DxOMark: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra's camera (Exynos) disappoints, ties 2019 flagships

Trusted and independent camera testing authority DxOMark has just published the camera scores of Samsung's new Galaxy S21 Ultra flagship phone.

S21 Ultra's back cameras

Good scores, but not as great as the competition

The findings of their lab tests? The Exynos 2100 version of the Galaxy S21 Ultra has good scores, but it is lower than a lot of 2020-2021 high-end phones.

Score breakdown at DxOMark

At DxOMark, the device achieved a Photo score of 128, a Zoom score of 76, and a Video score of 98 for an average score of 121 points. 121 is identical to the 121 points of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro from 2019.

Compared to modern flagships like the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max with 130 points and the current top-scoring Huawei Mate 40 Pro+, S21 Ultra's score doesn't look that good on paper.

DxO said that it lags somewhat behind the best competitors in the ultra-premium segment. Unexpectedly, it also has a lower score than the S20 Ultra with 126 points. The company added that it has lost fine detail when cropped and its noise level is high in low light compared to the competition.

But, it has an impressive "Tele" zoom performance that is just 2 points behind the Mate 40 Pro+.

Overall, DxO noted that it is capable of capturing decent photos and video clips in pretty much all conditions. But, they expected it to score at least 10 points or higher due to the impressive-looking camera hardware specs that it is using and Samsung's status as an ultra-premium flagship device.

The S21 Ultra 5G lags behind such direct competitors as the Huawei Mate 40 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max in pretty much all test categories — even for Zoom, where in theory the dual-tele setup should give the Samsung a noticeable advantage. Surprisingly, it also cannot keep up with its own predecessor, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and other slightly older devices (for example, the iPhone 11 Pro Max).

There is no doubt the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is an exciting device with a powerful chipset and impressive display. If camera is a priority there are currently a number of better options to pick from, but there is hope that Samsung might be able to fix some of the issues identified in this review with a firmware update and thus reduce the gap between the S21 Ultra 5G and top-ranked devices.

To recap, the S21 Ultra is sporting a new-gen 108MP f/1.8 main camera with Laser AF and OIS paired with a 12MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide-angle camera, 10MP f/2.4 3x Telephoto with Dual Pixel and OIS, and a 10MP f/4.9 10x Telephoto camera with laser AF and OIS.

DxO hasn't shared its Selfie camera score yet. It hasn't tested the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 version of the said device as well. That might have a different camera score since it is using a different image signal processor.

To read our own review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, visit this link. To check the rankings and view the full DxOMark S21 Ultra camera test, check the source link below.

Source: DxOMark