The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra stands out from the regular Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus in several ways to earn its name. This includes dual telephoto lenses for serious zooming; support for S Pen (the first for Galaxy S phones); and a larger, brighter and more dynamic 120 Hz OLED display. The best part? The price is not as Ultra as last year’s model.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra specifications
Exhibition: 6.8 inches AMOLED (3200 x 1400); 10 to 120Hz
CPU: Snapdragon 888
RAM: 12 GB, 16 GB
Storage: 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB
Rear cameras: 108MP wide (f / 1.8), 12MP ultra wide (f / 2.2), 10MP telephoto (3x zoom, f / 2.4), 10MP telephoto (10x zoom, f / 4.9), AF laser sensor
Frontal camera: 40 MP (f / 2.2)
Video: 8K 30 fps / 4K 60 fps
Drums: 5,000 mAh
Wireless: 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, UWB
Size: 6.5 x 2.97 x 0.35 inches
Weight: 8.08 ounces
The Galaxy S21 Ultra has a starting price of $ 1,199, $ 200 less than the ambitious but flawed Galaxy S20 Ultra. The new Ultra comes with a sleeker design and offers faster performance than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chip. Still, the new S21 costs $ 100 more than the excellent iPhone 12 Pro Max, so Samsung has a lot to prove.
Samsung makes some trade-offs here. You won’t find a charger in the box, and there’s no microSD card slot to expand storage. But overall, the S21 Ultra looks like the most versatile Galaxy phone to date and a serious contender for first place on our list of best phones.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra price and release date
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is available for pre-order from January 14th at 11am ET. The release date of the Galaxy S21 Ultra is January 29. You can purchase operator and unlocked versions of the phone.
The Ultra starts at $ 1,199 and includes 12 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. You can also upgrade to 256 GB of storage and a model with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. The 256 GB model costs $ 1,249 – basically $ 50 extra – while you’ll pay $ 1,379 for a Galaxy S21 Ultra with 512 GB of storage.
Design and colors of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has a protrusion on the camera, but it doesn’t stand out from the design as much as on the S20 Ultra. A new contour cut design integrates the boss with the rear window and the surrounding metal frame better.
The colors of the Galaxy S21 Ultra are limited if you buy through an operator, only with Phantom Silver and Phantom Black as options. But the matte look is sophisticated and must resist fingerprints. Samsung.com will offer exclusive S21 Ultra colors, including Phantom Navy, Phantom Titanium and Phantom Brown.
A welcome design update is that the fingerprint sensor on the screen is now 1.7x larger, so it should be a little easier to unlock this device. This is especially useful now that many of us still wear masks.
Measuring 6.5 x 2.97 x 0.35 inches (165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm) and weighing 8.08 ounces (229 grams), the S21 Ultra is bigger and heavier than the S20 Ultra (6.6 x 2.7 x 0.34 inches, 7.7 ounces). The S21 Ultra is also noticeably thicker than the iPhone 12 Pro Max (6.33 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches, 8.03 ounces). This is definitely a phone that you want to use with both hands.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra screen
The 6.8-inch dynamic AMOLED display on the Galaxy S21 Ultra is simply on one of the best screens on a phone. It’s bright, vibrant and doesn’t make you choose between a clear QHD resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate like its predecessor. This phone allows you to do both at the same time, so you can enjoy smooth scrolling and the game without having to shrink the pixels.
The refresh rate drops to 10 Hz (compared to 48 Hz on the S21 and S21 Plus), which should help save battery. In addition, the S21 Ultra was designed to achieve super clarity outdoors, reaching 1,500 nits. The S20 Ultra reached a maximum of 1,200 nits.
Watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix, Moira Rose’s dark red lipstick and intense blue eyes appeared, and I could make out beautiful flowing blond hair as she complained about the film’s premiere.
Samsung says the S21 Ultra has a contrast ratio of 3 million: 1, which is 50% higher than the S20 Ultra. And there is an Eye Comfort Shield feature designed to reduce eye fatigue by limiting blue light.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Cameras
These are the cameras where the Galaxy S21 Ultra stands out the most against the S21 and S21 Plus. There is a main sensor of 108 MP and a camera of 12 MP, complemented by a laser autofocus sensor.
The main 108MP camera can capture 12-bit HDR photos with color data 64 times richer and more than three times the dynamic range of the S20 Ultra. In addition, there is a 12-bit RAW file option in Pro mode.
I tested the camera at a nearby store to capture an image of a product, and the green peppers in the foreground look incredibly vibrant. And you can see an incredible amount of detail when zooming in.
Samsung says it has also improved Portrait mode on the S21, taking advantage of AI to better separate the subject from the background. The phone did a good job with this portrait with a nice bokeh effect, and my blue sweatshirt and beige jacket have a lot of details.
But the main feature of the camera is the Ultra’s two telephoto lenses – one with 3x zoom and the other with 10x optical zoom. The S20 Ultra had only a 4x optical zoom.
It gets even better. Although the Space 100x Zoom has returned with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, it is not as shaky as before. That’s because there’s a new zoom lock feature that identifies the subject to keep it more stable in the frame.
Space Zoom is so good that it shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. # GalaxyS21Ultra pic.twitter.com/ONJPWtdUZYJanuary 15, 2021
The Galaxy S21 Ultra should perform better than the S21 and S21 Plus in low light, thanks to a faster Bright Night sensor and 12 MP non-binning technology to reduce noise reduction.
A photo I took outside looked brighter than in real life, but Night Mode added a golden tone that is unrealistic. The S21 Ultra really led me to fix the lighting, but the end result looked overly bright.
On the video front, the Galaxy S21 Ultra can record 8K video at up to 30 fps and all of its cameras can capture 4K video at up to 60 fps. But the coolest video update is the Director’s View. There is a new vlogger mode that allows you to use the front and rear cameras at the same time to record video. And you can see live thumbnails of each camera while recording the video, so you can make a quick call if you want to switch.
Another software update is Single Take 2.0. As before, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is smart enough to capture multiple images and videos at once for easy sharing. But AI can now analyze more frames per second to find the most beautiful photos while creating a Dynamic Slow Mo clip.
Samsung Galaxy S21 performance
The Galaxy S21 Ultra features Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 processor, which promises 20% better CPU performance, 30% better graphics and up to twice the AI performance.
We will bring benchmark results with our final analysis, but overall the S21 Ultra looks very smooth and fast so far. He has no problem juggling various open applications, and I liked the console’s gameplay by cutting and skipping why through Grimvalor. Even with several enemies on the screen, the S21 Ultra did not stutter.
Pen Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra S
For the first time, a Galaxy S device supports the S Pen, the S21 Ultra makes it happen with a Wacom digitizer built into the screen. AS Pen, which is optional, allows you to draw, sketch and annotate, in the same way as on the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra. It is also useful for signing documents quickly.
Remember that the S Pen is sold separately – it costs $ 40 – and you will need to find a compatible case if you want to store the pen when not in use. There are two options of cases with support for S Pen and both cost $ 69.99.
In addition to the S Pen – which is actually a slightly larger version of what comes with the Galaxy Note to improve its grip – Samsung is developing a second pen. OS Pen Pro will be shipped later this year for an undisclosed price. It is larger overall and offers Bluetooth connectivity.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: 5G, Wi-Fi 6E and UWB
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra supports all the latest wireless standards, starting with 5G. The Qualcomm X60 modem inside this device is capable of carrier aggregation, which should result in higher peak speeds, while offering better energy efficiency.
In addition, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the first phones to support Wi-Fi 6E, a new standard that offers faster speeds and more overall bandwidth when you have a compatible Wi-Fi 6E router.
Finally, the S21 Ultra has UWB (ultra-broadband), which facilitates file sharing with other UWB devices, such as the Galaxy S21 Plus. And you can use this phone as a digital key for selected 2022 cars.
If you’re constantly missing out on things – like me – you’ll want to take a look at Samsung’s new Galaxy SmartTags. You can use this tag in combination with the SmartThings Find app to track everything from your keys to your purse. You can also use the SmartThings Find app to find other Samsung devices, including phones, smartwatches, tablets and headsets.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra battery and charging
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has the same 5,000 mAh battery size as the S20 Ultra, but this phone is expected to last longer under load. The 5 nm processor inside this device is more efficient, and Samsung says it is taking advantage of AI to analyze usage patterns and reduce energy consumption. We will see the performance of the S21 Ultra in our battery test and whether it can break our list of best phone battery durations.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra supports a fast 25 W charger
Outlook Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has all the ingredients to become the best Android phone on the market, at least for those willing to pay a premium. And it’s nice to see that Samsung has lowered the price by $ 200 compared to the S20 Ultra. The biggest reasons to be excited about this phone are the dual zoom cameras and the fantastic 6.8-inch OLED display that offers 120 Hz and full quad HD resolution at the same time.
I see the S Pen holder as good to have, as I don’t see many people taking advantage of it because of the extra costs with the pen and the case.
It is a pity that Samsung does not include a charger in the box and that you cannot expand the storage. And while all the new camera tricks are cool, I’m more interested in seeing how well the S21 Ultra resists the iPhone 12 Pro Max and Google Pixel 5 in terms of image quality. Stay tuned for our final review.