Exynos 2100 vs Snapdragon 888: Battery testing the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra versions

14 February 2021
After looking into the performance of the two chipsets, we decided to move on to some differential battery comparisons, as well.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • f37
  • 11 Sep 2021

Saleh, 03 Sep 2021Same here man!! I have the exact same complaint its like yo... moreGo into the recovery and clear cache. Some say to do this after each update but probably do it after a major update. There's videos on YouTube about how to go into recovery and pretty straightforward. Your battery life is very bad for such limited settings

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    • Saleh
    • 6vt
    • 03 Sep 2021

    Irno, 11 Mar 2021My S21 Ultra battery wise is performing worse than my A21 (... moreSame here man!! I have the exact same complaint its like you read my mind. Any suggestions?? Did you reach any solution to this?

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      • TheConvolutedTeen
      • 9ad
      • 12 Aug 2021

      I get around 7.5 hrs to 9.5 SOT with WiFi only . Location is always on, with adaptive theming and most of my screen time is Instagram. Its the Exynos version. With just 4G, i get around 7.5-8 hrs of SOT. Pretty solid battery life.

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        • SHIHAB
        • NsT
        • 16 May 2021

        Some are saying Snapdragon 888 is better,
        Better than Exynos 2100...

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          • Thahir
          • L1q
          • 16 May 2021

          Irno, 11 Mar 2021My S21 Ultra battery wise is performing worse than my A21 (... moreIts not defective.. this is what the mobile performance in battery...
          Before i was using samsung s10 lite (4500Mah) it gave 30% more better performance in battery... i too desperate on battery performance of s21 ultra

            It's possible since u literally set the display at the highest settings (WQHD+, 120hz refresh rate) or u didn't set it to adaptive refresh rate.

              • I
              • Irno
              • pv3
              • 11 Mar 2021

              My S21 Ultra battery wise is performing worse than my A21 (2019) or S7..., like twice as bad and those are already old devices... 

              4h SOT (Screen on Time) this is what I am getting each day! Like WTF...

              I have tried probably every single battery optimization trick in the book, except turning off the WQHD and 120HZ as those are the features I bought this beast of a phone for. And I am heavily disappointed.

              What I have tried:

              Nearby Wifi Scanning off
              Nearby Bluetooth Scanning off
              Device Scanning off
              All possible battery optimization/Adaptive features on
              Almost all the APPS put to deep sleep
              Phone fully debloated from all unused app including Samsung Smarthings.
              Dark Mode ON
              Adaptive Brightness Off  so it does not peak to high values wasting battery - with Slider permanently set below 40%
              Pretty much all the setting like NFC, Bluetooth etc OFF whenever not used. Data or Wifi ON depending on location
              No enhanced processing,
              5G Off
              Second SIM OFF (For now at least) so it does not have to do the heavy lifting of connecting to two networks.
              I am actively monitoring my battery with Samsung tools and AccuBattery
              At this is what I get... see below:


              I am so frustrated at this point, I am not sure if I should go return it to Samsung, do I have a defective unit?

              Also on a side note, it tends to run hot even when I do a simple thing like scrolling a website for longer period of time....

              Is this is what the most expensive smartphone on the market experience should be? Turning off almost everything to function? I never had to do it to this degree in the past...

                Jasonx, 15 Feb 2021I know man it was really frustrating for me to waiting for ... moreHow's your S21 Ultra doing now? Has the SOT improved?

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                  • AnonD-964130
                  • Dkx
                  • 17 Feb 2021

                  JasonX, 15 Feb 2021One of those so called haters was me! terrible battery life... moreOkay ,might be scamsung agenda yet again then...giving different units to testers and reviewers

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • NGq
                    • 17 Feb 2021

                    Alex, 16 Feb 2021The major point is "the caveat of being about 26% less... moreGSMArena used the same test methodology they have employed for years. /Additionally/, they apparently compared high-performance mode efficiency in some limited manner.

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                      • Alex
                      • qC@
                      • 16 Feb 2021

                      The major point is "the caveat of being about 26% less efficient in a performance per watt race at its higher clock speeds" for Exynos. And Arena did it's best to avoid higher clock speeds for this comparison.

                        • r
                        • r31ya
                        • Kxf
                        • 16 Feb 2021

                        the ., 14 Feb 2021cpu is equal or actually faster due to clock speeds highe... moreThere are plenty testing video out that that Exynos and SD are trading blows in the synthetic benchmark. SD still winning more benchmark by small margin (3%~5%) in several test and only few where Exynos actually win with similar small margin (3%~5%).

                        Problem with Exynos appears with GPU is still step behind compared to adreno, and stress test which shows Exynos heats up faster and throttle more than the Snapdragon.

                          Bagobot, 15 Feb 2021I not having any problem with my Exynos 2100.. I don't... moreI will never be content with a 6 hour SOT on a phone, especially after paying $1600 for it.

                          Battery life is extremely important because it enables you to adequately enjoy all the great features the phone offers. I don't want to spend a few hours taking photos and videos and have to scramble around for a charger.

                          Samsung should really learn to do better optimization from Apple. Now the iPhone 12 Pro Max is truly an all day phone, strangely in spite of having a lower Gsmarena battery endurance rating than the S21 Ultra.

                            • R
                            • Rudy
                            • 7kk
                            • 16 Feb 2021

                            Bagobot, 15 Feb 2021I not having any problem with my Exynos 2100.. I don't... moreWell. That depends on the way you use your phone. I had a note 10+ which I used for gaming and that was a bad phone. Once it got hot after an hour of continuous usage, the Exynos chipset would reduce performance to an unacceptable level. It's a horrible chipset. Also, I don't understand how this battery test is coming out to be the same. In the real world, Exynos battery is much worse than the Snapdragon. Maybe this is a paid article

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • gq3
                              • 15 Feb 2021

                              MrDong, 15 Feb 2021That is wrong. I have used a Samsung Note FE with Exynos 88... moreKeep dreaming. Yo you never upgraded beyond a 50$ smartphone

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                                • Bagobot
                                • I@H
                                • 15 Feb 2021

                                I not having any problem with my Exynos 2100.. I don't know why people keep on comparing them and then almost all vote for SD888.. my Exynos 2100 meets beyond my expectations.. All we have to do is be contented

                                  • J
                                  • JasonX
                                  • mij
                                  • 15 Feb 2021

                                  AnonD-964130, 14 Feb 2021These are fake ,haters posting it...One of those so called haters was me! terrible battery life i gave it away since notice that i wasnt the only one

                                    SgRepeat, 15 Feb 2021Well, that about seals my decision not to buy the S21 Ultra... moreA high-end smartphone with 7-8 SOT with heavy usage is a rare animal.
                                    My dad uses Mi 10T Lite,a mid-ranger. That one has very similar battery results in GSMArena tests as S21 Ultra. He mostly does 5-7h of surfing, some phone calls and taking dozens of photos (mobile data and Wi-fi constanly on). That's about it. And he still has to charge it once a day. Mind you, that's an LCD which is more efficient for web browsing, and it still needs a daily charge.
                                    Probably only iphone Maxs and Asus ROGs mind pull off over 8h SOT with heavy use.

                                      Jasonx, 15 Feb 2021Yeah this what im talking about.. battery life sucks the ma... moreThis is really really bad. Even my friend's LG G8x with dual screen gives 4.5 hours screen on time and nearly 6 hours without it, and that phone is optimised very poorly. Whereas Samsung is known for optimisation. I think Samsung is giving poor quality battery's to end users unlike reviewers

                                        SgRepeat, 15 Feb 2021How does one get a phone replaced after two weeks (which bt... more4 hours screen on time is really horrible. I used to get this from devices in 2015. Even my iphone 7 plus with tiny battery used to give better. Then it might be the case that samsung is giving good devices to reviewers but providing lesser quality devices to consumers. Same thing happened with oneplus 8, if I recall.