Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Which phone should you buy?

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 Atomic number 26: Which phone should you purchase?

(Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

Update: With the arrival of the Galaxy S21 FE , we no longer recommend purchasing a Milky way S20 Fe unless you find a killer good deal. The newer model does the same things and keeps the $699.

In this Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE face-off, we swoop into just how different these 2 phones are. When it comes downwardly to it, the Samsung Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S20 Fe are impressive phones, especially for the money. The S21 has many features going for it — a display with a dynamic refresh rate, a top-of-the-line processor and top-performing cameras. But one of its most attractive features may exist its cost. At $799, this is 1 of the least expensive flagship phones Samsung has introduced in years.

But information technology's not the to the lowest degree expensive. That honor goes to the Galaxy S20 FE, which debuted last year at $699. Even with that lower price, the Galaxy S20 FE didn't make too many trade-offs from the rest of the Galaxy S20 lineup, as it still offered the same processor and a brandish with a 120Hz refresh charge per unit. At the time of its release, we hailed the Galaxy S20 FE every bit quite a bargain. Granted, it's not every bit cheap as the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A13 5G, which volition sell for $249. Although, both phones are for completely separate markets.

Best Samsung phones: Where these devices rank
Comparing the Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S21 Plus vs. Galaxy S21 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Fe vs. iPhone 12: How does the iPhone compare?

Does the Milky way S20 Iron still hold that title? Or has information technology been surpassed by the Galaxy S21, which may price more but offers more advanced specs? To find out, a Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE face-off tin tell u.s. which Samsung phone is the ameliorate buy.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 Fe: Specs

	Samsung Galaxy S21	Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
Starting cost	$799	$699
Screen size	half dozen.2 inch AMOLED (2400 x1080)	six.five inch AMOLED (2400 x 1080)
Refresh charge per unit	48 - 120Hz	120Hz
CPU	Snapdragon 888	Snapdragon 865
RAM	8GB	6GB
Storage	128GB, 256GB	128GB
microSD?	No	Yes
Rear cameras	12MP wide (ƒ/1.8), 12MP ultra-wide (ƒ/two.2), 64MP telephoto (ƒ/2.0) with 3x hybrid zoom/30x digital	12MP main (ƒ/1.8), 12MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2), 8MP telephoto (ƒ/2.4) 3x hybrid zoom/30x digital
Front cameras	10MP (ƒ/two.two)	32MP (ƒ/ii.2)
Battery size	iv,000 mAh	4,500 mAh
Size	six x 2.8 ten 0.31 inches	vi.29 x ii.93 10 0.33 inches
Weight	6.07 ounces	6.seven ounces
Colors	Phantom Violet, Phantom Pink, Phantom White, Phantom Gray	Navy, Lavander, Mint, Cherry, White, Orangish

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Price and availability

The Milky way S21's $799 debut price is $200 cheaper than what Samsung charged for last year'southward Milky way S20. That high cost for the S20 — and, more probable, consumers' reaction to it — probably pushed Samsung to come up out with the Galaxy S20 FE at a much lower price. That phone debuted at $699 in Oct.

And now that the Galaxy S21 FE has arrived, you can probable find a lower price for the Galaxy S20 FE. You can observe deals and trade-in offers, though nosotros'd strongly recommend against ownership an S20 Iron right now.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Pattern

The Galaxy S20 FE is the bigger of the 2 phones, at vi.29 x 2.93 x 0.33 inches. That makes it slightly taller and wider than the more slender S21. The half dozen.07-ounce Galaxy S21 weighs less than half-dozen.seven-ounce S20 Iron, though unless you lot've replaced your hands with scales, nosotros doubt yous'll observe the difference.

The phones share a few things in common. Both take IP68 water resistance ratings, handling a i.five meters dunk in h2o. Both also feature plastic backs, a toll cutting move that lets Samsung charge less for each device. When we reviewed both the Galaxy S21 and Milky way S20 FE, we didn't have a problem with that trade-off, merely don't expect the glass backs that you get with Samsung'south fancier flagships.

The Galaxy S21 introduces a new contour cut blueprint where the camera assortment on the back of the telephone seems to blend in with the metal band around the side. That gives the S21 a distinctive wait while helping the camera array blend into the overall blueprint of the phone in a way that doesn't happen with the S20 FE.

The Galaxy S20 Atomic number 26 boasts one benefit over the S21, with a microSD slot that allows you to boost storage upward to 1TB. Samsung skipped this option on the Galaxy S21, and then yous're stuck with the on-board storage yous become with the telephone — either 128GB or 256GB. (The S20 FE features a unmarried 128GB configuration.)

Y'all'll have a few more than colors to choose from with the Galaxy S20 FE, which comes in Navy, Lavender, Mint, Red, White and Orangish. The S21 keeps things simple with Phantom Violet, Phantom Pink, Phantom White, Phantom Grey.

Samsung Milky way S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Display

You'll get a larger display with the Milky way S20 FE, as it offers a 6.v-inch AMOLED panel to the half-dozen.2-inch screen on the Galaxy S21. Both phones offer FHD+ resolution at 2400 10 1080. That means things are a footling sharper on the S21's smaller screen, as it offers 421 pixels per inch to the Galaxy S20 FE's 407.

Each telephone can support 120Hz refresh rates — meaning given each phone'south respective price tag, since that's a feature normally reserved for the nearly expensive phones. Only the Galaxy S21 offers a dynamic refresh rate, though, ranging from 48Hz to 120Hz depending on what you're doing with your telephone. (The more screen motility, the faster the refresh rate.) The Galaxy S20 Atomic number 26 is stuck at 120Hz if you enable the characteristic, which could put a hit on battery life.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review — (Image credit: Future)

The Galaxy S21's brandish is brighter, though just past a little bit. We measured a maximum brightness of 711 nits on the S21, which is slightly better than the Galaxy S20 FE's 679 nit reading. The S20 FE screen captures more of the DCI-P3 color infinite (133.iii% vs.77.four%), while the colors on the S21 were slightly more accurate than the Galaxy S20 FE.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 Fe: Cameras

In that location'due south no difference in the number of lenses on either phone, though the optics are better on the Galaxy S21, as you might expect. Both phones use a 12MP sensor as their principal lens with a 12MP ultrawide shooter along for the ride.

It's the telephoto lenses where things actually diverge. The Milky way S21 uses a 64MP sensor that delivers a 3x optical zoom and can get up to 30x with the assistance of software. The 8MP telephoto lens on the Milky way S20 Atomic number 26 tin also offer a 3x optical/30x digital zoom, but we'd presume shots on the S21 are a bit sharper. The S21 also benefits from a Zoom Lock feature that hones in on your subject and steadies the shot for less fuzzy photos.

That's not the only way in which the Galaxy S21's cameras reap the reward of software improvements. The newer telephone has an updated version of the Single Take feature that debuted on the Galaxy S20; with Single Take 2, wearisome motility videos now enter the mix of the images your phone captures simultaneously from multiple cameras.

Director's View on the Galaxy S21 lets you shoot video using both the rear and front cameras simultaneously, and yous can besides toggle between the shots captured past the phone'south different lenses. Portrait video features add the mistiness that'south common with portrait withal shots these days. In other words, the Galaxy S21 is a far more capable shooter than the Galaxy S20 Fe, and one of the best camera phones nosotros've seen.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Performance and 5G

One of the best things nearly the Galaxy S20 FE is that it didn't cut corners on processing power to arrive at a lower price. Similar the rest of the Galaxy S20 lineup, the Atomic number 26 ran on the Snapdragon 865. Even with less RAM than those other S20 models — the Iron made do with 6GB — Samsung's budget flagship offered comparable performance to many of the all-time Android phones that came out last yr.

Of course, the Galaxy S21 outdoes the Galaxy S20 FE with an even newer organisation-on-chip, Qualcomm'southward Snapdragon 888. That, along with the 8GB of RAM Samsung has included, helps the S21 post a Geekbench 5 score of iii,302 in the multicore test. That edges the Galaxy S20 Iron'southward 2,928 consequence.

The S21 as well tops the S20 Fe in our real-world test where we employ Adobe Premiere Rush to transcode a 4K video into 1080p. The Galaxy S21 completes that task in 1 minute and 3 seconds, shaving 21 seconds off the S20 FE'south time.

Both the Galaxy S21 and Milky way S20 Fe are 5G-capable phones that work with the faster network that carriers are currently rolling out across the land. While the S21 supports all 5G bands, Samsung had to produce a dissever Galaxy S20 Fe UW version that could have advantage of Verizon's super-fast mmWave-based 5G towers.

Samsung Milky way S21 vs. Milky way S20 Atomic number 26: Battery and charging

At 4,500 mAh, the battery inside the Galaxy S20 Iron is larger than the 4,000 mAh power pack used by the Galaxy S21. Simply it's not the size of the bombardment, it's what yous do with it. The Galaxy S21 outlasted the S20 Fe on our bombardment test, which involves surfing the web over a cellular connection until the telephone runs out of power. The Galaxy S21 lasted 9 hours and 53 minutes on our examination, versus 8 hours and 58 minutes for the Galaxy S20 FE.

Samsung Galaxy S21 v. Galaxy S20 FE — Galaxy S20 FE (Image credit: Time to come)

Of course, the S21's event comes with a caveat. Nosotros got that fourth dimension by setting the screen's refresh rate to 60 Hz. With the dynamic refresh rate feature enabled, the Galaxy S21's bombardment examination time fell by more than 3 hours to 6:31. Neither of these phones are long-lasting devices.

The Galaxy S20 Fe only includes a 15W charger which gets the drained phone up to a 35% charge in 30 minutes. At to the lowest degree, you get a charger with the S20 FE — Samsung stopped including that accessory with the Galaxy S21. If you do accept a 25W charger, you can go to a 55% charge in 30 minutes with the S21.

Samsung Milky way S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Software and special features

The Galaxy S21 ships with Android 11 pre-installed, which means it likewise features Samsung's Ane UI 3 interface built on top of the latest version of Android. While the Galaxy S20 Atomic number 26 came out effectually the same fourth dimension equally Android 11's release, it still shipped with Android 10, simply the Android 11 update has been rolling out to devices.

That means there aren't many software differences between these two phones, as Samsung reserved many of the special features for the Galaxy S21 Ultra. If you want S Pen support, for example, y'all'll have to pay upward for the $ane,199 Ultra, as that feature is non included with the Galaxy S21.

Samsung Milky way S21 vs Milky way S20 Iron: What about the Galaxy S21 Atomic number 26?

The Galaxy S21 Iron has arrived and it's basically much the same as the Milky way S20 FE. It keeps the $699 toll point and many of the same corners cut. For case, the high refresh charge per unit brandish is not adaptable. You lock it at either 60Hz or 120Hz.

There's however 6GB of RAM and the telephoto lens is a much lower resolution than the regular Galaxy S21's. Still, for $699 information technology's not a bad phone, simply it certainly isn't a swell ane, either.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Bottom line

The Galaxy S20 Fe was an eye-opening bargain when information technology debuted in late 2020, and it's a decent option if you lot can find it for less than its $699 debut price. But the arrival of the Galaxy S21 for a lower cost than past Samsung flagships is a game-changer, peculiarly when you lot consider all the advances Samsung has included in this year's models.

As expert a value as the Galaxy S20 Atomic number 26 is, the Galaxy S21 shows that you don't take to wait around for an FE version of one of Samsung'due south phones to get more than for your money. The Galaxy S21 FE has proven that peradventure the Galaxy S20 Iron should accept been a 1-off deal.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has potent opinions virtually Apple, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.