The Samsung Galaxy series is one of the best-selling flagship phone series’ out there, thanks to its excellent performance and modern design. For the Galaxy S21 series, Samsung went all out, bringing down the price of the entry-level model, and making the top-tier “Ultra” model better than eve...

The Galaxy S21 is a superb compact flagship phone with a brilliant 120Hz refresh rate Super AMOLED display, a great rear camera array capable of 8K video and excellent overall performance. If you want the ultimate uber phone, the Galaxy S21 Ultra awaits.

Surprisingly beautiful faux metal finish; Excellent build quality; Stereo speakers; Powerful performance; Good cameras; Great battery life

No expandable storage; No charger or earbuds in the box; No 3.5mm audio jack

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;

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

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

Part of Samsung's smartphone philosophy is to offer every user the device that is perfectly right for them. The Galaxy S21 series is no different. The Galaxy S21 serves the largest target group among Galaxy S fans.

bright AMOLED display running at 120 Hz; fast Exynos SoC; very good camera; 5G; dual SIM; and eSIM; Wi-Fi 6E; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC

plastic back; no power adapter included; storage not expandable; throttles under load; average battery life

A flagship that has learned the right lessons

Aside from a rejuvenated design and the obligatory spec bump, the Galaxy S21 does little to improve upon or surpass its predecessor (and in some areas steps backwards). That said, as ever this year's S21 has everything you'll likely want and need in a high-end 2021 smartphone, without pushing the...

Improved battery life; Superb performance; Decent software; Nice design

Cameras are relatively unchanged; Some downgrades from S20; No charger may irk some

There's a lift in design for the Galaxy S21, resulting in a phone that looks fresh and exciting, and a great display, offering adaptive refresh rates. While there's plenty of power - and a flagship performance - the camera doesn't reach the highs that you get from the Galaxy S21 Ultra, leaving this...

Distinctive design; Waterproofing; Great display; Smooth and powerful performance; Decent battery life

No microSD card slot; Camera performance could be better; Easily undercut by the S20 FE

The Samsung Galaxy S21 packs plenty of power into its small stature and sets the stage for better 5G phone performance in the future.

Hand-friendly form factor; Bright; colorful screen; Better Night photo mode than previous Samsung phones; Supports future 5G network features

5G battery life is just on the edge of acceptable; Future network features don't exist yet