Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (Snapdragon) Display review: Good video rendering

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (Snapdragon) hit the market in January 2022, and as befits a device in our Premium segment ($ 600- $ 799), it’s packed with goodies. Let’s take a look at how it fared in our comprehensive visualization protocol tests.

Main display specifications:

6.4-inch AMOLED display
Resolution: 1080 x 2400 (411 ppi)
Aspect Ratio: 20: 9
Refresh rate: 120Hz
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset (5 nm).

Learn about SBMARK visualization tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone and other display reviews, SBMARK engineers perform a series of objective and perceptual tests in controlled laboratory and under real-life conditions. This article highlights the most important results of our tests. Please note that we evaluate display attributes using only the device’s built-in display hardware and related still image (gallery) and video apps with default settings. (For in-depth information on how we rate smartphones and other displays, see our articles, “How SBMARK Tests Display Quality” and “A Closer Look at SBMARK Display Tests.”)

Test summary

Pros

The brightness is suitable for indoor use
Accurate overall color fidelity
Pleasant brightness when watching HDR10 content

Cons

Colors turn blue and appear desaturated when viewed from an angle
Aliasing visible when playing video games
stammering noticeable when playing video games

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G’s rendering of stationary and on-the-go content is particularly good indoors, although it works quite well in outdoor conditions as well. It is a great device for watching HDR10 videos, with adequate brightness and color fidelity.

While a little too bright in low light, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G is readable indoors.

Readability inside, left to right: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), Google Pixel 6, Apple iPhone 13

(Photo credit: SBMARK; illustrative purposes only)

The device lacks brightness when viewed in sunlight.

Sunlight readability, left to right: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), Google Pixel 6, Apple iPhone 13

(Photo credit: SBMARK; illustrative purposes only)

The colors are faithful and well rendered inside. In outdoor conditions a slight green cast is often visible.

Color rendering outdoors in shade, clockwise from top left: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), Apple iPhone 13, Google Pixel 6

(Photo credit: SBMARK; illustrative purposes only)

The left graph below shows the color fidelity of the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE in the P3 color space. The center of each circle is the target color; The further the arrowhead is outside the circle, the more users will notice the difference between the color on the display and the original color of the source material. The S21 FE has generally accurate color reproduction. The scatter plot on the right shows the color shift of the device towards blue when viewed at an angle.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FEcolor fidelity at 1000 lux in the P3 color space

Samsung Galaxy S21 FEscatter plot of the white point on the corner

The leftmost photos in the two matrices below illustrate the color shift of the S21 FE to blue as shown in the scatter plot.

Internal color rendering in axis (top) and corner (bottom), from left to right: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), Google Pixel 6, Apple iPhone 13

(Photo credit: SBMARK; illustrative purposes only)

The video brightness of the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G is suitable for HDR10 content, with a good rendition of mid-tones. Some dark tones are missing in the detailed areas and a slight green cast is evident, but the latter does not affect the skin tone rendering.

Video color rendering, clockwise from top left: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), Apple iPhone 13, Google Pixel 6

(Photo credit: SBMARK; illustrative purposes only)

The S21 FE exhibits some frame mismatches for content at 30fps and 60fps, along with some stuttering when focusing on background elements in video games (although stutters don’t negatively impact the gaming experience). The device handles motion blur well. Video playback is slightly delayed after moving forward or backward in the timeline.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G runs smoothly when browsing the web and scrolling through the gallery, but lacks smoothness when playing video games. It handles vibrations well, but the device is responsive enough to ghost touches and aliasing is visible when playing video games.