By clicking ACCEPT or continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Specs
Specifications are top-notch including Snapdragon 888 chipset, 5G capability, up to 16gigs of RAM, and 512GB of storage.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos) Camera review: Dual-tele with room for improvement
Samsung’s new S-series flagship, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, comes with an updated design and a whole bunch of improvements under the hood. The large, bright 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with a 20:9 aspect ratio is a great screen for any type of content creation, thanks to a high 3200 x 1440-pixel resolution and flexible frame rates up to 120 Hz. In the camera department, the Galaxy S21 Ultra comes with a major improvement over its predecessor S20 Ultra—replacing the latter’s 103 mm-equivalent periscope tele-lens with a dual-tele setup.
Read on to find out if they succeeded and how the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos) performed under version 4 of the DXOMARK Camera test protocol.
%s Lowlight Photos & videos shot in low lighting conditions (<100 lux) BEST 149 Top score While data and products remain fully comparable, you might encounter mentions and references to the previous scores.
Target exposure is usually accurate and dynamic range is wide, showing good detail in both highlight and shadow areas of the frame. The autofocus system also slows down in low-light and high-contrast scenes, but otherwise the device mostly delivers accurately focused images.
The texture/noise trade-off is an area where the S21 Ultra 5G leaves most room for improvement, especially noise is a lot worse than on some direct competitors. The level of detail is fairly low across the tele zoom range, with unnaturally-rendered texture and fusion artifacts. On the plus side, exposure is stable and dynamic range fairly wide as long as you don’t record in low light. The autofocus usually keeps things sharp, and thanks to a 60 fps frame rate, motion looks mostly nice and smooth.
However, the level of recorded detail is noticeably lower than on competing devices, with “moving texture” artifacts frequently visible. Color tends to be fairly desaturated and white balance casts often reduce the overall video quality. In this section, we take a closer look at how each sub-score was determined and compare image quality against some key competitors. As we would expect from a high-end device in 2021, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is capable of delivering good target exposure in all conditions, from bright sunshine down to low light. This image shows the camera maintaining good contrast on the subject, even when capturing challenging backlit scenes. While the Samsung’s dynamic range is by no means bad, looking at the sensor and chipset specifications, we think it should have been possible to push the HDR processing further.
Most of the time you still end up with good dynamic range, but on occasion the camera does not make the most of its HDR capabilities. The camera produces the usual fine Samsung color rendering, with high levels of saturation and nice skin tones even in difficult backlit scenes. There is often also a slight cyan cast to the sky (Some might find the saturation a little too strong, but this is typical Samsung style and, like so many things, it’s pretty much a matter of personal preference.) On a side note: Our testers also observed that Samsung has chosen a fairly neutral rendering for low color temperature (warm) light sources. The S21 Ultra 5G’s autofocus can be relied upon in most situations except in very low light, where there is some potential for misfocused images. Unlike most of its flagship rivals, the Samsung still doesn’t use continuous buffering and zero shutter lag in all conditions, which means capture times are slightly slower than on competing devices.
Depth of field is fairly narrow, which means subjects in the back of group portraits tend to be rendered slightly soft. The level of detail captured by the S21 Ultra camera is decent but lower than we would expect from a flagship device with these Samsung specifications. The real-life results above are confirmed by our measurements in the lab, where the S21 Ultra 5G’s detail preservation is consistently lower than the Huawei Mate 40 Pro’s.
High noise levels and a lack of fine detail is also very evident in this low-light portrait shot.
The same is true for for target exposure, but the level of captured detail is very low if the camera does not trigger the flash. Some blur instabilities and unnatural color rendering are sometimes visible, but overall the S21 Ultra 5G’s bokeh mode creates a natural-looking effect that isn’t too far off the real thing.
The older model delivered better detail, lower noise, and slightly more precise subject isolation from the background. HDR processing is stronger on the latter and the bokeh effect shows much better subject isolation and a more realistic blur gradient. In this section, we take a closer look at how these sub-scores were achieved and compare zoom image quality against some key competitors. The S21 Ultra 5G is capable of capturing good quality tele images, but given its impressive dual-tele configuration with a 240 mm equivalent reach, we expected a little more. For our tele test we place the comparison phones at a fixed distance from the charts and pinch zoom to achieve the same framing on all devices. The Mate 40 Pro is clearly the best device in this comparison, with the S21 lagging behind its own predecessor, capturing less detail, and showing slightly more noise.
Images captured with the Samsung’s ultra-wide camera usually show accurate target exposure and a wide dynamic range. On the downside, slight white balance casts are sometimes noticeable and the levels of image noise are higher than we would like, especially in indoor scenes. In this indoor comparison, the Samsung image shows a slightly warm cast and pretty strong noise. In this section, we take a closer look at the device’s strengths and weakness for video, with some comparisons against its key competitors.
We decided to test the device in 4K resolution and at 60 fps because those settings offered the best overall tradeoff among all image quality attributes. White balance is pretty stable in all tested conditions, but a slight color cast is often visible, too.
The S21 Ultra 5G’s autofocus generally performs well during video recording, mostly keeping the subject accurately in focus. Like with close range zoom, it seems that the 12 MP output of the sensor limits detail in 4K video (as we suggested in our preview article).
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos) is capable of capturing decent photos and video clips in pretty much all conditions. However, given the impressive-looking hardware specs and the Samsung’s status as an ultra-premium flagship device from a major brand, it’s fair to say we expected a score at least 10 points higher.
Surprisingly, it also cannot keep up with its own predecessor, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and other slightly older devices (for example, the iPhone 11 Pro Max). There is no doubt the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is an exciting device with a powerful chipset and impressive display.
If camera is a priority there are currently a number of better options to pick from, but there is hope that Samsung might be able to fix some of the issues identified in this review with a firmware update and thus reduce the gap between the S21 Ultra 5G and top-ranked devices. Smooth motion thanks to high frame rate Cons Noise in all conditions, sometimes very strong, structured and chromatic, in both photos and videos
After publishing our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos) Camera, review we received a number of comments from readers who were concerned that we had not used the latest firmware version for the test.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review
In addition, US wireless carriers have revealed C-band 5G plans that the S21 Ultra is well positioned to take advantage of, and the phone is now widely available for less than its high list price. It’s a solid and premium-feeling phone with a unique (for the US) superzoom camera, a gorgeous screen, and future-forward network chops.
The S21 Ultra sets the bar for Android performance in 2021 and its superzoom camera will lead you to look at the world in new ways.
Samsung has three models in its 2021 flagship Galaxy S series: the small S21, the medium S21 Plus, and the large S21 Ultra.
The S21 Ultra is $999.99 at both Amazon and Best Buy at this writing, and Samsung has an intense trade-in game. That makes the S21 Ultra effectively less expensive than the iPhone 12 Pro Max ($1,099), which is rarely discounted.
My review unit is a solid matte block that resists fingerprints much better than last year’s glossy models. Slots and ports in general are, alas, going the way of the dodo; not enough people use them, and built-in memory has faster performance.
It hasn’t scratched after a few days of testing, an improvement over the Galaxy S20+ screen, which scuffed up quickly. You can set the screen resolution to 1080p or quad HD to save battery and increase game frame rates, but the option to manually switch between 60Hz and 120Hz refresh rates is now gone; instead, the display automatically changes from 10Hz up to 120Hz depending on what you’re looking at. The Ultra is the only member of the S21 family that works with Samsung’s S Pen, the active, pressure-sensitive stylus previously reserved for the Note series. The S21 has the same super-low 9ms latency as the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, updating the screen with its virtual ink at 120Hz.
We’ve heard rumors that there may be no Galaxy Note phone this year because of a global processor shortage. As always, there are a bunch of different sub-models of the Galaxy S21, noted by a letter at the end of the product number.
The U model has a single SIM slot, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, disabled e-SIM functionality, and all the appropriate bands for all US 5G networks, including millimeter wave and the upcoming C-band. The PCMark and AIMark benchmarks appear to be broken on the S21 Ultra, delivering scores that are obviously far too low.
For instance, the 888’s image signal processor lets the S21 Ultra combine its two telephoto cameras for much better 10x–30x zoom than last year, and a new Director’s Mode video feature lets you smoothly switch between cameras on the fly. So even without reliable benchmark numbers to quantify speed and power, it’s clear that this is a big step up from last year’s models.
The bloatware situation on the unlocked units isn’t bad at all, but you should expect the usual dozens of unwanted apps on carrier-locked models, especially on AT&T. Samsung gets rid of its unloved Bixby Home screen and puts Google’s browser front and center.
It’s worth pointing out that Samsung does its best to link to other Galaxy devices and Windows laptops, similar to how iPhones hook up to Macs. On Windows laptops, you can answer texts, check notifications, or mirror your phone screen. You can also put the S21 in multi-windowed Dex mode for presentations on a big screen or use an additional keyboard and mouse. Samsung’s home screen design still won’t be mistaken for Google’s, with its own colors, icons, and dialer.
In our standard test, where we run a YouTube video with full screen brightness over Wi-Fi, we managed 11 hours and 20 minutes; that’s on par with other leading large phones. There’s a third-party app called Samsung Band Selector that might let you force your phone to use 4G, but it’s unsupported and could be disabled at any time. You can always opt to avoid the cable question altogether and get a Qi-compatible wireless charging pad. Verizon says it’ll cover 100 million people with C-band access by next March, which will likely triple the carrier’s 5G speeds.
Standalone 5G, which eschews 4G, gives you lower latency and less chance of overloaded networks in crowded conditions, but you end up with slower overall speeds because you’re losing the add-on 4G components. By forcing the phone into non-standalone mode using a field test screen, speeds rose to 258Mbps down and 69Mbps up on average, with 26ms latency.
This will become especially relevant when you’re hooking your phone up to multi-gigabit home internet service, when and if that appears in the next few years. Samsung’s phones used to work with older credit card swipe machines that didn’t have the Apple/Samsung Pay specs.
I was very happy to see that Wi-Fi calling was finally available on my unlocked model on all three major US wireless carriers.
The phone technically supports eSIM, but it’s been disabled on this model, and Samsung has shown no sign of intending to enable it.
The S21 did much better at keeping different elements of a setup in focus, though its photos weren’t quite as sharp as those from the iPhone 12. High-level zoom, which is really shaky on the S20 series, is now stabilized so it’s much easier to lock onto the part of the image you need.
The big difference between this and the S20 generation is Night mode; the S21 has one, so you can finally take decent selfies in the dark. With good light, that front-facing camera is actually great, with more detail than the S20 Ultra, and better contrast than the iPhone 12.
It was big and heavy, the list price was high, and carriers hadn’t released their C-band plans. And the more uses I find for the 10x zoom and games I play on the big, bright screen, the more I appreciate just how well this phone is put together. Samsung has some accessories to sell you, too: a watch, earbuds, and a smart tag locator. The Note 20 comes with an S Pen and a microSD memory card slot, but the S21 Ultra is more future-facing as a long-term investment.
The iPhone has nothing like the S21 Ultra’s superzoom, but it has somewhat better night performance and, for serious photographers, a much better ecosystem of third-party camera apps and integration with Mac computers. The OnePlus 9 Pro has speedy, elegant software and is also a great choice, but the S21 noses just ahead of it on radio performance and superzoom.
The verdict is in: The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is our Editors’ Choice for flagship smartphones. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 4.5 Editors’ Choice See It $1,049.97 at Amazon MSRP $1,199.99 Pros Beautiful design and solid build Equipped for next-gen C-band and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity Cons Heavy The Bottom Line The Galaxy S21 Ultra delivers a high-quality superzoom camera that truly works, supports Samsung’s excellent S Pen, and sets the bar for smartphone features in 2021.
Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review: Samsung’s premier phone is pretty badass
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. SCORE Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G $1,050 at Amazon $680 at Walmart Pros Gorgeous phantom black finish The Galaxy S21 Ultra gets a fresh design and sports a gorgeous black finish. It was a phone all about excess that, by sheer fate, was launched at the beginning of a global pandemic and recession. Its bold, behemoth take on the Galaxy S line was undercut by its $1,400 (£1,199, AU$1,999) price and issues with its nearly domino-size camera system. And that’s why the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra earned a CNET’s Editors’ Choice Award. I wouldn’t call the S21 Ultra’s design radically different, but my review unit has the best black finish I’ve ever seen on a phone. The camera bump is large and melts into the sides of the phone, which are glossy black.
And while the regular S21 and S21 Plus looks snazzy in their two-tone colors, the all-black S21 Ultra is cool, elegant and badass all at the same time. It has a Wide Quad HD resolution and a variable refresh rate between 10 and 120Hz, which is determined by what’s on the screen. Support for the S-Pen means you can draw, write, edit photos and sign documents on the S21 Ultra. The Galaxy Note phones line always tempted me, but I didn’t think I’d use the S-Pen enough to justify getting one.
Read more: S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Pixel 5: Which phone has the best night mode? The two cameras are paired to help make zooming in, even at 100x, easier and more steady. Photos from the S21 Ultra are excellent, with good detail and a wide dynamic range.
There is a 108-megapixel mode, but I found that the 12-megapixel photos that come from pixel binning look consistently great.
I used the single-take mode in the camera app to capture photos and videos of this cute dog. There’s so much for the S21 Ultra to capture correctly here: the barren tree branches, the water and the white fluffy clouds in the blue sky.
Flaring on the lens is minimized and photos look bright without a bunch of image noise or noise-reduction smearing. You now have an option to change the color tone to either bright or natural which is excellent. A downside to Director’s View is that the final video is saved in HD instead of 4K or 8K. I’d love to see a similar thumbnail preview interface of all the rear cameras when recording a regular 4K video. I’m excited to pit the S21 Ultra and its cameras against the iPhone 12 Pro Max and Google Pixel 5. Powering the S21 Ultra is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, along with 12GB of RAM, or 16GB in the most expensive model — which also has 512GB of storage (see the chart below for prices).
Battery tests on the S21 Ultra for continuous video playback on Airplane mode clocked an average of 22 hours and 57 minutes with the refresh rate set to Auto 120Hz. Though keep in mind, in real world use my colleague Jessica Dolcourt found the S20 Ultra’s battery drained like it was being bitten by a “thirsty vampire.”
The Galaxy S21 Ultra runs Android 11 with Samsung’s OneUI 3.1 top layer. And with a phone this big, OneUI helps make it easier to use one-handed.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Display size, resolution 6.8-inch AMOLED 2X, 3,200×1,440 pixels 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X 6.9-inch; 3,088×1,440 pixels 6.7-inch; 2,400×1,080 pixels Pixel density 515 ppi 511ppi 496ppi 393ppi Dimensions (Inches) 2.97×6.5×0.35 in 2.99×6.57×0.35 in 6.49×3.04×0.31 in 6.36×2.96×0.33 in Dimensions (Millimeters) 75.6×165.1×8.9mm 76.0×166.9×8.8mm 164.8×77.2×8.1mm 161.6×75.2×8.3 mm Weight (Ounces, Grams) 8.07 oz; 229g 7.76 oz; 220g 7.33 oz, 208g 6.84 oz, 194g Mobile software Android 11 Android 10 Android 10 Android 10 Camera 108-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (3x telephoto), 10-megapixel (10x telephoto) 108-megapixel (wide-angle), 48-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), time-of-flight camera 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 108-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (telephoto) 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 12-megapixel (wide angle), 64-megapixel (telephoto) Front-facing camera 40-megapixel 40-megapixel 10-megapixel 10-megapixel Video capture 8K 8K 8K 8K Processor Snapdragon 888 Snapdragon 865 Plus Snapdragon 865 Plus Snapdragon 865 Plus Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB 128GB, 512GB 128GB, 512GB 128GB RAM 12GB, 16GB 12GB, 16GB 12GB 8GB Expandable storage No Up to 1TB Up to 1TB No Battery 5,000 mAh 5,000 mAh 4,500 mAh 4,300 mAh Fingerprint sensor In-screen In-screen In-screen In-screen Headphone jack No No No No Special features IP68 rating, 5G-enabled, 100x Space Zoom, 10W wireless charging, 10x optical zoom 5G enabled; 120Hz refresh rate; 100x zoom; water resistant (IP68) 120Hz screen refresh rate, 5x optical zoom, 120Hz display; UWB sharing, S-Pen stylus; 5G connectivity; Wireless PowerShare; water resistant (IP68) S-Pen stylus; 5G connectivity; Wireless PowerShare; water resistant (IP68) Price off-contract (USD) $1,200 (128GB), $1,250 (256GB), $1,380 (512GB) $1,399 (128GB), $1,599 (512GB) $1,300 (128GB), $1,450 (512GB) $1,000 Price (GBP) £1,149 (128GB), £1,199 (256GB), £1,329 (512GB) £1,199 (128GB), £1,399 (512GB) £1,179 £849 (4G) and £949 (5G) Price (AUD) AU$1,849 (128GB), AU$1,949 (256GB), AU$2,149 (512GB) AU$1,999 (128GB), AU$2,249 (512GB) AU$1,849 (4G) and $AU$1,999 (5G) AU$1,499 (4G) and AU$1,649 (5G)
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) Camera review: Ahead of Exynos
%s Outdoor Photos & videos shot in bright light conditions (≥1000 lux) BEST 160 Top score %s Lowlight Photos & videos shot in low lighting conditions (<100 lux) BEST 149 Top score The Snapdragon model also scores two points higher for Zoom, with slightly better results in both the tele and wide categories. The score is four points higher for Video, with the Snapdragon-powered camera delivering better results for autofocus, texture, and stabilization.
The S21 Ultra 5G with Snapdragon chipset produces pleasant images with vivid colors, natural skin tones, and good levels of detail. Still images captured on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) show good exposure in most conditions, and a fairly wide dynamic range means the camera deals well with difficult high-contrast scenes.
In terms of texture/noise, the Snapdragon model is an improvement over the Exynos variant, with better detail rendering and lower noise levels. In this graph you can see that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) takes almost a second to capture an image after the shutter has been pressed in daylight conditions.
Bokeh simulation, slight lack of detail Ultra-wide, good exposure, wide dynamic range Tele-zoom image quality is fairly good across a wide range of zoom factors, but not quite on the same level as the best devices in this category, despite the Samsung’s dual-tele approach. In this close range studio shot (approximately 2x), the Snapdragon device does better at preserving fine detail than its Exynos counterpart. At long range (approximately 12x), things change and the S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) delivers the best result, making the Samsung a good option for those who take a lot of images at maximum tele settings.
On the other hand, the video autofocus performs better than on the Exynos device and is one of the camera’s strong points, thanks to good tracking and stability. When we reviewed the Exynos version of the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, we said that given the top-end specifications of the device, we would have expected a higher camera score. It is also very slightly better than its Exynos counterpart across pretty much all test areas, but still lags behind most direct competitors from rival brands.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Specs
The S21 Ultra 5G also supports Wireless PowerShare, which allows you to wirelessly charge other Qi-wireless devices using the 5,000 mAh battery built into the phone.
Be First to Comment