If you’re considering the Galaxy S21+, you’re probably stuck between three options: save money with the regular S21, go all‑out on the Ultra, or grab last year’s S20+ on discount. That’s exactly the problem with Samsung’s middle child.
The Galaxy S21+ is a very competent flagship. The question is whether it’s the smart buy in Samsung’s own lineup.
Design and Hardware: Premium Feel, Familiar Layout
Seen the Galaxy S21? You’ve basically seen the S21+. Same Phantom Violet/Phantom Black aesthetic, same camera module flowing into the aluminum frame. The twist here is materials: the Plus gets Gorilla Glass Victus front and back, where the vanilla S21 drops to plastic on the rear.
At around 200g and 7.8mm thick, the S21+ feels like a proper premium slab. The matte glass back looks refined and feels smoother than the S21, but also more slippery. You’ll want a case, both for grip and to avoid testing Victus the hard way.
Buttons and ports are classic Samsung: power and volume on the right, USB‑C and SIM tray on the bottom, secondary mic up top. The stereo speakers use the earpiece as the second channel, with a small air duct hole helping the top speaker breathe. Loudness is “very good”, with clear mids and treble but not much bass punch—cleaner than iPhones, but less boomy.
The annoying bit: no microSD card slot. The tray only holds two nano SIMs back to back. Samsung did this on the S6, walked it back with the S7, and it’s hard to see them reversing course again.
Display: Big, Bright, and 120Hz… But Still 1080p
Samsung kept the S20+’s 6.7‑inch size but cut resolution. The S21+ runs a 20:9 Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel at 2400×1080 (395ppi) with Adaptive 120Hz.
In isolation, it looks great: HDR10+ support, punchy colors, and serious brightness. In testing, the panel hits about 459 nits in manual mode and up to ~883 nits under harsh light—roughly 90 nits brighter than S20+ in similar conditions and just a bit behind the S21 Ultra.
Color tuning is classic modern Samsung:
– Vivid mode: wide gamut, saturated, slightly cool out of the box. A one‑step nudge towards “warm” fixes the blue tint and tightens average color error.
– Natural mode: accurate sRGB with dE ~1.3, but visually muted.
New this year is Eye Comfort Shield, an adaptive blue‑light filter that shifts the color temperature automatically by time of day or on a schedule.
The real controversy is 1080p on a $1000+ big‑screen flagship. Competitors like the OnePlus 8 Pro (1440×3168), Mate 40 Pro (1344×2772), and even the smaller iPhone 12 Pro outresolve it. Samsung’s justification is probably efficiency and the fact most people ran the S20 series at 1080p for 120Hz anyway, but if you care about spec parity, this is a clear step down.
On the plus side, the display is flat. That kills accidental edge touches and makes screen protectors easier, but visually it looks a bit more “plain” than curved‑edge rivals and even the S20+ it replaces.
Adaptive 120Hz and Real‑World Responsiveness
Adaptive refresh is smarter than last year’s simple 60/120 toggle. The S21+ runs up to 120Hz when you interact, then typically drops to 60Hz a couple seconds after you stop touching the screen.
In practice:
– UI, browsers, social apps: 120Hz while scrolling/touching, then 60Hz when idle.
– YouTube/Netflix/Prime Video: 120Hz for 24fps content, 60Hz for 30fps; Samsung doesn’t tie it strictly to HDR like on the S21 Ultra.
– Games: popular titles like Shadowgun Legends, Mortal Kombat, Dead Trigger 2, 1945 Air Force, Alto’s Odyssey and Pac‑Man can all run at 120Hz.
Unlike the Ultra, this panel only scales down to 48Hz rather than 10Hz, but Samsung’s actual behavior is already good enough to keep motion smooth while helping battery.
Performance and Software: Flagship Silicon, Familiar One UI
Under the hood you get one of two 5nm chips:
– Snapdragon 888 (North America/China) with Adreno 660 GPU
– Exynos 2100 (most other markets) with Mali‑G78 (14‑core) GPU
Both use the same 1x Cortex‑X1 + 3x Cortex‑A78 + 4x Cortex‑A55 layout, but clocked differently. Exynos runs its cores faster on paper (up to 2.9GHz on the X1), and in benchmarks the S21+ generally beats the S21 and trails the S21 Ultra by a small margin. It finally pulls ahead of last year’s Snapdragon 865 phones in most tests.
Thermals, as usual, tell a more nuanced story. Heavy looping benchmarks show GPU scores dropping to around 70% of the initial run. CPU scores are more stable, so the throttling is largely GPU‑side, in line with S21 and S21 Ultra behavior. In real‑world use, though, there are no obvious slowdowns or throttling issues.
RAM and storage are straightforward: 8GB LPDDR5 plus 128GB or 256GB UFS 3.1. If you want more RAM than that, you’re forced to the Ultra.
On the software side, Samsung ships Android 11 with One UI 3.1 and promises three major OS updates, so S21+ should see up to Android 14.
Key software highlights:
– Refined notification shade with full‑screen pull‑down and easier quick toggle editing.
– Android 11’s bubbles + Samsung’s own Smart pop‑up for chat‑head style notifications.
– Notification history (disabled by default, but available).
– Updated media controls in Quick Settings with output switching and Samsung’s existing Media panel.
– Granular one‑time permission prompts and improved settings search with hashtags.
The biometrics story improves thanks to Qualcomm’s second‑gen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, now an 8mm square instead of a 9x4mm rectangle. It’s faster and more forgiving, especially with damp fingers—noticeably better than even the Note 20 Ultra.
Samsung’s ecosystem tricks are here too: wireless or wired DeX, Link to Windows, and features like Continue Apps on Other Devices if you’re deep in Samsung’s hardware.
Battery, Charging, and the Missing Charger
Battery is one of the S21+’s strongest arguments. It packs a 4,800mAh cell—only 200mAh shy of the Ultra and significantly above the S21. In testing, it posts an excellent 114h endurance rating, matching the Ultra overall while even beating it by an hour in video playback (around 19h).
Rough breakdown against rivals:
– Outlasts OnePlus 8 Pro in web browsing by about 3 hours.
– Crushes iPhone 12 Pro in calls, video and web by wide margins (double‑digit hours in some cases).
Charging is where Samsung is conservative. There’s no charger in the box—just a USB‑C cable. The phone supports up to 25W USB‑PD with PPS, and with Samsung’s own 25W brick you get roughly 55% in 30 minutes and a full charge in about 1:11h. Wireless charging is supported at 10W+ plus 4.5W reverse wireless (Wireless PowerShare), with toggles to control fast wired/wireless modes and set a PowerShare cutoff.
Objectively, these numbers are fine, but competitors are simply faster. Oppo and OnePlus are in another league for wired speeds. Samsung’s argument is battery longevity and ecosystem compatibility—not headline stats.
Cameras: Same Hardware, Smarter Software
If you want a massive camera leap over the S20+, this isn’t it. The S21+ basically reuses last year’s setup:
– 12MP main, 1/1.76″, 1.8µm pixels, f/1.8, OIS
– 12MP ultra‑wide, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm pixels, f/2.2, fixed focus
– 64MP “telephoto” with ~29mm equiv. lens, f/2.0, OIS, used for hybrid zoom up to 3x
– 10MP selfie, 1/3.24″, 1.22µm, f/2.2 with AF
The key difference versus Ultra: no periscope, no AF on the ultra‑wide, and no new large sensor.
Daylight from the main camera is exactly what you’d expect from a modern Samsung flagship: high detail, wide dynamic range, and punchy but slightly toned‑down colors compared to previous generations. Noise is low, though a bit more grain is visible than on the Ultra’s bigger sensor.
The ultra‑wide is a small step up in sharpness over S20+. Distortion correction is enabled by default, trimming FoV slightly while avoiding the extreme fisheye look. Dynamic range is solid, but it will still clip highlights in tougher scenes.
The 64MP sensor behind the “tele” is doing most of the zoom heavy lifting:
– Full‑res 64MP shots are detailed and usable in good light, with slightly lower contrast.
– 2x crops from that 64MP base look clean and sharp.
– Default 3x zoom is an upscale from a cropped region, with minor softness and more visible noise, but still very usable.
Portrait mode (formerly Live Focus) is strong. The default, zoomed‑in portrait uses the 64MP camera, giving you flattering perspective and excellent subject separation, even with messy hair. There’s also a wide option using the main sensor for closer framing.
Selfies follow the same processing philosophy shift seen on the rear cameras, leaning towards more texture and less artificial smoothing than older Galaxies, with wide dynamic range. Samsung adds AI portrait effects like High‑key/Low‑key mono, Backdrop and Color point, plus optional Studio lighting to brighten faces.
Low‑light tells a predictable story:
– Main camera: good detail and color, but a relaxed noise reduction strategy leaves visible grain. Night mode brightens shadows and cuts noise, at the cost of some fine detail and a little highlight bleaching.
– Ultra‑wide: mediocre in auto in darker scenes; Night mode makes a much bigger difference here and is practically mandatory.
– 3x zoom: acceptable in well‑lit scenes; in darker conditions the phone sometimes falls back to the main sensor, producing very soft images. Night mode helps recover textures and reduce noise.
Video: 8K Gimmick, 4K Workhorse, Strong Tools
Video capabilities haven’t fundamentally changed from S20+. You still get:
– 8K at 24fps from the 64MP camera
– 4K30 and 4K60 from main and ultra‑wide
– 4K from the “tele” via crops and switching, not a dedicated 4K60 tele feed
8K is there for marketing and for cropping into a 4K timeline. Bitrate sits at 80Mbps, but footage isn’t as sharp as the raw resolution implies and compression artifacts are visible.
4K30 is the sweet spot: detailed with wide dynamic range and generally pleasing color, though noise is more visible in darker regions and skies than you’d expect from Samsung’s promo reels. 4K60 looks worse—less detail and more sharpening halos despite a 70Mbps bitrate.
The ultra‑wide’s 4K video is competitive for its class, with decent detail and noise levels. Zoomed 3x video from the 64MP camera captures intricate detail with tolerable noise.
Stabilization works in all modes, including 8K24 and 4K60, and you can actually disable it if you want—which some OEMs prevent. Walking footage at 4K30 is impressively stable on both main and ultra‑wide, with only minor panning quirks.
Selfie video remains a Samsung stronghold: 4K60 with autofocus, good detail (better at 4K30), and decent stabilization, though the narrower FoV means you have to stretch your arm further.
Director’s View and Pro Video are the software tricks that make this more creator‑friendly:
– Director’s View shows live feeds from all cameras and lets you record while switching, with the option to include the selfie feed as PIP or split screen (1080p30 only).
– Pro Video adds 24fps/120fps options and manual control over exposure, focus, and even mic direction/levels, including using two audio sources at once (phone mics plus, say, Galaxy Buds Pro).
Where the S21+ Actually Fits
Here’s the blunt positioning:
– Versus S21: you pay a hefty premium for more glass, bigger screen, and significantly better battery life. Cameras and core experience are nearly identical.
– Versus S21 Ultra: you save money and weight, but lose the superior display, periscope zoom, autofocus ultra‑wide and higher RAM/storage options.
– Versus S20+: you trade away QHD+ and microSD for better battery life, faster silicon, stronger fingerprint sensor, slightly better ultra‑wide, and updated software/features.
Against external rivals like OnePlus 8 Pro, Zenfone 7 Pro, Oppo Find X2 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro, the S21+ rarely comes out as the clear must‑buy. It often wins on battery life and Samsung ecosystem features, but loses on screen resolution, charging speeds, or camera versatility.
So should you buy it? If you want a large Samsung flagship without the Ultra’s camera bulk and price, and you’re okay with 1080p and no microSD, the S21+ is a well‑rounded, dependable option. Just be honest with yourself: most people are better served either saving money on the S21 or going all‑in on the Ultra.
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