The Galaxy S21/Plus/Ultra to have way better battery life than the S20 series, here’s why

At first specs blush, the Galaxy S21 doesn’t differ all that much from its S20 predecessor – same screen size, battery capacity and camera set. One look at the new S21 series design, however, what with its camera island blending in a seamless fusion with the side frame, and one starts to wonder if the differences under the hood are more than the specs sheet meets the eye, though. That is especially true when it comes to the battery life potential, and we are listing the S21 series advantages before their predecessors here.

Samsung Galaxy S21 battery life

The 5nm (S21) vs 7nm (S20) processor

Compared to the second-gen 7nm (7LPP) Snapdragon 865 processor in the S20, made in the TSMC foundry, the 5nm Snapdragon 888 is made using Samsung’s new EUV process. The fact that Qualcomm not only switched nodes from 7nm to 5nm, but also the foundry itself , is a vote of confidence in Samsung’s Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) lithography. 

According to Samsung, its 5nm EUV process offers not only a fifth smaller footprint of the chipset at the same performance, but also about 20% smaller power draw. Alternatively, phone makers can choose to gain a 10% performance increase at the same battery consumption. Given that mobile chipsets are already powerful enough for anything you may throw at them, and the new X1 cores are clocked at the same 2.84GHz as the 865, Samsung is likely to go with the generous power consumption decrease. 

The integrated (S21) vs standalone (S20) 5G connectivity

Next-gen 5G antenna isolation

Fast 5G networks like Verizon’s Ultrawide Band (UWB) mmWave can carry a lot of data at once and fast, but have very bad signal penetration that forces phone makers to slap a bunch of extra antennas all around their handsets just so that the signal can pass through your grip alone. 

Galaxy S21+ battery life

Just 200mAh short of the giant 5000mAh battery in the S20 Ultra, the S21+ pack could catapult it to the top of the Galaxy S21 series battery life pile, as all other energy-saving components – 5nm chipset, integrated 5G modem and better antenna isolation – also apply to the S21+ as well. 

Galaxy S21 Ultra battery life

The key element for greater Galaxy S21 series battery life when compared to the S20 models – FHD instead of QHD display resolution – however, is missing from the equation. Given that the S21 Ultra is flaunting the same 5000mAh battery piece as the S20 Ultra, and the same high display pixel density, the only battery life gains compared to its predecessor should come from the 5nm chipset and 5G antennas, right?

Well, not really, as this time around, its QHD display will be of the more frugal LPTO variety, not the LTPS panel with static 120Hz refresh found in the S20 Ultra, and that alone would amount to a 15-20% diminished power draw. When we add the dynamic refresh rate that LTPO allows which only uses 120Hz when it matters – i.e. when browsing and scrolling, or during interface animations – the battery savings may be as significant as having a lower-res display.