In the early days, these photos would be too greenish or too fake, but the cameras have been modified to produce more acceptable colour hues. Photos taken with the iPhone, even with the flagship 10 Pro Max, show weakness in the white balance, so they always appeared muted and greyed in comparison. The S21 Ultra also offers better depth and detail with the bokeh.

Gone are the days when we were surprised with mobile phone designs. Since the advent of the smartphone, they mainly only feature small modifications with each new model. The S21 Ultra looks sleeker and is smaller than its predecessor, with a premium metallic case and a 6.8cm Dynamic AMOLED screen with a maximum of 3,200 x 1,400 pixel resolution. A whopping 120Hz refresh rate makes the whole scrolling experience seamless; it only works in full adaptive mode though.

At 227 grams, it is only one gram lighter than the iPhone 12 Pro Max, but because of the slimmer and narrower chassis, the Ultra gives the impression that it’s lighter. Samsung has also added a matt finish to the back of the phone that gives it a more premium feel; disappointingly, the grip still feels slippery, especially when I was trying out Asphalt 9: Legends. Otherwise, the gaming experience is slightly better on the Ultra than the iPhone because of the latter’s huge notch on the screen.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor is super fast and the 16MB RAM pushes it even further. The 5,000 mAh battery (compared to the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s 3,678) makes a huge difference. On most days the Ultra still had juice after more than 24 hours, while on the best of days my iPhone battery lasts slightly over 12 hours before my anxiety levels start to spike.

While it’s debatable whether Samsung or Apple leads in terms of technological developments, it’s obvious that Samsung has taken a leaf out of Apple’s playbook where some of the packaging is concerned. When Apple did away with the headphone jack with the iPhone 7 in 2016, the Korean phone maker eventually followed. Last year, Apple decided to package the iPhone 12 without the charging cable. Unsurprisingly, Samsung has also not included a charging brick with the S21 phones.

What’s also disappointing is the exclusion of expandable memory, even though the maximum 512 GB internal memory should be enough for normal use. However, the phone is definitely built for more sophisticated use, especially now that they’ve made the pen stylus compatible, and so extra memory might eventually be useful for heavy duty users.

So what about the OS? I’ve never been big fan of the Android OS because I find it a lot more fiddly than the iOS, but one of the things I have appreciated the Android OS for is the high degree of personalisation it allows for, unlike Apple’s rabid compulsion to control user experience. With the new iOS 14, however, Apple has caught up slightly with widgets and home screen themes as well.

One of the game-changers for me with the new Samsung is the new-ish DeX Mode which allows users to cast their device to a big screen, allowing you to work in a PC-like environment with a larger keyboard and mouse. You can also use different apps on your device simultaneously. It doesn’t work directly in Windows, but there are casting apps that you can download to make it work on your PC. With everyone switching between different devices for information and work, this is a great option.

Will the S21 Ultra tempt me from my iPhone 12 Pro Max? There’s a lot I appreciate about the Ultra, but I still find it easier to deal with the more user-friendly iOS for day-to-day usage. However, no Android phone has made me consider making the switch more strongly than the S21 Ultra. The S21 Ultra is certainly the best Android phone you can find on the market right now – if you can afford the US$1,199 price tag. 

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