Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review: Second time's the charm for Samsung's premier phone - CNET

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The Galaxy S21 Ultra gets a fresh design and sports a gorgeous black finish.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, unveiled alongside Samsung's Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus phones, proves that sometimes you have to do something twice to get it right. While just as bold as last year's Galaxy S20 Ultra, the S21 Ultra is a refined second take on the Ultra concept. There's still the 100x Space Zoom, but it's easier to use. There is still the "big for sake of being big" design, but it looks much more appealing. And there's still a high price, but at $1,200 (£1,149, AU$1,849) it costs $200 less than the S20 Ultra in the US.

If you want the absolute best specs and features, the S21 Ultra will undoubtedly seem appealing. The phone will also attract camera nerds, thanks to the improvements Samsung made to the cameras. And with the addition of S-Pen support -- it's the first Galaxy S phone to use the stylus -- the S21 Ultra will likely catch the eye of Galaxy Note users looking for a different option.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. S21 Plus vs. S21 Ultra

Like

• Gorgeous phantom black finish
• Two telephoto cameras
• The screen is spectacular
• S-Pen support

Don't Like

• It's heavy
• Lacks a microSD card slot
• $1,200 is still expensive

Last year's Ultra model, on the other hand, seemed like it came out of nowhere. It was a phone all about excess that, by sheer fate, was launched at the beginning of a global pandemic and recession. Its bold, behemoth take on the Galaxy S line was undercut by its $1,400 (£1,199, AU$1,999) price and issues with its nearly domino-sized camera system.

Overall, the S21 Ultra is a major update both in terms of hardware and software features over the S20 Ultra. And when you factor in a lower price, it all kind of makes sense.

Now playing: Watch this: We review the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G and its bonkers cameras

9:22

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has the best black finish

I wouldn't call the S21 Ultra's design radically different, but my review unit has the best black finish I've ever seen on a phone. It's the stuff that goth dreams are made of. The color is called phantom black, and when you see it in person you immediately understand why Samsung made a nearly 3-minute video explaining what went into making the blackest black. The S21 Ultra also comes in phantom silver and there are limited-edition phantom finishes in titanium, brown and navy, which can only be found on Samsung's website.

The camera bump is large and melts into the sides of the phone, which are glossy black. And while the regular S21 and S21 Plus are snazzy in their two-tone colors, the all-black S21 Ultra looks cool, elegant and badass all at the same time.

The S21 Ultra is a little heavier than last year's S20 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. It's the second heaviest phone I've used in the past year, just behind the Asus ROG Phone 3.

The display is brighter and adds S-Pen support

Around the front is one of the most impressive displays I've seen. It has a Wide Quad HD resolution and a variable refresh rate between 10 and 120Hz, which is determined by what's on the screen. And just to be clear, you can have 120Hz and not take a hit on resolution like the S20 Ultra did. The 6.8-inch display is bright and the contrast is gorgeous. Covering the screen, and the back. is Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus.

Under the screen is a larger ultrasonic fingerprint reader which feels peppy. I had a hard time telling if it was actually faster than the one on the S20 Ultra. The display also has S-Pen support.

Support for the S-Pen means you can draw, write, edit photos and sign documents on the S21 Ultra.

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I've always been tempted by the Galaxy Note line of phones, but I wasn't sure I'd use the S-Pen enough to justify getting one. But I like the iPad Pro-Apple Pencil approach Samsung took here. Without an S-Pen, you'll still enjoy using the S21 Ultra. But if you're S-Pen curious, you can buy a new one or find an old S-Pen. And there's a lot you can do, like draw, take notes and sign documents. I love editing photos and making adjustments with the S-Pen.

I should note there are a few considerations. The S21 Ultra doesn't come with an S-Pen and doesn't support Bluetooth or gesture functionality. For example, the S21 Ultra can't send you a notification if you leave your pen behind. Also the Ultra doesn't have a built-in slot to store an S-Pen, but Samsung will be selling cases for it that include S-Pen storage.

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The S21 Ultra has 2 telephoto cameras

The S21 Ultra's camera system received several significant updates. There are four rear cameras: one wide, one ultrawide and two telephoto cameras. The time-of-flight sensor is gone and in its place there's laser autofocus.

The 108-megapixel sensor on the main camera is new and it has better autofocus for both photos and videos. There's even a new focus enhancer tool that pops up onscreen to help the phone find focus even faster for photos. The tool looks like it might be switching to a wider view to do so.

There are four rear cameras: wide, ultrawide and two telephotos.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The dual-telephoto cameras are a first on any phone and add a number of benefits. One has 3x magnification and the other 10x. This means when you zoom in, there are two places in your zoom range where the image isn't being cropped where your photo will have better image quality. Another benefit is stability. The two cameras are paired together to help make zooming in, even at 100x, easier and more steady.

At 30x, a zoom guide pops up to help you find the particular spot that you're zoomed in at. You can lock it so it doesn't move, which turns the guide yellow. This works well. Obviously you still have to be careful not to move the camera around too much, but it's less finicky and frustrating than the S20 Ultra.

Photos from the S21 Ultra are excellent, with good detail and a wide dynamic range. There is a 108-megapixel mode, but I found the 12-megapixel photos coming from pixel binning look consistently great.

Below are several photos I took with the S21 Ultra.

I took this with the main camera set to 12 megapixels, which uses pixel binning to combine nine pixels into one.

Patrick Holland/CNET

One benefit of pixel binning is that it can bring out the details in a photo. Notice the different textures and details.

Patrick Holland/CNET

I used single-take mode in the camera app to capture photos and videos of this cute little dog. Here's one of the pictures my S21 Ultra chose.

Patrick Holland/CNET

There's so much for the S21 Ultra to capture correctly here: The barren tree branches, the water and the white fluffy clouds in the blue sky.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Here are three different photos I took from the exact same spot using the wide 1x camera (left), the 3x telephoto camera (middle) and the 10x telephoto camera (right).

Patrick Holland/CNET

In low light, night mode is outstanding. Flaring on the lens is minimized and photos look bright without a bunch of image noise or noise-reduction smearing. Below are a few night mode photos I took:

This was taken with night mode and might be my favorite photo of the bunch.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Here's another night mode capture. I like how the S21 Ultra brought the colors in the sculpture out.

Patrick Holland/CNET

You can use night mode on any camera. I took this shot with the ultrawide camera in night mode.

Patrick Holland/CNET

For selfies there's the same 40-megapixel camera as the S20 Ultra. But you now have an option to change the color tone to either bright or natural which is excellent.

Here is a selfie I took with the natural setting.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Samsung also added the ability to take raw 12-bit color photos. And there's a new video feature called Director's View, which gives you a thumbnail preview of the video feeds coming from all of the cameras on the phones. As you record, you can switch between them. Within Director's View there's a vlogger setup that gives you a side-by-side video view or a stacked one if you're shooting vertically. This means you can record yourself with the selfie camera and show what you're seeing or reacting to from any of the rear cameras.

On paper, Director's View seemed like something I might try once but not really use. But after some time using it, I can definitely see some people being into this feature. If there is a downside to Director's View it's that the final video is saved in HD instead of 4K or 8K. I would love to see this thumbnail preview interface when recording a regular 4K video.

I'm excited to pit the S21 Ultra and its cameras against the iPhone 12 Pro Max and Google Pixel 5. Each phone takes a different approach to photography and each will appeal to different people.

S21 Ultra has a Snapdragon 888 chip and 12 or 16GB of RAM

Powering the S21 Ultra is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, along with 12GB of RAM, or 16GB in the most expensive model with 512GB of storage (see the chart below for prices). In my benchmark tests, the S21 Ultra scored better than last year's S20 Ultra. And in use, it handled everything I threw at it, even playing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games on it.

Supplying juice to the phone is a 5,000-mAh battery. I've easily been averaging a day and a half on a single charge. That said, I still have a number of battery tests to put the S21 Ultra through. Please check back to this review for updates.

You can use the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate app to play Xbox games on your S21 Ultra.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Below are the results of my benchmark tests for the S21 Ultra.

3DMark Slingshot Unlimited

Galaxy S21 Ultra

Galaxy S20 Ultra

Asus ROG Phone 3

iPhone 12 Pro

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.5.0 single-core

Galaxy S21 Ultra

Galaxy S20 Ultra

Asus ROG Phone 3

iPhone 12 Pro

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.5.0 multicore

Galaxy S21 Ultra

Galaxy S20 Ultra

Asus ROG Phone 3

iPhone 12 Pro

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Android 11 and 5G support

The Galaxy S21 Ultra runs Android 11 with Samsung's OneUI 3.1 top layer. And I like it a lot. I can now default to Google Pay or Google Discover News feed, instead of Samsung's versions. The look for everything from settings to pop-up windows is clean and contemporary. And with a phone this big, OneUI helps make it easier to use one-handed.

Last, the Galaxy S21 Ultra has 5G and supports both sub-6 and mmWave flavors of 5G. You shouldn't get the Ultra for its 5G. But as 5G networks get better, so will your 5G speeds and connection. And then we'll really have something to talk about.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra specs vs. Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy Note 20

	Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra	Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra	Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra	Samsung Galaxy Note 20
Display size, resolution	6.8-inch AMOLED 2X, 3,200x1,440 pixels	6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X	6.9-inch; 3,088x1,440 pixels	6.7-inch; 2,400x1,080 pixels
Pixel density	515 ppi	511ppi	496ppi	393ppi
Dimensions (Inches)	2.97x6.5x0.35 in	2.99x6.57x0.35 in	6.49x3.04x0.31 in	6.36x2.96x0.33 in
Dimensions (Millimeters)	75.6x165.1x8.9mm	76.0x166.9x8.8mm	164.8x77.2x8.1mm	161.6x75.2x8.3 mm
Weight (Ounces, Grams)	8.07 oz; 229g	7.76 oz; 220g	7.33 oz, 208g	6.84 oz, 194g
Mobile software	Android 11	Android 10	Android 10	Android 10
Camera	108-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (3x telephoto), 10-megapixel (10x telephoto)	108-megapixel (wide-angle), 48-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), time-of-flight camera	12-megapixel (ultrawide), 108-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (telephoto)	12-megapixel (ultrawide), 12-megapixel (wide angle), 64-megapixel (telephoto)
Front-facing camera	40-megapixel	40-megapixel	10-megapixel	10-megapixel
Video capture	8K	8K	8K	8K
Processor	Snapdragon 888	Snapdragon 865 Plus	Snapdragon 865 Plus	Snapdragon 865 Plus
Storage	128GB, 256GB, 512GB	128GB, 512GB	128GB, 512GB	128GB
RAM	12GB, 16GB	12GB, 16GB	12GB	8GB
Expandable storage	No	Up to 1TB	Up to 1TB	No
Battery	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	4,500 mAh	4,300 mAh
Fingerprint sensor	In-screen	In-screen	In-screen	In-screen
Headphone jack	No	No	No	No
Special features	IP68 rating, 5G-enabled, 100x Space Zoom, 10W wireless charging, 10x optical zoom	5G enabled; 120Hz refresh rate; 100x zoom; water resistant (IP68)	120Hz screen refresh rate, 5x optical zoom, 120Hz display; UWB sharing, S Pen stylus; 5G connectivity; Wireless PowerShare; water resistant (IP68)	S Pen stylus; 5G connectivity; Wireless PowerShare; water resistant (IP68)
Price off-contract (USD)	$1,200 (128GB), $1,250 (256GB), $1,380 (512GB)	$1,399 (128GB), $1,599 (512GB)	$1,300 (128GB), $1,450 (512GB)	$1,000
Price (GBP)	£1,149 (128GB), £1,199 (256GB), £1,329 (512GB)	£1,199 (128GB), £1,399 (512GB)	£1,179	£849 (4G) and £949 (5G)
Price (AUD)	AU$1,849 (128GB), AU$1,949 (256GB), AU$2,149 (512GB)	AU$1,999 (128GB), AU$2,249 (512GB)	AU$1,849 (4G) and $AU$1,999 (5G)	AU$1,499 (4G) and AU$1,649 (5G)

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