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Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 8 months after. 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 (4)
Key differences
An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Comes with 648 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4352 mAh
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- 12% higher pixel density (515 vs 458 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
- Shows 40% longer battery life (43:44 vs 31:14 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 58% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1730 and 1097 points
- The phone is 8-months newer
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 | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
Size | 6.8 inches | 6.7 inches |
Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels | 1284 x 2778 pixels |
Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
PPI | 515 ppi | 458 ppi |
Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
Max rated brightness | 1500 nits | 1000 nits |
Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1200 nits |
HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Ceramic Shield |
Screen-to-body ratio | 89.8% | 87.4% |
Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display | - DCI-P3 |
RGB color space | - | 99.9% |
PWM | - | 238 Hz |
Response time | - | 8.5 ms |
Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]
Design and build
Height | 165.1 mm (6.5 inches) | 160.8 mm (6.33 inches) |
Width | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) |
Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
Weight | 227 gramm (8.01 oz) | 240 gramm (8.47 oz) |
Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
Rear material | Glass | Glass |
Frame material | Metal | Metal |
Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue | Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green |
Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Performance
Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max in the benchmarks
SoCChipset | Samsung Exynos 2100 | Apple A15 Bionic |
Max. clock | 2840 MHz | 3200 MHz |
CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 3 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A78 - 1 core at 2.9 GHz: Cortex-X1 | - 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.24 GHz: Avalanche |
Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
Graphics | Mali-G78 MP14 | Apple GPU |
GPU clock | 760 MHz | 1200 MHz |
RAM size | 12, 16 GB | 6 GB |
Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
Memory clock | 2750 MHz | 2133 MHz |
Channels | 2 | 2 |
Storage size | 128, 256, 512 GB | 128, 256, 512, 1024 GB |
Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
Memory card | No | No |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
CPU | 198194 | 213823 |
GPU | 290543 | 317561 |
Memory | 132758 | 126792 |
UX | 138398 | 136444 |
Total score | 758325 | 794308 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Stability | 69% | 82% |
Graphics test | 31 FPS | 56 FPS |
Graphics score | 5221 | 9507 |
Software
Operating system | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16) |
ROM | One UI 4.1 | - |
OS size | 26.4 GB | 13 GB |
Battery
SpecificationsCapacity | 5000 mAh | 4352 mAh |
Charge power | 25 W | 27 W |
Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
Replaceable | No | No |
Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
Fast charging | Yes (54% in 30 min) | Yes (42% in 30 min) |
Full charging time | 1:11 hr | 1:46 hr |
Web browsing | 10:13 hr | 14:55 hr |
Watching video | 15:32 hr | 20:14 hr |
Gaming | 05:26 hr | 07:42 hr |
Standby | 98 hr | 140 hr |
Camera
Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main cameraMatrix | 108 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
Image resolution | 12000 x 9000 | 4032 x 3024 |
Zoom | Optical, 10x | Optical, 3x |
Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | No |
4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
Lenses | 4 (108 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) | 4 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP + 0 MP) |
Wide (main) lens | - 108 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung S5KHM3 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Laser autofocus - Optical stabilization | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.5 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.9 micron - Sensor: 1/1.66", Sony IMX703 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
Telephoto lens | - 10 MP - Aperture: f/4.9 - Focal length: 240 mm - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Sensor: 1/2.65", Samsung S5K3J1 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.8 - Focal length: 77 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
Ultra-wide lens | - 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) | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Phase autofocus |
Depth lens | - | - Pixel size: 1 micron |
Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max from DxOMark |
Megapixels | 40 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
Image resolution | 7864 x 5200 | 4032 x 3024 |
Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
Pixel size | 0.7 microns | 1 microns |
Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
Sensor size | 1/2.65" | 1/3.6" |
Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Connectivity
Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/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 version | 3.2 | 2 |
USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - USB-Host mode - OTG | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
NFC* | Yes | Yes |
Infrared port | No | No |
Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
Hybrid slot | No | No |
LTE Cat* | 24 | 18 |
5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
Headphone audio jack | No | No |
FM radio | No | No |
Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Other
Category | Flagship | Flagship |
Announced | January 2021 | September 2021 |
Release date | February 2021 | September 2021 |
SAR (head) | 0.71 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
SAR (body) | 1.58 W/kg | 0.98 W/kg |
Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Cast your vote
So, which phone would you choose?
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
2851 (53.9%)
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
2438 (46.1%)
Total votes: 5289
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