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Which Samsung Galaxy Phone Has The Best Camera – Readers voted the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra as the best phone of the year. It faces some tough competition, especially from the Google Pixel 6 series, whose vanilla model is our Editors’ Choice for 2021. But we’re a year away from the phone’s launch now, so how does the Galaxy S21 Ultra stack up in 2022?
Obviously, this phone is still a favorite among our readers, so we know how you all feel. However, today we get to look at the Galaxy S21 Ultra through the lens of 2022. Not only do we have the upcoming Galaxy S22 series — which we know from all the leaks will include a Note-flavored Ultra variant — but we also have heavy hitters from OnePlus, Google and Xiaomi to think about.
Which Samsung Galaxy Phone Has The Best Camera
With all that said, is it still worth buying this phone today? Let’s dive into our long-term Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review and find out.
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For our original review of the phone in January 2021, we awarded the Galaxy S21 Ultra a score of 4.5/5 stars, placing it among the best phones of the year. We were pleasantly surprised by what the phone had to offer across the processing, display and main camera fronts. Especially when compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which we’re not that impressed with, especially when it comes to its design.
Six months after the phone launched, we’re still impressed. Even when compared to Samsung’s new lineup of foldable phones, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still a worthwhile purchase. Its starting price of $1,200 doesn’t stop us from continuing to recommend it.
With six months to go, it’s time to give the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra the long-term review it deserves.
So far, the closest and most recent Android 2022 competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra we’ve seen is the OnePlus 10 Pro — a phone you can no longer buy outside of China. Interestingly, most of the phone’s specifications either match or are weaker than the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
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For example, the battery size is the same (5,000mAh). The display is also very similar: a large WQHD AMOLED screen with an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S21 Ultra has a higher maximum RAM count (up to 16GB) and a higher maximum internal storage amount (up to 512GB). The Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera specifications are also far superior to the OnePlus 10 Pro.
Except in two areas, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s spec sheet is still better than the OnePlus 10 Pro.
In fact, the OnePlus 10 Pro only beats the Galaxy S21 Ultra in two areas: processor and charging speed. The processor in the 10 Pro is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which is the flagship of 2022. The Galaxy S21 Ultra’s Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 will, by definition, be no match for it. However, the chipset is still a monster — not a monster like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Really, the 10 Pro’s charging speed is the only thing Samsung can’t compete with. The 10 Pro’s speed is literally three times faster than the Galaxy S21 Ultra for both wired and wireless connections. This is a shame and we really hope Samsung corrects this difference with the Galaxy S22 series.
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Outside of the Android ecosystem, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max launched in late 2021 and is a notable competitor to the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Again, Apple’s A15 Bionic processor is a bit more powerful but not enough to meaningfully separate the day-to-day experience. Samsung phones remain competitive in the display, storage and charging department. The Galaxy S21 Ultra also offers a more flexible and robust camera package than Apple’s latest premium iPhone.
Regardless, the point is that, even in 2022, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still a smartphone when it comes to raw specs. Even a year later, the phone can compete with other premium flagships. On the software front, the handset has received an update to Android 12 with Samsung’s own One UI 4 improvements on top. You can read more about what’s new at the link below.
Great specs are essential to making a great phone, but so is design. After all, a bland design can make a phone look outdated a year later, simply because it will stick out like a sore thumb compared to a more modern phone.
Thankfully, when I tested the phone for this Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra long-term review, I never felt like it didn’t look and feel great. This is notable because it is not the case for the 2020 model. It’s great that Samsung is moving away from the brutal — and I’ll just say it: ugly — design of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The S21 Ultra’s gentle camera bulge built into the side of the device and curved (but not overly curved) sides give it a minimalistic elegance that might look modern even five years from now.
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Of course, this is still a big, heavy phone. Up to 229g — depending on the model— the Galaxy S21 Ultra will be a brick in your pocket, if it fits there. Holding its large frame will be a bit of a burden if you don’t have relatively large hands, and trying to use the device with one hand is basically a fool’s errand.
However, people who want a phone in this category already know and have accepted this. People like me wish there was a way to get all the specs and features of the Galaxy S21 Ultra in a smaller and lighter form factor, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. For what it is, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still beautiful.
One of our biggest gripes with the Galaxy S20 Ultra is its camera. Despite having some excellent hardware, the phone struggles with some basic tasks, such as autofocus. The Galaxy S21 Ultra, however, fixes all the problems we had with its predecessor, making it one of the best smartphone cameras of 2021 — or any year, for that matter.
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Unsurprisingly, the camera is still impressive today. Not only does it produce great pictures, but the dual-telephoto system – which includes a periscope lens – allows for a lot of versatility. Focus is no longer a problem and the latest One UI 4.0 software is rich with shooting options, including classic portrait and night mode. Combined with the aforementioned Snapdragon 888 processor, shooting photos and videos is lightning fast.
Speaking of video, the phone can capture up to 8K at 24fps or 4K at 60fps, with the latter also available from the front camera. The rear cameras all benefit from solid stabilization and Samsung has some additional software tools to help capture footage as well. Director View lets you switch between wide and zoom lenses while shooting or you can use Single Take to automatically generate snapshot clips and multiple shots.
Below, you can see some photos taken with the Galaxy S21 Ultra since receiving the One UI 4.0 update at the end of November 2021:
Obviously, nothing is perfect and the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera still has room for improvement. Samsung can still over-saturate colors in certain situations, for example, and sometimes the software gets a little overzealous with sharpening processing passes.
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However, if those two things bother you, you can always use Samsung’s new Expert Raw camera app. This app basically takes Samsung’s computing system out of the equation and gives you full access to the S21 Ultra’s camera hardware. We wouldn’t recommend this to the average user, but if you feel like general camera software is taking things too far, you’re probably not an average user.
When Samsung coined the name “Ultra,” it was clear the company reserved the title for a phone that has everything you could ever want. In fact, some even argue that the Ultra phones we’ve seen so far have gone overboard in some areas — 16GB of RAM is completely unnecessary, for example.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy S21 Ultra doesn’t live up to its name in several respects. This is where the phone goes missing.
Both of Samsung’s other Ultra phones to date — the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra — have expandable storage. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is the odd one out here, and it’s a bit disappointing.
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Indeed, expandable storage is starting to become a lot like the headphone jack, by which I mean it’s disappearing from premium flagships at an amazing rate. Samsung could be forgiven here for just following the trend, but I think we need to hold anything with the word “Ultra” in its name to a higher standard.
This is especially disappointing when you consider that this phone is capable of recording 8K video, which records files at an average of 10MB per second. Sure, the 512GB variant of the phone solves that problem, but a microSD card slot would be cheaper and more user-friendly.
Rumors suggest the Galaxy S22 Ultra may also lack expandable storage, so this is it
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