More durable; lightweight design; improved image processing; tons of premium features; IP68 water resistance; upgraded in-screen fingerprint sensor; variable 120Hz refresh rate; full 5G connectivity

Samsung killed the microSD slot; no headphone jack; power brick doesn't come included; battery life could be a bit better

We take a deep dive with the Samsung Galaxy S21

Great look; Fast and snappy performance; Full of features to explore; Good camera quality; Speakers are improved over last gen

Plastic back is a no-no at $800; The plethora of features can be overwhelming; take it slow; The UI looks a bit flat and tacky; Bye; bye; microSD card slot

It has certainly been a minute since we’ve made device-related videos, but with the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Ultra finally in house, we get to do just that. Tim has already unboxed the Galaxy S21 Ultra, leaving me with the “First 10 Things” duties. Ahhh, fresh videos. In this lengthy video, you...

The Galaxy S21 lineup is now available. Before you buy one, the biggest takeaway you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, along with the Galaxy S21 Plus 5G and Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, is that Samsung cut the US price of each by $200 (the savings are less in other countries). Clearly this wasn't done out of generosity and Samsung's made trade-offs to hit that lower price on the Galaxy S21: The wall charger and headphones don't come in the box, the phone doesn't have a microSD card slot for expanded storage and it has 4GB of RAM less than the S20. Samsung also removed half of the pixels from the screen and replaced the Gorilla Glass from the back with polycarbonate, which is a nice way of saying plastic.

Samsung's made some wise choices to get the price down on the Galaxy S21. Here's what we think of the new 5G phone.

Lower price; Design; Android 11/OneUI 3.1; High refresh rate screen;

Less RAM; Display is only HD; Gets warm when using it; Lacks a microSD slot;

The Galaxy S21 isn’t the star of Samsung’s S series in 2021, like we’ve been used to for most of the past decade, but it’s a solid smartphone choice with an impressive camera, powerful internals and great battery life.

Fantastic; versatile camera; Cheaper than the Galaxy S20; Powerful and capable phone

No microSD support; Screen isn’t the best; No charger in the box

Take fantastic photos and nice and big lay out to read

Rather than offer essentially the same top-tier phone at different sizes, Samsung has chosen to get aggressive on price this year. The Galaxy S21 starts at $799.99 for the smaller version with a 6.2-inch screen and $999.99 for the Plus version with a 6.7-inch display.

Fast processor; Nice screen; Good battery life

Samsung bloatware; Competition will undercut price; No microSD storage expansion

If you're a fan of Samsung devices and upgrading from an older phone, you'll likely enjoy a lot of what the S21 offers

Great display; Unique; fresh design; Decent battery life and performance

Unreliable camera software; One UI needs polish (and less ads); A bit pricey for what's on offer

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G is the mobile you should buy if you want the most value your money.

Good camera with creative possibilities. Razor-sharp and bright screen with adaptive 120 Hz refresh rate combined with nice design and extremely high performance. Best for the price in the Galaxy S21 series.

No charger is supplied, and although the screen is not the largest, we could still have wished for a higher screen resolution.

A reliable upgrade for Galaxy S10 owners, the Samsung Galaxy S21 is a very good smartphone, and a decent camera phone at $799 / £769, however, it’s too similar to its predecessor and last year’s Galaxy S20 FE to warrant an upgrade from either of those.

Lower launch price than S20; UI packed with features; Improved night photography

No optical zoom; No AF on ultrawide; Low on innovation