The Samsung S20 Ultra vs. the Samsung S21 Ultra. Is there that much of a difference?

You might think these smartphones are similar, but their range of features is indeed quite different. So if you’re in the market for a new phone and have narrowed it down to these two Samsung devices but are stuck on which one is right for you, we’ll help you make the right choice.

Samsung S20 Ultra: a powerful smartphone that’s 5G ready

Get the iconic Samsung edge-to-edge infinity screen on both these smartphones and choose from a range of colors. However, that’s about where the similarities end. The S20 is a very different beast from the S21. One benefit is the S20 has is a memory card slot that can add up to 1TB of storage, which the S21 doesn’t. But you can overcome this by purchasing an S21 with 512 GB of memory (which is a huge amount) if you need a lot of storage. Performance is a little different too, with the S20 holding a Snapdragon 865 processor and the S21 an 888. This might not seem a big difference, but if you want a superfast processing phone, you’ll benefit from Samsung’s 888 chip. 

Samsung S21 Ultra: cheaper than the S20 and with S Pen support

The fact that the S21 Ultra costs less than the S20 is a major difference when comparing these phones. Added to this, it offers a more seamless experience, a better camera, and a more attractive design than the S20 (due to its flat camera rather than the raised one on the S20) especially when you place it flat on a surface. The S21 has a more powerful processor, making it run faster, yet both have the same storage capacity of up to 512 GB. The S21 behaves like a professional photographer’s camera thanks to the dual telephoto lenses, compared to only the single on the S20. Vloggers will be in heaven with the new dual recording feature, meaning you can record with both the front and rear cameras at the same time. The S21 also benefits from supporting the S Pen, for taking notes and drawing with (but it’s important to note you do have to buy the pen separately).

We can't think why you’d want to pay more for the Samsung S20 Ultra as it has fewer features than the Samsung S21 Ultra. The S20 is very slightly smaller, but you don’t really notice this once you’ve used it for a few weeks. If picture quality is important to you, and you want a well-designed smartphone that delivers outstanding performance the S21 has got to be your new smartphone.