Everyone calls the Galaxy S21 Ultra the no-compromise Android flagship. It isn’t.
Samsung finally built the Ultra that last year’s S20 Ultra pretended to be, but it got there by quietly cutting features and leaning on marketing spin where the hardware can’t keep up.
A Real Ultra This Time – With Some Fine Print
On paper, the S21 Ultra is the most complete Galaxy in years. Samsung fixed most of the S20 Ultra’s biggest sins: compromised 120Hz, fake “5x” zoom, unreliable autofocus, and weak endurance from a big battery.
You now get a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel at 1440 x 3200 (515ppi) that can actually run at 120Hz at full resolution, with an adaptive 10–120Hz refresh window and up to 1,500-nit peak brightness in HDR. There’s a Wacom digitizer baked in for S Pen support, a revamped camera system with proper 3x and 10x optical zoom, and dramatically better battery life out of the same 5,000mAh capacity.
But the fine print starts before you even turn it on. There’s no charger or headphones in the box, and no microSD slot. Samsung mocked Apple for the first one and spent years selling expandable storage as a differentiator before killing it here. You get a thin USB‑C cable and a pre‑applied plastic screen protector. That’s it.
Design: Premium, Polarizing, and Slippery as Hell
Samsung clearly wanted the S21 Ultra to look like a brutalist slab of glass and metal. Mission accomplished. Whether that’s a compliment depends on your taste and your grip strength.
The front is almost all screen, protected by Gorilla Glass Victus with subtle 2.5D edges instead of aggressive curves. The back is also Victus, but with a matte finish that feels great, hides fingerprints, and is still ridiculously slippery. The aluminum frame has been widened and the rear curves shortened, which makes the phone feel bulkier than the S20 Ultra even though it isn’t technically thicker.
The new camera “island” is not an island at all; it’s a metal continent that spills out from the frame and eats a big chunk of the rear. Samsung wants you to see it as an integrated design element, like the phone was milled from a single block and then chiseled around the camera stack. In reality, it’s a take‑it‑or‑leave‑it look, and it makes the phone wobble like crazy on a desk.
Build quality is what you expect at this level: glass front and back, IP water resistance, solid metal rails, stereo speakers, and no 3.5mm jack. The tradeoffs are the missing microSD slot, extra weight, and the fact this is one of the slipperiest phones around. You’ll almost certainly need a case, which means your thousand‑dollar design exercise goes straight under TPU.
Display and Battery: Samsung Finally Nails the Basics
The S21 Ultra screen is the one genuinely Ultra component that doesn’t need excuses. It’s the only S21 model with a 1440p OLED, and it finally lets you run 120Hz at that full resolution instead of forcing a drop to 1080p.
Adaptive behavior is aggressive and smart. In the UI, browsers, and social apps, you’re seeing 120Hz while you’re scrolling and 60Hz once you stop. Video apps like YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video drop to 48Hz for 24fps content or 60Hz for standard 30/60fps, with 120Hz used around UI interactions and high-res HDR playback.
Brightness is strong in real-world use: around 458 nits in manual testing, blasting up to just over 1,000 nits in bright conditions. HDR10+ support and accurate color profiles (a very tight deltaE of ~2 in Natural mode) make this easily one of the best panels of its generation. It also unlocks 120Hz in a bunch of popular games, from Shadowgun Legends and Mortal Kombat to Alto’s Odyssey.
The catch? Samsung’s 10Hz floor rarely shows up where you’d expect. The always‑on display still runs at 60Hz, and the camera viewfinder is capped at 60Hz too. The Adaptive label is accurate, but this is not a true 10–120Hz everywhere implementation.
Battery life, though, is a massive leap. With the same 5,000mAh capacity as the S20 Ultra, the S21 Ultra posts an endurance rating of 114 hours versus the S20 Ultra’s 87. You’re looking at over 35 hours of calling, around 15 hours of web browsing, and roughly 18 hours of video playback in standardized testing – all at 1440p with Adaptive refresh on.
That’s not just good for a high-end Android; it’s what the S20 Ultra should’ve delivered in the first place.
Charging is less impressive. The phone tops out at 25W USB Power Delivery with PPS; the 45W experiment is gone. With Samsung’s 25W adapter (which you now buy separately), you get about 54% in 30 minutes, 95% in an hour, and a full charge in around 71 minutes. Wireless charging sits at 10W+ on compatible pads, and reverse wireless (Wireless PowerShare) pushes up to 4.5W with a configurable cutoff.
Performance and Software: Ultra Power, Familiar Bloat
Internally the S21 Ultra is exactly what you’d expect from a 2021 Samsung flagship: either Snapdragon 888 (US/China) or Exynos 2100 (international), 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM in most variants, and up to 16GB on the top storage tier.
Both SoCs share the same basic CPU layout: one Cortex‑X1 performance core, three Cortex‑A78s, and four Cortex‑A55s. Exynos clocks are a bit higher on paper (up to 2.9GHz on the X1 versus 2.8GHz on Snapdragon), and its Mali‑G78 GPU (14 cores) claims around 46% uplift over the old Exynos 990. Snapdragon’s Adreno 660 promises a 35% GPU bump over Adreno 650 with better efficiency.
Benchmarks on the Exynos unit back this up: class‑leading scores in CPU and GPU tests, with roughly 25% more GPU power than last generation and one of the highest Antutu numbers among Android phones. Thermal behavior is decent – 3DMark’s Wild Life stress test shows around 70% stability with throttling only after long synthetic loads. In actual gaming, the phone stays warm but not alarming and doesn’t drop frames in a noticeable way.
Storage is UFS 3.1 across the board (128/256/512GB), and with microSD gone, the upsell from 128 to 256GB for about €50 is basically Samsung’s “sorry”.
On the software side, you’re getting Android 11 with One UI 3.1 out of the box and Samsung’s stated promise of three major OS updates, so Android 14 should land in 2023. One UI 3.x is an iterative update rather than a full rethink: notification shade tweaks, updated volume controls, media controls under quick toggles, notification history, Bubbles support, and better permission prompts all line up with Android 11’s core changes.
Samsung layers its own ecosystem on top: DeX (wired and wireless), Link to Windows, Edge Panels, Game Launcher, Samsung Internet, Samsung Gallery, and more. You can now pin apps in the share sheet and refine settings searches with hashtag-like keywords.
The good news: the new ultrasonic fingerprint reader (Qualcomm 3D Sonic Gen 2) is noticeably faster, with a 77% larger sensing area than Gen 1, and works reliably even with the pre‑applied plastic protector. The bad news: Samsung’s long-standing habit of duplication and settings sprawl is still here, and while the company removed mention from its promo material, ads and promotion-y banners are still part of its software culture.
S Pen and eSIM: Ultra Finally Learns New Tricks
The S21 Ultra is the first non‑Note Galaxy with S Pen support, and that’s a bigger deal than Samsung’s marketing made it sound. There’s no silo in the frame and no stylus in the box, but the display includes a Wacom layer that works with existing S Pens, a new S21 Ultra‑branded pen, and upcoming S Pen Pro, plus compatible third-party Wacom styluses.
Right now you get the “core” pen experience: low-latency handwriting in Samsung Notes, Screen Off Memo, Smart Select, Screen Write, Air Command shortcuts, hover previews in Gallery and Calendar, Screen Translate, Live Messages, AR Doodle, and the PENUP art app. It feels very much like a Note in daily pen use, minus the convenience of docking.
What you don’t get yet are Bluetooth-powered Air Actions. Even Bluetooth S Pens from older Notes can’t be paired, because Notes used the physical docking mechanism to manage pairing. For that, you’ll need the S Pen Pro plus a future software update.
On the connectivity side, the S21 Ultra shipped with 5G, Wi‑Fi 6E, UWB, and stereo speakers – all the buzzwords – but US owners had to wait for something more basic: eSIM. Only with the One UI 4.0 beta did eSIM finally flip on for US units, using QR code activation and still limited by carrier support. Google’s Pixels have done eSIM since 2017, so this is less “innovation” and more Samsung catching up on a checkbox.
Cameras: Versatile, Powerful, and Still a Bit Overprocessed
This is where the S21 Ultra really tries to earn the Ultra badge. Unlike last year’s fake 5x zoom and laser‑less 108MP experiment, the new setup is genuinely stacked:
- 108MP ISOCELL HM3 main sensor (1/1.33″, 0.8µm, 9‑to‑1 binning to 12MP, f/1.8, 24mm eq, OIS)
- 12MP ultrawide (1/2.55″, 1.4µm, 13mm eq, f/2.2) with autofocus and macro capability
- 10MP 3x telephoto (1/3.24″, 1.22µm, 70mm eq, f/2.4, OIS, Dual Pixel AF)
- 10MP 10x periscope telephoto (1/3.24″, 1.22µm, 240mm eq, f/4.9, OIS, Dual Pixel AF)
- Laser AF module for the main camera
- 40MP Quad Bayer selfie camera (0.7µm, 25mm eq, f/2.2, AF)
The HM3 sensor brings real upgrades over the HM1: Smart ISO Pro for simultaneous high/low ISO HDR with 12‑bit color, a Low Noise mode claiming up to 50% better light sensitivity, and Super PD Plus with micro‑lenses for more reliable autofocus, especially in low light.
In daylight, 12MP binned shots from the main camera are detailed, clean, and have excellent dynamic range, but Samsung still leans on aggressive sharpening and processing. Complex patterns and fine detail (think blinds and textured walls) can look unnatural because of the binning math and edge enhancement. Colors and white balance are more accurate than older Galaxies, which is refreshing.
If you care enough, shooting 108MP and downscaling manually to 12MP can give you more natural textures at the cost of some noise and workflow pain. Native 108MP files aren’t amazing full‑res – they’re softer and noisier than the megapixel count suggests.
The ultrawide delivers good but not incredible results: solid color and DR, but fine detail is often smeared away by overzealous noise reduction and sharpening. Autofocus is the real differentiator here, enabling surprisingly useful macro shots with Samsung’s “focus enhancer” mode. Those 12MP closeups look sharp and detailed, and frankly they’re more interesting than the standard ultrawide landscapes.
Both telephotos output 12MP images thanks to upscaling from their 10MP sensors. The 3x cam produces decent detail and accurate color with low noise, but again processing is visible when you zoom in. The 10x periscope is more impressive given what it’s doing: true 10x optical at 240mm, with usable detail and good contrast. Pixel‑peep and you’ll find artifacts around moving subjects and foliage that’s turned into watercolor, but compared to the S20 Ultra’s fake 10x, this is a clear win.
Portrait mode (formerly Live Focus) leans on a 2x crop from the main 108MP sensor and does an excellent job with subject separation, even around messy hair. The telephotos don’t get the same Pro treatment, but the main camera’s portraits are legitimately strong.
Low‑light is where expectations and reality diverge a bit. Standard night shots from the main camera are OK but not mind‑blowing: acceptable detail, visible noise, and clipped highlights. The sensor seems to avoid slower shutter speeds even though it has OIS, which limits what it can do in auto.
Toggle Night mode, and things change. The phone generally picks around 2 seconds of exposure and turns in much sharper, brighter, more saturated images with controlled noise and recovered shadow detail. It’s a big improvement and the mode you should default to in anything darker than good street lighting.
The ultrawide is weak in low light without Night mode – dark, noisy, and lacking detail. Night mode cleans things up dramatically, boosting exposure and color while taming noise. It’s still not on the level of the main shooter, but it goes from “I guess” to fully usable.
The 3x tele handles night scenes reasonably in decent light, and Night mode again helps a lot, pulling in more detail and improving DR. The 10x periscope is understandably more fragile: standard 10x shots at night are usable, Night mode bumps exposure but risks blur unless you’re very steady.
On top of this, Samsung keeps its “Space Zoom” party tricks. The infamous 100x is still mostly a marketing flex, but the 30x “Moon shot” feature on the 10x lens can produce social‑media‑worthy lunar images when Scene Optimizer kicks in.
Video is a mixed bag. You can shoot 4K60 on every camera, including the selfie, and 8K24 on the main sensor. 8K files are heavy (around 80Mbps, h.265 only) and not actually that detailed; compression artifacts and softness make them more spec sheet fodder than something most people should use.
4K30 footage is where the phone shines: clean, with good detail, color, DR, and noise performance across all lenses. 4K60 oddly looks softer despite double the bitrate (~70Mbps), which is disappointing. EIS can run on top of OIS for all cameras, and stabilization is strong.
The real gotcha is in super slow‑motion. Unlike the S21 and S21 Plus, which can do native 960fps 0.5s bursts thanks to DRAM‑equipped 12MP sensors, the S21 Ultra can only shoot 480fps natively and then digitally doubles frames to fake 960fps with longer playback. That means half the frames are duplicates, and ghosting/blur is inevitable if processing can’t fully compensate.
The limitation doesn’t come from the SoC – Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 both support 960fps capture – but from the 108MP HM3 sensor, which simply doesn’t support native 960fps due to its shutter characteristics. Samsung chose resolution and sensor features over high-speed memory and tried to patch around it in software.
Most people rarely touch 960fps, but if you care about true super slow‑mo, the cheaper S21 models actually do it better.
S21 Ultra vs S20 Ultra and S21: Real Gains, Small Margins
Compared to the S20 Ultra, the new phone is a clear, if not massive, upgrade across the board.
Daylight photos from the main camera have slightly better dynamic range and more accurate color. Ultrawide output is basically the same across S20 Ultra, S21, and S21 Ultra – same 12MP sensor, same strengths and weaknesses.
Telephoto is where the S21 Ultra walks away. The old S20 Ultra’s 4x module defaulting to 5x simply can’t compete with a dedicated 3x plus a true 10x periscope. S20 Ultra 10x shots look like cropped and upscaled 3–4x images, while S21 Ultra’s 10x samples, despite their processing quirks, are actually pulled from a 240mm lens.
In low light, the S21 Ultra’s main camera edges out the S20 Ultra and S21 primarily on noise handling and slightly richer saturation, especially with Night mode engaged. Ultrawide low‑light is uniformly mediocre without Night mode and acceptable with it on both generations. Telephoto at night is again in the S21 Ultra’s favor thanks to cleaner 3x results and more usable Night mode zoom.
Performance-wise, Exynos 2100 is a solid improvement on the Exynos 990 found in international S20 Ultras, especially on GPU and efficiency. And with the S21 Ultra finally taking 1440p 120Hz seriously while also delivering far better battery life, the generational gap feels tangible, not just incremental.
Against the regular S21, the Ultra wins on display resolution, S Pen support, long-range zoom, and battery endurance. The S21’s camera tuning is very close in most scenarios, which is both a compliment to the base model and a reminder that most buyers don’t need an Ultra to get very good photos.
Verdict: Ultra Done Right, But Not Ultra for Everyone
Taken in isolation, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is the Android flagship playbook executed properly. Samsung finally stopped sabotaging its own spec sheet with weird compromises. You get a genuinely high‑end 1440p 120Hz panel, excellent endurance from a 5,000mAh battery, elite performance, a highly capable and flexible camera system, S Pen support, and three major OS updates.
But it’s also a phone that quietly drops things power users care about – microSD, bundled chargers, native 960fps – while doubling down on heavy processing and design choices that won’t suit everyone. It’s heavier, more slippery, and more visually divisive than it needs to be, and some of the headline video features (8K, 960fps) are still more demo fodder than tools.
If you absolutely want Samsung’s most capable camera and display in a single device and you’re fine buying into the ecosystem tax – adapters, cases, maybe an S Pen and compatible charger – the S21 Ultra is the “real” Ultra the S20 Ultra never was. For everyone else, a cheaper S21 variant or even last year’s better‑priced hardware will get you 80–90% of this experience without the literal and figurative weight.
Check back soon as this story develops.