iPhone 13 vs Galaxy S21: How do they compare?

Apple unveiled the latest improver to its flagship iPhone line in October, earning 4 and a half stars from us across the lath. But, how does the iPhone thirteen compare to Samsung's Galaxy S21 ?

Apple released iv phones this twelvemonth – the iPhone thirteen, the iPhone xiii Mini, the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. To observe out how the 13 differs from the 13 Pro, y'all tin can visit our guide.

Samsung launched three Milky way S21 models before this yr, including the S21, the S21 Plus and the S21 Ultra. We awarded the S21 and the Plus four stars, while the S21 Ultra received four and a one-half. Head to our guide to come across how the S21 and the S21 Ultra compare.

If you're interesting in finding out how the iPhone 13 measures up to the Milky way S21 in terms of performance, specs, camera and design, keep reading…

Pricing and availability

The iPhone 13 launched in October 2021, with prices starting at £779/$799/€909 for the base 128GB model. You can also go the phone with 256GB for £879/$899/€1029 or 512GB for £1079/$1099/€1259.

The Galaxy S21 was unveiled 10 months prior in January 2021. The telephone starts at £769/$799/€799 for 128GB, with prices going up to £819/$849/€849 for 256GB. If yous want 512GB of storage you'll need to upgrade to the superlative-of-the-line Ultra model.

That puts the ii phones at a very similar level price-wise, with merely £10 between them in the UK. That said, the S21 is merely slightly cheaper.

Screen and design

The iPhone 13 features a vi.i-inch Super Retina XDR OLED brandish with a resolution of 2532 x 1170.

The Milky way S21 packs a slightly larger six.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a lower resolution of 2400 10 1080 simply the added do good of a 120Hz refresh rate – something you'll merely detect on the Pro model in Apple's current line upward.

When it comes to design, the iPhone 13 measures 146 x 71.5 ten 7.65mm and weighs 173g. The phone features a drinking glass back and aluminium design and comes in five colours – Product Red, Starlight, Midnight, Blue and Pink.

The S21 is slightly taller and thicker at 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm, but lighter at only 169g. The phone has a plastic back and comes in a 4 colours, including Phantom Violet, Phantom Gray, Phantom White and Phantom Pinkish.

Both phones include a water resistance rating of IP68, significant they can handle beingness submerged in up to 1.5m of water for up to xxx minutes.

Specs and camera

The iPhone 13 is powered past Apple'southward latest A15 Bionic chipset, with a six cadre CPU, a iv core GPU and a xvi core Neural Engine. It comes with 4GB of RAM.

The 5nm bit powers Apple'due south new Cinematic mode and features like Live Text that tin can pull addresses and phone numbers from your photo library. It's too capable of running countless games with Apple Arcade.

The Milky way S21 features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset in the United states of america or the Exynos 2100 in Europe, including hither in the UK. It comes with 8GB of RAM – twice that in the iPhone 13.

We found the Exynos 2100 to be a major step-up from previous Exynos chipsets. Like the A15, the 2100 is based on a 5nm process, allowing it to offer better battery life compared with the S20. The GPU has also be updated, offer no bug with gaming performance.

One major difference is operating systems – the iPhone thirteen runs on Apple's ain iOS 15 software, while the S21 features Google's Android 11, with an upgrade to Android 12 on its way.

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The iPhone xiii features a dual rear camera, made up of a 12-megapixel wide angle lens with an f/1.half dozen aperture and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens with an f/2.4 aperture. The camera is capable of reaching 5x digital zoom and in that location's a 12-megapixel TrueDepth (f/ii.2) camera on the front of the phone for selfies.

The iPhone can record 4K video at upward to 60fps and features Dolby Vision support equally well every bit Apple's aforementioned Cinematic mode, which offers a shallow depth of field when recording in 1080p at 30fps.

The S21 features a triple rear photographic camera, meaning it has one more lens than the iPhone thirteen. Similar the iPhone, it has 2 12-megapixel sensors – one wide angle with an f/ane.viii aperture and the other an ultra-wide bending lens with an f/2.2 discontinuity. There'southward also a 3rd 64-megapixel telephoto (f/2.0) lens, offer 3x hybrid optic zoom and up to 30x super resolution zoom.

The S21 tin capture 8K video at 24fps, 4K at 60fps and includes back up for HDR10+. There's besides a 10-megapixel selfie photographic camera on the front end with an aperture of f/2.2.

Bombardment life

As far as battery life is concerned, the iPhone 13 showed big improvements over the iPhone 12 thanks to its larger cells and more efficient chipset.

Nosotros found that streaming Netflix at 75% effulgence in HDR ate through 7% of the iPhone'south battery. For comparison, the Galaxy S21 used upward viii% of its own battery streaming Netflix in HDR at just 50%.

That said, both phones should be able to go you through a mean solar day of real-world utilize, though neither comes with a charging plug in the box anymore. Luckily, the iPhone does come with a Lightning cablevision and you shouldn't have too much problem sourcing a USB-C cable from your laptop or a tablet to charge upwardly the S21 – though charging speeds may vary.

Both phones back up wireless charging, with the iPhone also supporting its own MagSafe technology every bit well as Qi. The S21, meanwhile, takes advantage of opposite charging for when y'all want to lend your battery to a smartwatch or pair of earbuds.

Final verdict

The iPhone xiii and the Samsung Galaxy S21 are almost identical in toll, which tin make information technology difficult to make up one's mind which 2021 telephone is right for you lot.

Both phones feature sharp OLED displays, with the Samsung bringing the additional advantage of a 120Hz display. Both besides come in an array of colours, though the iPhone features a more premium-feeling glass back.

Both phones pack powerful acme-of-the-line processors that can handle gaming and offer longer battery lives than their predecessors. Both as well feature 12-megapixel camera arrays, with the S21 offering improve equipped for zoom with a 3rd telephoto lens and 8K video back up and the iPhone taking advantage of Apple tree's new Cinematic mode, forth with support for Dolby Vision.

The two phones too feature different operating systems, which may sway you depending on whether you're an Android or an iOS fan.