Samsung Galaxy M series has received a new member called Galaxy M21; the new device has been unveiled shortly after the Galaxy M31 debuted. The new Samsung phone is the successor of the Galaxy M20 that was announced last year. Being the successor, the smartphone has many upgrades over the previous model. The latest M-series offering is placed below the recently launched Samsung Galaxy M31. The Samsung Galaxy M21 is a more affordable and packs almost the same specifications as the Samsung Galaxy M30s smartphone from last year. The Galaxy M21 comes with triple rear camera setup and runs Android 10 out-of-the-box. There is also up to 6GB of RAM over the maximum 4GB RAM option available on the Galaxy M20. The smartphone also features a gradient back finish and offers a waterdrop-style display notch that the company calls "Infinity-U" display. The newly announced Galaxy M21 has some exciting features like a 48-megapixel primary camera, a front-facing camera of 20-megapixel and a massive battery of 6,000mAh battery. The Galaxy M21 comes in two versions such as 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage. The pricing of the base model is Rs. 12,999 ($175), while the 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM variant costs $210. Amazon India will be carrying out the first sale of the phone on March 23. The phone will also be available on Samsung's online store. The sales of the phone will also be carried out at offline stores in India later.
Design and display
The Samsung Galaxy M21 has a gradient back finish and offers a waterdrop-style display notch that the company calls "Infinity-U" display. In terms of dimension, the device measures 159 x 75.1 x 8.9 mm and its weight is 188 gram. It supports a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and the front panel is coated with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The right bezel of the handset has a power button and volume rockers while you'll get a Dual SIM slot on the left side. There is a rectangular shaped triple camera setup on the back panel. The smartphone is fitted with a 6.4-inch Infinity-U Super AMOLED screen that delivers 19.5:9 aspect ratio and Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The Widevine L1 certification will allow M21 users to enjoy streaming content. Along with the Super AMOLED display, the phone provides 84.2 percent screen-to-body ratio. Samsung claims that Galaxy M21 delivers up to 420 nits maximum brightness. The display has rich colors, impressive viewing angles, and outdoor visibility. The bezels around the display are also just average, with the chin being a lot thicker.
Front and rear cameras
As for the photography experience, there is a triple camera on the back panel, consisting of a 48MP f/2.0 primary ISOCELL GM2 camera, an 8MP ultrawide shooter, and a 5MP depth sensor. The ultrawide camera does a slightly better job at colors, but the results look very inaccurate in terms of colors, and the sharpness takes a bit hit too. Surprisingly, low-light shots and Night mode images are above-average, with a fair amount of detail in the darker parts of the picture. The primary 48MP sensor has 1/2.0,", 0.8µm pixels, and PDAF technology. Samsung Galaxy M21 can record 4k and Full HD videos at 30fps. Galaxy M21's ultra-wide sensor and depth sensor have f/2.2 apertures.
The notch on the front panel houses a 20MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture for taking selfies and live video recording. Selfies are pretty inconsistent as well, with good shots usually taking more than one try. You can only record Full HD videos at 30fps by using a front-facing camera.
Battery, Processor, and software
Samsung Galaxy M21 runs One UI 2 brand's latest layer based on the Android 10 operating system. There are plenty of pre-installed apps that make the home screen appear even more dated. It needs to be stripped off unnecessary apps and features, and give users more options to decide how they want their interface to look. The Samsung browser regularly pushes weird notifications that are borderline ads. The lock screen, too, shows trending news that is untargeted, making the initial experience less than ideal. These can be turned off if you dig enough into the settings.
Under the hood, Samsung M21 has an Exynos chipset instead of a mid-range Snapdragon SoC. It's powered by the 10nm Exynos 9611 chipset, which is an octa-core (4x2.3 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53) SoC. Surprisingly, the performance is well, especially for heavy games such as PUBG Mobile, which would run at "Extreme 'framerates, consistently crossing 30fps, which is uncommon. However, regular usage has not as enjoyable as apps can take a couple of seconds to open fully. There is a Mali-G72 GPU. With a 6,000 mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy M21 has our expectations high, and we are glad to report that the battery life is pretty solid. It's impossible to kill in a single day, and light users can probably get their phones to last for two days. The massive battery of the phone supports up to 15W for rapid charging. Unfortunately, the included charger takes close to three hours to refuel the Galaxy M21.