Galaxy S21 with Qualcomm chip performs way better than Pixel 6 in 5G tests

Google's newest smartphones—Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro—use the company's first-generation Tensor processing chipset. However, not all parts of the chipset are made in-house. For instance, Tensor uses ARM's stock CPU and GPU cores and Samsung's Exynos 5G modem. It was recently found that the US variant of Galaxy S21 performs way better than the Pixel 6 Pro when it comes to 5G.

According to a cellular test done by PCMag, the Galaxy S21 (with Snapdragon 888) was able to handle 4G and 5G signals better than the Pixel 6 Pro with an Exynos modem. The Galaxy S21 was able to capture LTE signals better in almost every scenario by 2-5dBm. These tests were done on T-Mobile and Verizon's networks in the US.

In 5G tests, the Pixel 6 Pro struggled to reach download speeds of more than 1Gbps, but the Galaxy S21 easily reached over 2Gbps download speeds. On mid-band 5G networks, Samsung's smartphone did better in six out of seven tests. Some people even complained that the Pixel 6 loses the cellular network entirely for a few seconds when switching between LTE, 5G, and 5G UWB (mmWave), but we can't say for sure if it's a hardware or software issue.

When it comes to catching low-band cellular network signals in rural areas, the Pixel 6 Pro appeared to outperform the Galaxy S21. The comparison shows that Qualcomm's modem performs better than the Exynos modem used in the Pixel 6 series. Let's hope that Samsung improves its 5G modems with the Exynos 2200 that will debut inside the Galaxy S22 series.

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Asif Iqbal Shaik - Senior Editor

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First Samsung device: T100

Asif is a computer engineer turned technology journalist. He has been using Samsung phones since 2004, and his current smartphone is the Galaxy S21 Ultra. He loves headphones, mechanical keyboards, and PC hardware. When not writing about technology, he likes watching crime and science fiction movies and TV shows.

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