Galaxy S21 review: The compact flat-design Galaxy S — plastic back and a price cut.
The pragmatic S21 — not exciting, but a sensible used buy.
Galaxy S21 dropped the price and dropped the glass back, picking up a 120 Hz panel and steady cameras. A perfectly fine used Android flagship.
01Display
82/10082/100 — right at the average for premium phones of 2021.
02Camera
78/10078/100 — right at the average for premium phones of 2021.
03Performance
81/10081/100 puts it above the 77-point average for premium phones of 2021.
04Battery
70/10070/100 trails the 75-point cohort average for premium phones of 2021.
05Build
76/10076/100 trails the 79-point cohort average for premium phones of 2021.
06Value
75/10075/100 trails the 77-point cohort average for premium phones of 2021.
- Compact at 6.2″ / 169 g.
- Aggressive $799 launch.
- IP68 + IP rating.
- Wireless charging present.
- Plastic back drew critique.
- Battery on the small side.
- No microSD anymore.
- Software support ends 2024.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 22-phone cohort of premium devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .