Which flagship should you buy?

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the best that Samsung has to offer in smartphone display and cameras. But the not even a half-year-old Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is still very powerful, and since it will almost certainly get discounts, it may be the better value for consumers who do not need the latest new, but still want something powerful have. What are the key differences, what’s new in the Galaxy S21 series and what Samsung flagship should you buy if you’re on the market today? Read more to find out.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Note 20 Ultra: Comparison of specifications

Where does the Galaxy S21 Ultra improve on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra?

The big question for consumers deciding between the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra is probably ‘what’s improving the Galaxy S21 Ultra over the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra?’ There are two key areas for noticeable improvement: the processor and the camera zoom system.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888, a 5nm SoC that is the best that Qualcomm can currently offer. However, the Snapdragon 865+ of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is not slack. Whether it’s benchmarks or actual performance, the Snapdragon 888 is the superior chip – though you’ll only notice the difference before you actually hit the phone, such as shooting a video with both front and rear cameras, or shooting 4K / 60fps with each lens, which the Galaxy S21 Ultra can do, but the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra can not.

The camera system is where most tangible improvements are found. The Galaxy S21 Ultra camera introduces a new Periscope zoom lens that can do 10x optical zoom compared to the 5x optical zoom of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. In fact, the difference in zoom quality is subtle when kept at a reasonable distance (10x), but if you beep a pixel, you can see the difference in quality – but at longer zoom, the difference becomes very clearer.

For example, in the above 10x zoom image of the soccer ball, both images looked like seen on a phone. It was only when I really worked in on a larger screen and looked at pixels that I saw that the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 10x recording captured more texture and detail.

At longer zoom, it is easier to see. The set below contains 20x and 30x zoom through both phones. Note that the Galaxy S21 Ultra lap is much sharper.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra also has an additional 3x optical tele-zoom lens with a focal length of about 70mm, which is ideal for portraits. Because the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra does not have the shorter zoom lens, it uses digital zoom up to 4.9x. However, the difference between the 3x shots is very difficult to figure out. You can see that the keyboard in the Galaxy S21 Ultra lap below has more details and has more texture around the collar around the neck.

The 108MP main camera and 12MP ultra-wide hardware remain mostly the same as before – although the Galaxy S21 Ultra uses a newer sensor in the main camera – but the Galaxy S21 Ultra should deliver excellent photos due to the combination of the superior Snapdragon 888 ISP. and Samsung’s own fine tuning.

Moving to the front, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s selfie camera is also more pixelated at 40MP – which Samsung then puts in a 10MP selfie, while the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a simple 10MP selfie camera. Except for different coloration, I could not see a significant difference in selfie image quality.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra’s screen is also technically superior, with the ability to run at 120Hz with a 1440p resolution; the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra should downgrade to 1080p – although I’m honest, I’m of the opinion that the human eye can’t see the difference between 1440p and 1080p on a relatively small mobile screen anyway. Both screens look equally beautiful to my eyes.

Where users are likely to feel the endurance – the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 5,000 mAh battery is significantly larger than the 4,500 mAh in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, so the S21 Ultra will definitely last longer before it is needed.

There are more subtle improvements across the board, such as the Galaxy S21 Ultra having a larger on-screen fingerprint scanner and support for WiFi 6, but these are relatively small improvements that most people will not even see. For most consumers, it is the SoC and camera zoom capability that distinguishes the two phones.

What areas are similar between the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra?

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has more in common with the Galaxy Note series than any previous S phones, as it supports the S-Pen stylus that has long been a staple in the Note series. That means more than ever, the lines between the two phones have blurred.

While it is noteworthy that the S-Pen support of the Galaxy S21 Ultra does not include the Bluetooth remotes, it will be used as a pen to record notes or sketch, as the latency and software features mostly remain the same. And although the S21 Ultra has a newly designed camera module, the overall construction between the two phones is similar – they both have a matte glass finish and slightly curved screens. The software experience should also be similar, just like all the other bonus features of Samsung like DeX.

Which one should you buy?

If money is not an object, it’s a good idea to go with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, as it has a much better zoom lens, a brighter screen, and a newer processor, unless you really have an S- Pen wants what is included for free. and is stored in the phone.

But since the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is now an “old” phone, there will likely be discounts that will hit a few hundred dollars off the original price of $ 1,399. So if you want to save cash and still have an excellent Samsung experience, the Note 20 Ultra does a very good job of not feeling outdated. Even in 2021, it’s still a beast of a phone.