Every time a new smartphone is released, the choices you have to make about which one to buy get more difficult. With new phones coming out all the time, customers have a lot of options to choose from. Depending on how much money you have, you will be able to choose from a wide range of devices that all cost the same. Samsung has announced its new fan-themed phone, the Galaxy S21 FE, which starts at $699.
The same amount of money can buy an iPhone 12 from Apple. Which cheap phone is right for you? Almost all of it is a personal choice, so we can’t say for sure what that is. There are a lot of things to think about, but we can help by breaking down the specifications and giving you the information you need to make an informed choice. This is the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE vs. Apple’s iPhone 12. This is the fight between two cheap phones.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE vs Apple iPhone 12: Specifications
| Samsung Galaxy S21 FE | Apple iPhone 12 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Body | 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9mm177g | 146.7 × 71.5 × 7.4mm164g |
| Display | 6.4-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X flat display2340 x 1080p120Hz refresh rate240Hz touch sampling rate in Gaming Mode | 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display2532 x 1170p60Hz refresh rateHDR10Dolby VisionCeramic Shield |
| Cameras | Primary: 12MP, f/1.8Ultra-wide: 12MP, f/2.2, 123° FoVTelephoto: 8MP, f/2.4Front-facing: 32MP, f/2.2 | Primary: 12MP, f/1.6Ultra-wide: 12MP, f/2.4, 120° FoVFront-facing: 12MP, f/2.2 |
| Memory | 6GB/8GB RAM128GB/256GB Storage | 4GB RAM64GB/128GB/256GB Storage |
| Battery | 4,500mAh25W wired fast charging15W Qi wireless chargingReverse wireless charging | 2,815mAh20W wired fast charging7.5W Qi wireless charging15W MagSafe charging |
| Connectivity | Sub6/mmWave 5G4G LTEWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/axBluetooth 5.0 | Sub6/mmWave 5G4G LTEWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6Bluetooth 5.0Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) |
| Water Resistance | IP68 | IP68 |
| Security | Optical in-display fingerprint sensor | Face ID |
| OS | One UI 4 based on Android 12 | iOS 15 |
| Colors | OliveGraphiteLavenderWhite | BlackWhite(PRODUCT)REDGreenBluePurple |
| Material | Plastic backMetal frame | Glass backAluminum frame |
| Price | Starts at $699 | Starts at $699 |
Build and Design
They are very different when it comes to how they are built and how they look. As a start, the Galaxy S21 FE and the iPhone 12 both have backs made of glass. Both materials have good and bad things about them, so you can choose which one gets more points based on your own tastes.
The back of Samsung’s new Fan Edition phone is likely to survive a fall. Plastic is more resistant to breaking than glass, and scratches won’t show up as much. Another thing to note is that plastic does not have the same amount of fingerprints left behind as glass does. So the back of the phone is likely to be cleaner than the back of the iPhone 12. It doesn’t look as good as the iPhone’s design, but all materials have both good and bad points.
This makes the back of the iPhone look shiny and high-end. When we look at it, we think of the iPhone 4 era. It looks like a piece of glass. However, the back is more likely to be broken or scratched when it is dropped. For people with oily hands, it can also be a fingerprint magnet. You could put it in a case to protect it from that, but this would change its design and feel.
Display
As we said above, the two cheap phones have very different fronts. Unlike the iPhone 12, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE comes with a punch-hole camera. The iPhone 12 has the same notch as other Face ID iPhone models. There is a full-screen, edge-to-edge screen on both of these devices, which makes watching or playing content or games as immersive as possible. Read also; Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G Review: It’s Worth The Price There are some people who don’t like the notch, but there are others who like it better than the hole-punch design. It’s up to you to decide which display looks more natural to you and fits your use habits.
When it comes to quality, the iPhone 12 is clearly better than the Galaxy S21 FE in every way. The first has a higher resolution of 2532 x 1170p, while the second has 2340 x 1080p. In addition, Apple’s phones can play HDR and Dolby Vision content. Some of the things that make Samsung better than the iPhone 12 are also better than the iPhone 12.
A bigger 6.4-inch screen is on the Galaxy S21 FE. This screen is bigger than Apple’s 6.1-inch screen. As a bonus, it comes with a speed of 120Hz, which is twice as fast as the iPhone’s 60Hz rate. This makes things like scrolling through lists and some animations easier to move through. Some people might think the bigger screen is a bad thing, though. So, which phone’s screen is better for you depends on what you want on a mobile screen and what you need on a phone.
Performance
When it comes to how well we do, there are a lot of things we need to think about. The iPhone 12 is more than a year old, but the A14 Bionic chip from Apple is still very powerful. Another thing to note: The processor in the Galaxy phone is also more than a year old. We’ve looked at benchmarks to see how the A14 Bionic and the Snapdragon 888 compared to each other. We want to show the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. If we look at the overall chip score, the A14 Bionic comes out on top of the rest. This is not to say that Apple’s iPhone is better than the Snapdragon 888 because it has some advantages. Read more; The Sony Xperia Pro-I is primarily a camera
Single and multi-core CPU tests show that the A14 Bionic is faster than the Snapdragon 888. Also, it is more efficient when it comes to battery use and has a 9 percent faster CPU clock speed. However, the Snapdragon 888 is better at gaming than the A14 Bionic. In games and OpenCL/Vulcan, it has a better GPU than the other phones. As a bonus, it has two more cores, 20 percent more memory bandwidth, and can score up to 10% better on the AnTuTu benchmark test (while draining more battery).
If you plan to play a lot of games on your new phone, you might want to look into the Galaxy S21 FE. That doesn’t mean that the iPhone 12 isn’t a good gaming phone, but it’s not the best. Still, the A14 Bionic chip has a better overall score and will be kinder to your battery. In the end, they’re both top-of-the-line processors that were released in late 2020. They’re not the newest, but they’re still powerful and strong.
Cameras
There are some people who want to buy things because they have cameras as the main reason. I’ve met people who just ask, “Does it take good pictures?” before they buy a new thing (if they receive a positive answer from the seller). On the surface, the Galaxy S21 FE is the clear winner here — it’s the best phone. To break down both cameras, let’s start with the front first, then move on to the back. A 32MP camera from Samsung beats a 12MP one on the Apple iPhone 5. It doesn’t matter that they both have an aperture of f/2.2.
Compared to the iPhone 4, the Galaxy has three rear-facing cameras and the iPhone 4S has only 2. Their main and ultra-wide lenses are the same. However, Samsung’s comes with an extra telephoto lens as an extra. All of the common lenses are 12MP, but they have different apertures. From this angle, the iPhone’s main camera is much better than Samsung’s. As for the Galaxy, its ultra-wide lens has a better aperture and a slightly wider field of view than the one on the iPhone.
The Galaxy S21 FE has a telephoto lens with 8MP that can get a better picture. As a bonus, the phone can also zoom in up to 30x in space and 3x optically. It’s good for selfies, too, because it has a much better front-facing camera. So if you want to take better photos, you might want to think about getting a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE.
Battery Life and Charging
The Galaxy S21 FE has a bigger battery than the iPhone 12 and can charge faster than the iPhone 12 can. As the table above shows, Samsung can charge faster when it comes to both wired and Qi wireless charging. In addition, the Galaxy can be used as a wireless power bank because it can charge another device or accessory while you’re on the go. People who are always on the go might find it very useful. They often forget to charge their earbuds.
iPhone 12 can play up to 65 hours of audio on one charge. It can also play 17 hours of video that isn’t stored on the phone, Apple says. These numbers will obviously be different based on your settings, environment, and use. So it’s safe to say that you won’t need to charge either of the devices more than once a day. Samsung says that the battery will last “all day.” In the end, neither of them has bad battery life. As a result, the Galaxy S21 FE beats Apple’s iPhone 12 in this match.
Galaxy S21 FE vs iPhone 12: Which one should you buy?
We’ve looked at the most important features and specs of each device. It all comes down to what you like and what you want to do. If you want a phone that takes better pictures, you might want to think about getting the Galaxy S21 FE. For a fast phone that just works and will be supported by software updates for a long time, the iPhone 12 is right for you. There are some people who prefer one type of operating system over the other. It’s clear that the iPhone 12 is best if you’re in the Apple ecosystem and only want an iPhone. Also, if you don’t like Apple and its walled garden and ecosystem, then the Galaxy S21 FE is what you should look into. In the beginning, both phones cost $699. The Samsung comes with more storage in the base model, but the iPhone comes with less storage space.
