Samsung Galaxy M21 hands-on review

GSMArena team, 12 Jun 2020.

Introduction

The Galaxy M21 is yet another mid-range smartphone from Samsung. If you're wondering if we have reviewed this before, then you are mostly correct. The Galaxy M21 is essentially a variant of the Galaxy M31, which itself was a variant of the Galaxy M30s, both of which we have reviewed. So yes, we have all been here before.

Samsung Galaxy M21 hands-on review

The differences with the Galaxy M21 are minimal and the three phones are borderline identical. The M21 shares the body, display, chipset, and battery with the other two phones. It also shares the memory, storage, and rear cameras with the M30s.

Samsung Galaxy M21 specs

  • Body: Glass front, polycarbonate back and side frame
  • Screen: 6.4-inch, 19.5:9, FHD+ (1080 x 2340px), Super AMOLED
  • Rear camera: Primary 48MP, f/2.0 aperture; Ultra wide-angle: 8MP, f/2.2 aperture; 5MP depth sensor; LED flash; 2160p@30fps video recording
  • Front camera: 20MP, f/2.2 aperture
  • Chipset: Exynos 9611: octa-core CPU (4x2.3 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G72 MP3 GPU
  • Memory: 4/64GB or 6/128GB UFS 2.1; dedicated microSD slot for up to 1TB expansion
  • OS: Android 10; Samsung One UI 2
  • Battery: 6,000mAh, 15W charging
  • Connectivity: Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB-C; 3.5mm audio jack
  • Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader, FM radio

The Galaxy M31, being the most expensive one of the three, has a slightly fancier rear camera setup with a macro lens. All three have different front cameras. You can find the differences between the three phones here.

So, not that much different, then. But let's hop on the next pages to see if there is anything that sets the Galaxy M21 apart.

Reader comments

  • Trs
  • 01 Sep 2023
  • f}I

After 3 years of use this phone is still rocking. But sometimes when I try to multitask if lag queit a bit but it isn't that big of a deal. But never hand ny issues or whatsoever with either software or hardware. Battery is still great. I can...

  • Mohit sircack
  • 25 Aug 2023
  • GX3

These M series of Samsung phones is very disappointing.. After warranty period almost every phones is going through the problem of automatic on and off...i.e motherboard problem

  • Rocky
  • 06 Jul 2023
  • rJ%

In 7/7/23 my phone becomes 3yr old and I used it regular basis and it's my main phone but never face any problems but I can not use card reader or pen drive when I put this neither show on notification not in my file that's why can't a...