Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+ 5G Revealed: Ready To Take On The Market?

Finally, after so many leaks and rumors, Samsung has finally launched Galaxy S21 5G, S21+, and S21 Ultra smartphones. The flagship series is launched to rival all the big boys out there, including iPhone 12 series. Being flagship devices, the pricing this year has been really surprising. Starting at 799$, the phones are well on their way to impress customers with incredible value for money. Let’s look at the latest flagship phones from Samsung in 2021 along with their pricing.

Galaxy S21 5G | S21+ 5G

Design

The two phones share almost the same internals. However, the exterior of the phones differ by quite a fair bit of margin. Starting with build quality, S21 and S21+ offers “Polycarbonate” back, which in simple term means plastic. Samsung has decided to do it, like in S20, obviously to cut the price. But, the material doesn’t feel cheap and does justice to the price. However, glass is glass and glass feels premium. So, for some people, this could be a deal breaker for the price to be paid. The phones also support stylus now, which is a plus point.

Display

The screen technology has improved a lot this year. The phones now have 6.2″(S20) and 6.7″(S21+) Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz refresh rate panel with adaptive refresh rate between 48-120Hz range. But, the resolution has been downgraded and we now get just FHD+ panel with 1080 x 2400 pixels resolution. If you remember correctly, S20+ had QHD+ panel but to enjoy full 120Hz refresh rate, you had to tone it down to FHD+. So, Samsung has taken higher resolution screen out of the equation this year with non-ultra models. Still, the display is one of the brightest and best out there in the market.

Performance

Every year, there is a lot to talk about the performance. Especially, with the choice of different CPUs in terms of region you are living in, you will notice the difference in performance, more or less. The devices in China/USA/Korea will have Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip-set, whereas other regions besides them will have Samsung’s Exynos 2100 chip-set. They both are made on 5nm process and support 5G. As seen on the past, Qualcomm Snapdragon provided better performance overall over the Exynos models. So, we’ll have to see if the same happens this year, or has Samsung improved their CPU technology enough to truly compete with Qualcomm. There is 8GB of RAM with 128GB/256GB of storage options on both of them. There is no expandable memory option this year, which is kind of disappointing.

Camera

The camera housing heads towards new direction with side frame melting towards back to make camera bump. It just looks fantastic from outside. Inside it, we’ve got almost same camera setup as last years’ models. There is a triple camera arrangement with 12MP(primary with OIS)+64MP(OIS, 1.1x optical zoom, 3x hybrid zoom) and a 12MP ultrawide sensor with 120 degrees FOV. It can record 8K at 24FPS and 4K@30/60fps as well. The 10MP selfie camera is located at hole-punch at top-center portion of the screen.

Other Features

After mocking Apple for removing the charger from the box, many companies started following the trend themselves. This year, to our surprise, Samsung also removed charger from the box for the sake of environment, or at least they say it so. S20 has 4000mAh battery, while S21+ has 4800mAh one. They both support wired fast charging 25W, Fast wireless charging 15W and reverse wireless charging 4.5W. There is ultra-sonic under-glass fingerprint scanner at the front for security.

Specifications

Specifications	Samsung Galaxy S21	Samsung Galaxy S21+
Dimension & Weight	151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm 169 g	161.5 x 75.6 x 7.8 mm 200 g
Display	6.2 inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz HDR10+ 1080 x 2400 pixels 20:9 ratio Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 421ppi	6.7 inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz HDR10+ 1080 x 2400 pixels 20:9 ratio Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 421ppi
SoC (chipset)	Exynos 2100 (5 nm) – International Octa-core (1×2.9 GHz Cortex-X1 & 3×2.80 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A55) Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (5 nm)(China/USA/Korea) Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680) Mali-G78 MP14 – International Adreno 660 – USA/China/Korea	Exynos 2100 (5 nm) – International Octa-core (1×2.9 GHz Cortex-X1 & 3×2.80 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A55) Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (5 nm)(China/USA/Korea) Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680) Mali-G78 MP14 – International Adreno 660 – USA/China/Korea
RAM	8GB LPDDR5	8GB LPDDR5
Storage	128 GB/256GB UFS 3.1	128 GB/256GB UFS 3.1
Battery and Charging	4000 mAh battery Fast charging 25W Fast wireless charging 12W, Reverse wireless charging 4.5W	4800 mAh battery Fast charging 25W Fast wireless charging 12W, Reverse wireless charging 4.5W
Rear Camera	12 MP, f/1.8, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 64 MP, f/2.0, PDAF, OIS, 1.1x optical zoom, 3x hybrid zoom 12 MP, f/2.2, 120˚ ultrawide	12 MP, f/1.8, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 64 MP, f/2.0, PDAF, OIS, 1.1x optical zoom, 3x hybrid zoom 12 MP, f/2.2, 120˚ ultrawide
Front Camera	10 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide) Auto-HDR	10 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide) Auto-HDR
Operating System	Android 11, One UI 3.1	Android 11, One UI 3.1
Security	Fingerprint scanner, Face unlock	Fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
Water Resistant	IP68 rating	IP68 rating
Sensors	Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer	Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Other Features	Single or Hybrid Dual SIM Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot FM radio, USB 3.2, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go	Single or Hybrid Dual SIM Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot FM radio, USB 3.2, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G Price In Nepal

Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at $799(8GB/128GB) and $849 for 8GB/256GB. Pre-booking starts from 15th January globally. We can expect the phone to be launched soon in Nepal too.

Model Name	Price(Global)	Price In Nepal(Expected)
Galaxy S21 (8GB/128GB)	$799	NPR. 1,00,000
Galaxy S21 (8GB/256GB)	$849	NPR. 1,10,000

Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G Price In Nepal

Samsung Galaxy S21+ starts at $999(8GB/128GB) and $1049 for 8GB/256GB. Pre-booking starts from 15th January globally. We can expect the phone to be launched soon in Nepal too.