-G71 MP20 | |
| MEMORY | Card slot | microSD, up to 256 GB |
| Internal | 64GB, 4GB RAM | |
| MAIN CAMERA | Single | 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/2.55", 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS |
| Features | LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama | |
| Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@240fps, HDR, dual-video rec., stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS, OIS | |
| SELFIE CAMERA | Single | 8 MP, f/1.7, 25mm (wide), 1/3.6", 1.22µm, AF |
| Features | Dual video call, Auto-HDR | |
| Video | 1440p@30fps | |
| SOUND | Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes | |
| 32-bit/384kHz audio | ||
| Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic | ||
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| Radio | No | |
| USB | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | |
| FEATURES | Sensors | Iris scanner, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 |
| Samsung DeX (desktop experience support) | ||
| ANT+ | ||
| Bixby natural language commands and dictation | ||
| BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery (11.55 Wh) | |
| Charging | Fast battery charging 15W (Quick Charge 2.0) | |
| Qi/PMA wireless charging (market dependent) | ||
| Talk time | Up to 20 h (3G) | |
| Music play | Up to 67 h | |
| MISC | Colors | Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Rose Pink |
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