Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: The biggest changes to expect

On the surface, a Samsung Galaxy S21 v.s Galaxy S20 comparison doesn’t reveal many changes based on all the leaks. After all, Galaxy S21 rumors suggest that Samsung doesn’t have a radical redesign planned for its early 2021 release, with the same look and feel of the phones it introduced a little more than 9 months ago.

But it would be wrong to think of the Galaxy S21 as a “more of the same”-style update from Samsung, at least based on what we’ve heard so far. While many of the rumored improvements are what you might expect — a faster processor, improved cameras and potentially better battery life — at least one model could feature an S Pen as the line blurs between the Note and S series. 

We’ve got a little bit to go before the Galaxy S21 arrives, giving leakers more time to fill in the details about the upcoming phones. But we know enough to compare the 2021 flagships with the current handsets Samsung offers. Here’s how the Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 showdown is shaping up, as we look at what might be different with the new phones.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Specs

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Price and availability

No consensus has emerged yet on how Samsung plans to price the Galaxy S21. Many assume that the prices introduced earlier this year — a $999 starting price for the Galaxy S20, followed by the $1,119 Galaxy S20 Plus and $1,399 Galaxy S20 Ultra — will apply to the comparable S21 models when they debut.

At least one leaker, Max Weinbach, has suggested that Samsung could find a way to lower the entry-level price of the Galaxy S21. There’s no pricing scheme that reveals just how much costs could fall, but keep in mind that Samsung followed by the Galaxy S20 launch with the introduction of the Galaxy S20 FE for $699. That phone, which costs $300 less than the S20, sports many of the same key features, like a powerful processor and fast-refreshing screen, while making trade-offs in terms of design. Samsung could pursue a similar path with the S21 and S21 Plus, while retaining the S21 Ultra as the most expensive option with premium features.

Whatever price Samsung settles on, we’re likely to see the Galaxy S21 earlier than the S20 debuted. Samsung held its S20 event in February 2020, with the phones arriving a few weeks later. Rumors say that timeline is moving forward for 2021, with the S21 making its debut at a still unannounced Jan. 14 event. The phone would then hit store shelves before the end of January.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Design and models

The Galaxy S20 family debuted with three models (at least until the Galaxy S20 FE came along), and it sounds as if Samsung will take a similar big/bigger/biggest approach to the S21 lineup. Starting with the 6.2-inch Galaxy S21, you’ll also have 6.7-inch Galaxy S21 Plus and 6.8-inch Galaxy S21 Ultra models to pick from. 

The S21 Ultra’ screen is slightly smaller than the 6.9-inch panel Samsung used for the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Otherwise, the models sound like they’ll be the same size as last year.

That’s not the only thing that looks unchanged, at least based on the renders we’ve seen so far of the new S21 lineup. Samsung’s new phones should look a lot like the old ones with a full-screen display interrupted only by a punch-hole cutout in the center of the screen. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is expected to keep a curved display, while the S21 and S21 Plus will feature straighter edges.

One rumor suggests Samsung could use its “glasstic” material for the Galaxy S21 — that’s a plastic back meant to look like glass — similar to what Samsung used for the Galaxy S20 FE. Theoretically, that would help Samsung lower the price on the Galaxy S21 without cutting corners on too many other premium features.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Display

The marquee feature introduced with the Galaxy S20 lineup — a display that refreshes at a faster rate for smoother scrolling and more immersive viewing — is all but guaranteed to return with the Galaxy S21’s debut. But Samsung could introduce a major improvement.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra released at the end of summer also featured a 120Hz refresh rate, but added the ability to dynamically adjust that rate based on your on-screen activity. That means when you’re doing things like looking at static images, the display can adjust to a slower rate, saving on battery. It’s likely the Galaxy S21 Ultra will pick up that adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, while the S21 and S21 Plus feature a 120Hz refresh rate you’ll need to adjust manually.

Some leakers have even suggested that Samsung might take the Galaxy S21 Ultra one step further with a 144Hz refresh rate. That would put the upcoming phone on par with gaming phones that offer similar refresh rates, while also helping to justify a higher price than the other S21 models. However, reports of a 144Hz refresh rate for the Galaxy S21 Ultra don’t seem as solid as the other rumors we’ve heard.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Cameras

Other than fast-refreshing displays, no Galaxy S20 feature commanded as much attention as the cameras on those phones — particularly the high-end array Samsung introduced with the Galaxy S20 Ultra. That particular model featured a 108MP main camera along with a zoom lens capable of delivering a 100x “Space Zoom” for greater details on shots. Unfortunately, the S20 Ultra camera also ran into some autofocus features triggered in some part by those demanding specs.

Samsung learned its lessons, and you can expect the Galaxy S21 Ultra to reflect that. The 108MP main sensor is expected to return in the new version of the phone, as well the telephoto lens and its 100x zooming ability. (For optical zooming, the S21 Ultra could feature two telephoto lenses — one with a 3x zoom and the other capable of a 10x optical zoom.) This time, though, Samsung will reportedly include laser autofocus to address any focusing issues; the feature certainly helped the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra produce great zoom shots.

In addition to those cameras and sensors, expect the Galaxy S21 Ultra to round out the camera array with a wide-angle lens. That would give Samsung’s most expensive S21 model a four-camera array on the back. Meanwhile, the S21 and S21 plus would feature a more common three-camera setup — a 12MP main lens, 12MP ultrawide shooter and a 64MP telephoto lens.

It sounds like Samsung wants to deliver more than just beefed-up hardware with the S21’s cameras. “While we’re already known for our revolutionary cameras, we’ll never stop trying to outdo ourselves — so be on the lookout for super-intelligent, pro-grade camera and video capabilities in 2021,” Samsung Electronics president TM Roh wrote in a post previewing the electronics giant’s phone plans for the new year.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Performance

The Galaxy S20 family featured the Snapdragon 865 system-on-chip, at least for phones released in the US. (In other parts of the world, Samsung used its own Exynos 990 processor.) The Galaxy S21 is likely to continue Samsung’s tradition of grabbing Qualcomm’s best mobile processor available for its Galaxy S series, by introducing the Snapdragon 888 in its new flagship phones.

Introduced earlier this month, the Snapdragon 888 promises a number of enhancements for mobile gaming, photography and artificial intelligence. For performance, Qualcomm says the new chipset’s Kryo 680 CPU will deliver up to a 25% boost in overall performance compared to the Snapdragon 865. The Adreno 660 GPU should render graphics 35% faster than the previous generation.

Early benchmarks that have leaked on test sites haven’t been too encouraging, though it’s likely that many of the results we’ve seen so far haven’t used mobile processing platforms optimized for performance — something that changes by the time a new phone is ready to ship. Our expectation is that a Galaxy S21 powered by the Snapdragon 888 (or the Exynos 2100 for models outside the U.S.) will outperform the Galaxy S20 rather handily and perhaps even narrow the performance gap with the A14 Bionic-powered iPhone 12. But we’d expect Apple’s A14 chip to still beat out whatever’s inside the Galaxy S21 when it comes to benchmarking numbers.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Battery life and charging

On the surface, there may not be much difference between the battery sizes in the Galaxy S21 models and last year’s S20 lineup. Current rumors suggest the Galaxy S21 will have a 4,000 mAh battery while the S21 Ultra will rely on a 5,000 mAh power pack. These are the same battery capacities found in the comparable S20 models. Only the Galaxy S21 Plus looks like it’s due for a bigger battery, with rumors suggesting that a 4,800 mAh will replace the 4,500 mAh module found in the S20 Plus.

Ultimately, though, the lack of any change to battery size may not matter when it comes to battery life, as least for the Galaxy S21. With that model set to feature a less demanding resolution, power consumption is likely to fall off for the Galaxy S21 — with that phone potentially lasting two hours longer than the Galaxy S20, according to some calculations. Throw in a more efficient chipset — the Snapdragon 888 is expected to feature better power efficiency than the Snapdragon 865 — and the S21 models might last longer on a charge than the last round of Galaxy flagships.

We don’t know what kind of charging the Galaxy S21 will support, though the 25-watt wired and 15-watt wireless charging of the S20 seems like a good baseline for expectations. You may be on the hook for buying your own charger, though. A rumor suggests Samsung may not include a charger in the box with its upcoming flagships, mirroring a move Apple made with the iPhone 12. You may recall Samsung put out an ad mocking Apple’s decision, so it may be worth asking who’s laughing now.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20: Software and S Pen

The Galaxy S21 phones will arrive with Android 11 pre-installed — not really a big edge over the Galaxy S20, since Samsung is in the process of updating its current phones with the latest version of Android. That means a new skin on top of Android, with the new One UI 3 interface introducing tweaks like the ability to hold an app icon to quickly access widgets, a revamped volume slider and wireless DeX support, among other highlights.

The biggest edge the Galaxy S21 could hold over the S20 series may be restricted to the Ultra model. Rumors suggest the S21 Ultra will gain support for Samsung’s S Pen, the stylus previously limited to Galaxy Note devices. Samsung has confirmed that it’s bringing popular Note features to other devices, and there’s no Note capability more popular than the S Pen. We’re not anticipating that the S21 Ultra will ship with its own stylus — you’ll likely have to buy that separately, along with any case for housing the S Pen alongside your phone.

Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Samsung Galaxy S20: Outlook

We won’t have the definitive word on the Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 differences until the new phones arrive in the early part of 2021. From what we’ve heard, though, S Pen support and adaptive refresh rates could be a significant step forward, at least for the Galaxy S21 Ultra model.

The Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus sound like more modest upgrades over their predecessors, with welcome changes but ones you’d expect from one year to the next. Still, if Samsung can find a way to keep costs down, that could be the most noteworthy change of all introduced by the Galaxy S21.