It’s truly been the year of budget flagships, so much so that we’ve been recommending the Google Pixel 6 over its Pro sibling just because of the fantastic value it has to offer. Samsung and OnePlus, too, have their contenders in this segment, but they both got a bit late to the party this time around. Nevertheless, the Galaxy S21 FE and the OnePlus 9RT are finally here, sharing similar market philosophies, but it’s their various subtle differences that will determine your final pick.

Specs

OnePlus 9RT

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

Display

6.62-inch OLED, 2400 x 1080, 120Hz, Gorilla Glass 5

6.4-inch OLED, 2340 x 1080, 120Hz, Gorilla Glass Victus

Processor

Snapdragon 888

Snapdragon 888/Exynos 2100

RAM/storage

8/128GB, 12/256GB

8/128GB, 8/256GB

OS

OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11

One UI 4 based on Android 12

Rear cameras

50MP f/1.8 OIS 4k60fps (main) + 16MP f/2.2 (ultrawide) + 2MP (macro)

12MP f/1.8 OIS 4k60fps (main) + 12MP f/2.2 (ultrawide) + 8MP f/2.4 (telephoto)

Front camera

16MP f/2.4

32MP f/2.2

Battery

4500mAh, 65W wired, charger included

4500mAh, 25W wired, 15W wireless, charger not included

Connectivity

5G (8 bands), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC

5G (11 bands), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC

Others

Stereo speakers, alert slider, in-display fingerprint scanner, USB 2.0 Type-C

IP68, stereo speakers, in-display fingerprint scanner, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C

Dimensions

162.2 x 74.6 x 8.29, 198.5g

155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9, 177g

Price

Starting at ₹42,999 (~$580)

Starting at ₹54,999 (~$742)

Display & ergonomics

One of the strongest suits of Samsung phones is their displays, and the Galaxy S21 FE, too, excels in this area. It comes with a well-lit 120Hz 1080p OLED screen, and we had no issues with it during our review. The OnePlus 9RT matches all those display specs and adds a 600Hz touch sampling rate, especially for gaming.

The real difference, however, lies in the way the two phones are made. Samsung has gone for its so-called “glasstic” material for the back (available in a bunch of pastel shades), while the 9RT gets a Gorilla Glass 5 back. This choice of material is, in part, why the OnePlus phone is a few grams heavier.

OnePlus 9RT 1

Besides being lighter, the Galaxy S21 FE is slightly thinner than its predecessor and the 9RT, despite having the same battery capacity. The Samsung phone additionally comes with an official IP68 rating, which the OnePlus 9RT lacks.

Flagship-class performance

Both Samsung and OnePlus are just about to launch their real 2022 flagship phones with next-gen processors. Their timing may be slightly off with the S21 FE's and the 9RT's release, but that doesn’t mean these two phones with last year’s top-shelf chips would fall behind. You don't have to pay a fortune to get a great 5G phone nowadays.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE vs S21 comparsion

Like the main Galaxy S21 series in India, the Fan Edition also gets Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2100 processor (the phone uses the Snapdragon 888 in North America), while the OnePlus 9RT uses the Snapdragon 888 SoC. The two processors have quite a few similarities and handle day-to-day stuff with ease, as it’s expected from them, but Samsung still needs to work on the thermal issues and the resulting performance throttling.

While the 9RT has a slight edge in this area with its Qualcomm chipset, you cannot forget that OnePlus was found artificially throttling the performance on its Snapdragon 888-powered OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. There’s little reason to believe that the company isn’t doing the same here as well.

One crucial factor here is that the Indian Galaxy S21 FE variant comes with 8GB of RAM standard across the board, unlike its US variant that starts at 6GB.

Software

OnePlus has received a lot of flak lately for basically turning OxygneOS into Oppo’s ColorOS. It even pushed a broken Android 12 update to its flagship 9 series phones before pulling it back. That’s perhaps why the 9RT still ships with Android 11 onboard, with OnePlus expected to release the next version only after ironing out the remaining issues — we don’t know yet how long it will take.

S21 FE hands-on (1)

The S21 FE, on the other hand, ships preloaded with the latest Android 12-based One UI 4, and Samsung even promises three years of software support. Over the last couple of years, Samsung has proved its mettle on the software side of things by consistently delivering on the promise. Meanwhile, OnePlus has gone downhill during the same period, which doesn’t induce much confidence, especially after the recent episodes of releasing half-baked stable versions.

Cameras

The OnePlus 9RT borrows its primary camera from its lower-tier sibling — the Nord 2 — so you can expect a very similar camera performance. In his review of the Nord 2, Scott found the main sensor to be acceptable with nothing extraordinary about it, which is generally the norm with phones of this class. When I put the Nord 2 against the previous-gen 9R, the former unsurprisingly performed better with its newer sensors. While we can only give our final word on the 9RT’s camera performance after a thorough review, you can, in the meantime, look at some samples from the Nord 2 to get an idea of what you can expect.

OnePlus Nord 2 camera samples

We have, however, already reviewed the Galaxy S21 FE, and you’ll find its cameras to be as good (or bad) as the baseline Galaxy S21. It’s not Pixel 6-good, but it’s fine enough for your regular shots that will end up on social media. Thankfully, the third sensor on the Galaxy S21 FE is an 8MP telephoto — basically, anything is better than the useless 2MP macro sensor on the 9RT. Here are a few samples from Ryne’s review of the Galaxy S21 FE.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE camera samples

Charger or no charger

Aping Apple, Samsung stopped including chargers in the box last year, which is also the case with the Galaxy S21 FE. If you buy a compatible charger separately, the phone supports up to 25W of input, though in our testing, the charging was capped at 20W on PPS chargers and just 15W on others. Samsung somewhat makes up for that by including the option to wirelessly charge your phone.

The same 65W charger ships with the OnePlus 9R and the 9RT.

The 9RT supports OnePlus’ proprietary Warp Charge 65 tech that juices up the phone in under 40 minutes. It has honestly spoiled us for other slower charging phones. The best part is that OnePlus includes a charger with the phone, so you aren’t required to spend anything extra.

Price

Samsung tends to inflate the launch price to subsequently bring it down with discounts and bank offers. But with the S21 FE in India, the company is a bit too far off. The base model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage costs Rs. 55,000 (~$742), while the 9RT with the same configuration costs Rs. 43,000 (~$580). That price difference alone can sway a buyer’s decision, negating many of the merits that the Galaxy phone brings to the table.

OnePlus 9RT 2

Last year, Samsung launched the Snapdragon variant of the Galaxy S20 FE at a higher price than the Exynos model in India. If that happens with the S21 FE as well down the line, the supposedly budget flagship will border on the super-premium segment, which would make it an even worse deal considering other options available in this bracket, including those from Samsung.


Based on what we have learned about the Indian OnePlus 9RT model, it looks to be a much better deal than the Galaxy S21 FE. The Samsung phone may be a solid product on its own, but it’s a bit late to the market and its price doesn’t help it make the case either. But for a more in-depth look at the OnePlus 9RT, you should wait for our full review, where we’ll put its real-world performance and camera prowess to the test.

Buy OnePlus 9RT

See at Amazon (IN) See at OnePlus Store (IN)

Buy Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

See at Amazon (IN) See at Samsung Store (IN)