Exynos 2100 vs Snapdragon 888: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra sustained performance and throttling test

21 February 2021
We did some torture testing on the two variants, just to see which one holds-up better under sustained load.

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  • Tsunami
  • nve
  • 22 Feb 2021

Anonymous, 22 Feb 2021No lag on my S21 Ultra even under stress and no heating up ... moreI agree! I don't have ny heat problems or other problems with exynos.

    No ios, 21 Feb 2021If you are buying an android phone always go for snapdragon.The only downside is that all snapdragon variants are essentially barred from unlocking the bootloader, which makes it a bad option for those who want to continue extending the life of their phones through custom ROMs.

      Anonymous, 22 Feb 2021Well, in daily life I've had absolutely no issues with... moreThen that's great news for you! However, for more than a thousand dollar 2021 flagship phone, I'm certainly expecting better. Either make the slightly weaker version a little cheaper, or simply make both versions equally as good. It's not like anyone should be concerned about whether their unit will be a good one or nah, especially in the high-end segment.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • JT5
        • 22 Feb 2021

        nexsss12, 22 Feb 2021It doesn't even matter which chipset is better between... moreProblem is : outside North America people pay at least 15% more for Exynos. Add to this the non-Ultra versions use exmor, which is superior to isocell counterpart.

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          • Anonymous
          • JT5
          • 22 Feb 2021

          Anonymous, 22 Feb 2021No lag on my S21 Ultra even under stress and no heating up ... moreWait 8 months.
          All samsung phones get slower before 1 year old.

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            • Anonymous
            • GMq
            • 22 Feb 2021

            after 2 years one would really see the difference between exynos and snapdragon. having use both before snapdragon would hold up much better in the long term especially in regards to heat

              It doesn't even matter which chipset is better between two. What matters is that there will always be an inferior chipset
              Maybe next year it would be Snapdragon which is bad and Exynos steals the show. The problem is samsung expects user to pay the exact same price when selling two different chipsets which result in a different user name experience for both. it's like a laptop company selling a laptop with a 2070 GPU in one region and an 5700xt in another for the same price. Even though they both are somewhat great GPUs, the user experience will be different for both. So its not fair to sell them at the same price. Either ditch one chipset and ship all phones with an identical chipset, or account the difference in performance with a price cut.

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                • Anonymous
                • 8mp
                • 22 Feb 2021

                Chrisgerry101, 21 Feb 2021I prefer using Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G ... Exynos lags... moreNo lag on my S21 Ultra even under stress and no heating up stop talking about what you don't know

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                  • Anonymous
                  • 8mp
                  • 22 Feb 2021

                  Shanti Dope, 22 Feb 2021Exactly what I've initially thought. The Exynos is alr... moreWell, in daily life I've had absolutely no issues with performance of my Exynos S21 Ultra at all. And that's doing alot of high performance tasks with no heating problems nothing

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                    • Anonymous
                    • gq3
                    • 22 Feb 2021

                    Curtisjr1, 21 Feb 2021Exynos>Kirin>snapdragonLol on what basis?

                      Exactly what I've initially thought. The Exynos is already giving out its best just to keep up, while the Snapdragon is still calm and working heavily but not extremely stressed.

                      For those who are saying that these minimal things won't matter in daily life, it's basically like saying you won't need this amount of power since you won't be doing phone tasks that would utilize a lot of power from the SoC, in which you could've simply saved some cash and went for a mid ranger or old flagship instead.
                      The fact that these two models even have such difference while costing the same is an unfair treatment to those who will purchase the inferior version.
                      Heck, I even bet that the reason that SD888 is not as efficient as last year's SD865/865+ is because of their switch to Samsung's fabrication process from TSMC.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • JT5
                        • 22 Feb 2021

                        All should use snapdragon. Even Apple.

                          So the conclusion: Samsung needs to be sued.

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                            • Anonymous
                            • 8js
                            • 22 Feb 2021

                            What new? Exynos has being like that since the beginning, a 2nd choice to Qualcomm, even in Korea they don't want the Exynos. Just like Samsung fab is a 2nd choice from TSMC.

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                              • MrDong
                              • vam
                              • 21 Feb 2021

                              Finally, the test we are waiting for. Thanks GsmA for posting this.

                              The Antutu stress test agrees with MrWhoseTheBoss’s results and as a whole, Gary Explains is right about the sustained performance of the two S21U versions.

                              Overall the S21U w/ Exynos 2100 is surely a huge step up from the Exynos 990 but still not there yet. The ISP as per TechTablets findings are not there as well but I would rather try out a unit in a Samsung store to be sure. Not too sure if Samsung has fixed the 4K/8K recording.

                                [deleted post]Underclocked and still used more power? Samsung at its finest i guess.

                                Oh wait, nvm just saw your other comments. Ignore me, take me for a fanboi or whatever idc now.

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                                  • Tommy
                                  • nmP
                                  • 21 Feb 2021

                                  What about connection speeds, download and upload.
                                  Max res was higher on exynos too.

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                                    • ElectricPics
                                    • mqd
                                    • 21 Feb 2021

                                    Pretty pointless comparison given the lack of choice in market zones. And could anyone, ever, be able to tell the difference in the real world? Even ambient temperature can affect real performance, let alone battery condition, memory usage, open apps…. I could go on.

                                      Anonymous, 21 Feb 2021mongoose was very powerful performance but to power hungr... moreArm cortex A15 cores would destroy any 5 or 4, 3 2 7nm cores out off the water.

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • n5a
                                        • 21 Feb 2021

                                        Vegetaholic, 21 Feb 2021No it won't Mongoose was shit down because it failed t... moremongoose was very powerful performance but to power hungry unsustainable
                                        optimization was useless and just got confused most time
                                        when it first came out it was good but only the performance increased no other main areas

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