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The unique new Galaxy S21 Ultra features no other phone has

By Daniel Petrov

Published: Jan 15, 2021, 9:22 AM

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The unique new Galaxy S21 Ultra features no other phone has

Samsung inundated us with information about the Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra during its first Unpacked 2021 event, and it even made its own unboxing and preview videos for the new phones - you know, pandemic times don't warrant a bunch of techies ganging up on floor units in a confined space.

Even so, it's the Galaxy S21 Ultra that caught our attention the most, and not only because Samsung lowered the S21 Ultra launch price significantly compared to its S20 Ultra predecessor while decking it out even more, or because it has dual tele-zoom (P40 Pro+ has it, too).

Why? Because there are some numbers and unique Galaxy S21 Ultra features which you may have overlooked during all the pomp and bombast, here's what's new and cool about it.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

$1000 $1199 ⁹⁹ Buy at Samsung View price Buy at Amazon $199 ⁹⁹ $1199 ⁹⁹ Buy at Verizon

$399 ⁹⁹ $1199 ⁹⁹ Buy at AT&T $499 ⁹⁹ $1199 ⁹⁹ Buy at T-Mobile $1199 ⁹⁹ Buy at BestBuy

First phone with Wi-Fi 6E support, the next wireless internet standard

Start saving for a Nighthawk router

The Wi-Fi 6E support in the Galaxy S21 Ultra will be capable of operating on the 6 GHz band. It would work like the current WiFi 6 on 5 GHz but with way more channels that won't interfere or overlap. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi 6E can have 14 additional 80 MHz channels and 7 additional 160 MHz channels, reducing congestion and interference.

Qualcomm's a big proponent, and promises "Wi-Fi speeds up to 3.6 Gbps, VR-class low latency and multi-user feature innovation delivered to new and clean 6GHz spectrum" with the respective expensive routers like Netgear's new Nighthawk.

The widest 10Hz-120Hz adaptive display refresh range

And at 1440p at that

When it comes to the most imporant part of a phone, the screen, the S21 Ultra delivers new heights. It is equipped with the newest LTPO OLED display technology that allowed for both the record 1500 nits of peak brightness, and the battery-saving, dynamically-allocated refresh rate that can go down to 10Hz when you are looking at static images, or rev up all the way to 120Hz when you game or scroll furiously. This granularly adaptive refresh rate is what makes the S21 Ultra display stand out.

The fastest RAM memory

Blu-ray movie in a second

Samsung's new LPDDR5 1z RAM memory packs can transfer at the rate of 6,400 megabits per second (Mb/s), which makes it 16 percent faster than 12GB LPDDR5 memory you find on flagships like the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The 16GB package, in particular, can transfer 51.2GB of data in just one second. That's the equivalent of transferring 10 5GB-sized full-HD content.

The 1z packaging process for the LPDDR5 module also made it 30 percent thinner than its predecessor, which means it takes up less space inside smartphones. To make the 16GB package in the S21 Ultra Samsung needed just eight chips, whereas its predecessor based on the 1y process needs 12 chips to offer the same capacity.

First 108MP phone camera sensor capable of capturing 12-bit color

Unlike the iPhone 12 Pro's 'Dolby Vision HDR' capture that's still 10-bit

Say what you will about the wisdom of using a gigantic 108MP sensor with tiny 0.8 micron pixels when it comes to focusing and motion blur, but the S21 Ultra is the first phone equipped with Samsung's newest third-gen HM3 sensor that resolves most of the issues that its predecessors on the S20 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra have.

It offers a new PDAF focusing system that ups the focusing accuracy by 50% (the S21 Ultra would still use the ultra-wide angle camera for extreme closeups, though), and its Smart ISO Pro HDR imaging technology increases light sensitivity by 50%.

What Smart ISO Pro also does, though, is capture 12-bit color - a record in the phone world, and among high-res sensors in particular. Apple boasts with Dolby Vision HDR capture and playback on the iPhone 12 series, but, surprisingly for the standard, it's still a 10-bit color capture, while the Galaxy S21 Ultra is able to capture the full 12-bit palette, a breathtaking feat.

Unlike the iPhone 12's 'Dolby Vision HDR' capture, the S21 Ultra is able to capture the full 12-bit color with a 108MP sensor

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.