Samsung Galaxy S21 5G 128GB (2021)
VerifiedMPNs: SM-G991BZAAATS, SM-G991BZIAATS, SM-G991BZVAATS and SM-G991BZWAATS26 reviews
Flagship phone a big joke! My brand new 18 month old Galaxy S21 5G phone needed a screen replacement as green vertical lines suddenly appeared, initially just one line and now I have three. I am always very careful with my phones and have never dropped one, have screen protectors and phone cases but it didn’t help with this phone even though it’s… Read more
still in perfect condition.
After extensive online research, this issue is apparently well known with phones that have the AMOLED screen that Samsung phones have but apparently this issue is most common with the Galaxy S20 to S23. I got further frustrated by Samsung customer service after wasting hours, initially by booking a phone call which didn’t eventuate, then almost 2 hours with an online chat, followed by an email with instructions about getting my phone repaired but at no stage of this process was I advised that Samsung would not replace my phone’s screen for free. Instead they sent me to an authorised Samsung repairer in Brisbane 80km away only to be told I would have to pay $320 for a new screen because my phone is an International model so the warranty expired by 6 moths even though in India as a goodwill gesture they’re replacing the screens for free through to September 2025. I have since decided never to buy another Samsung phone. I purchased a new Motorola Moto G85 on 19/06/2025 for only $247 from Officeworks and it's just as good as the Samsung Galaxy S21 including the photos and so far am very happy with this beautiful large but lightweight phone.
Fast shipping, looks new even when it is refurbished – Fast shipping. Arrived before expected. Phone looks new (refurbished), comes with fast changing cable adapter. Show details · 1
Don't buy new, buy REFURBISHED – I often buy refurbished phones, and this is my second purchase from Green Gadgets. The phone works absolutely fine, not scratch, no operating issues. The battery life is 'okay' but this is an issue I've encountered with previous Samsung models over time, whether purchased brand new on a plan, or purchased refurbished. I would ALWAYS recommend… Read more · 1
going the refurbished option to save money and impact on the environment and GG provide quality products in which to do that. I already recommend this company to all my friends and work colleagues.
horrible phone – The worst phone I've ever owned, and the camera is awful
(Quint)Essential Tool For Modern life!!! – For Android users and those wishing to transfer to what is an ubiquitous System.Transfer from older Android phone was easy and painless,bought in 2021(april) with extended warranty but was not needed.Has capacity for 2 SIM cards, so is a good purchase for work related phone use as you can separate the calls,for tax purposes.'Goof proof' Camera… Read more · 2
with new features for better pics,I use it to take snaps of internet purchases&anything where time stamp is essential.. Minimal 'bloatware' and a plethora of android programmes, I use WPS office and MS office365,along with Mc Afee security.I have devised a programme in Excel to record tax deductibles(FOR USE at end of financial year),I also have a bluetooth keyboard linked to my phone so that I can type into Word.Due to the generous memory I have downloaded many a kindle version of books of interest, so that they are to hand whenever time permits.This is especially so with regard to cookery books and shopping for supplies,(ingredients).The Calender function takes the pain out of appointments and the alarm function makes it easy to be on time for appoitments andthe notes is an additional bonus.I did have a tough film put in professionallyand the phone has survived many a drop on to hard floors.. I remember to charge every night and the phone has capacity to attribute a different tone to specified callers,thus makig it easier to decide which calls to take and which goes thru' to 'message'. There are many subtle innovations, that make it extra user friendly. One has to have adequate data allowance and home WI FI to make adequate use ofit. Also one must check wether there is adequate signal strength this will depend on the provider and building.Scams abound for the unwary,SMS's need to have verification re authenticity before'clicking' on links..I would reccommend this as an essential purchase to face modern living both for work and domestic (recreational) use.
Samsung Galaxy 21FE 5G Phone – Best Phone I have purchased Great size Screen Camera takes fantastic photos with colour being perfect. No need to edit colour Fast charging Long Battery life Show details · 1
Well above average – Great phone photos are good holds alot of stuff. Easy to use also. Good value. Sound is good too. Show details · 1
Impractical and inconvenient – I got my phone from Optus about 5mths ago. I am not a heavy user, but I do use my phone for basic work reports a couple of times a day. Nothing but problems, but initially so few and so random each time I went to Optus and Samsung store the phone was working fine! Now it is getting worse! The over heating is beyond rediculous - I don't even play… Read more
games or watch videos. It seems simply typing and using my phone for basic work reports seems to kill it! Can't type/use for any more than 15mins without it getting really hot to the point I can't hold it! Battery is really, really, really bad - doesn't get me theough an 7.5hr shift in which I make only a few calls, and type about 3 reports taking 15mins each including 3-4 photo's. Screen seems to freeze alot, especially when dialing/calling people. Now the keypad won't work when I have to "press 1 for..." very frustrating because it literally means I simply can't use certain services on my phone which is very inconvenient because I don't have a landline and I don't work in an office. 2 days ago I received a call while driving and my Maps App was running. Thr phone crashed, but didn't turn off, rather it automatically answered the call but the caller couldn't here me. It didn't matter what I pressed the phone frozen so I could do nothing. They called back 3 more times and dame thing happened. Pulled over to try and turn phone off but again it frozen even though caller had hung up. Suddenly bixby came on (no idea why) so I was able to use voice to turn off phone and restart. At a loss as you what to do because I NEED my phone daily at work, so can't afford the downtime. I know they will only offer to send it away but the $79 phone they will suggest I buy meanwhile will not be suffice for me to work with. Given the short time I have had the phone I really think it should be replaced. How do I insist on this?
Worst reception of any phone I have had – At my home, When I switch the SIM card between my old S10 with 4 bars of reception and the S21 with only 1 or at best 2 bars. I have tested change to 4G/3G, no difference. The Telsta 5G is so slow with this poor reception. I notice the same around country towns, changing the sim to s10s is much better reception. I would believe the s21 is… Read more
defective and not fit for purpose as a blue tick phone. My old 3G blackberry and Nokia's were much better reception in 2011/13 and reliability. Feature wise it's good to use.
Hi Nevill, I have sent you a private message to assist you with this and look forward to your reply.
A good phone with issues – The S21 is an overall good phone but minor issues such as apps not working/freezing, questionable battery life, and minor lag spikes are all issues I wouldn't expect with such a new and relatively expensive phone. Show details
Expensive paperweight – While this device boasts an I pressove set of of features like the camera and and screen, it can barely function under the weight of all the resource heavy hard baked apps, I have always been a fan of samsung devices but the s21 5g is so laggy it's barely usable. Browsing the Internet is painfully slow and jerky, Facebook is laggy, even typing… Read more
a simple message is a lagged painful experience that will make you want to pull your hair out.
Even just operating the menu this device is completely incompatible with its own operating system.
All of this operating struggle burns the battery as well
Avoid if you want a smooth and quick operating device, I'm stuck with this for another 19 months.
S10 was better. USB Port failed after about 1.5 months, and lack of headphone jack is just frustrating – USB port knackered after less than two months, with repeated moisture alarms amd intermittent charging before it conked out entirely. Went a week with no phone waiting for a wireless charging port to ve delivered. Also having no jack plug is very frustrating, as you are reliant on very expensive earbuds. Forgot them? You can't grab a cheap set… Read more
of headphones in woollies anymore. Then my earbuds also broke, so no music or audio books until they are repaired unless I want to fork out for a 2nd set. Lack of a jack plug is not an improvement, the s10 could connect to earbuds too, they just took away the redundancy and made the phone worse. Incidently my earbuds bricked so I am in the situation of sending 2 month old s21 and 2 month old earbuds back for repairs, and switching back to my old s10, which I think I will probably stick with.
Worst battery ever – I would never buy again. Battery does not last a day! My 2 year old Huawei phone still last la 2 days. Wish I never got this phone. And nothing came in the box! No charger! No headphones! So much regret, terrible phone Show details
Find out how Samsung Galaxy S21 5G 128GB compares to other Mobile Phones
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Save your money, don't buy S21 – I have been using this phone for 7 months and I am very disappointed with it. Good things: 1. Screen is good and smooth thanks to the 120hz refresh rate. 2. Nothing else Bad things: 1. Battery is rubbish and it can only provide you a maximum of 4 hours Screen On Time. It is not possible to last for a day even if you are not using the phone often… Read more
and have the power-saving mode on.
2. Its RRP is $1250 but it does not even give you a charger!! I spent extra to buy a Samsung charger, and the charging speed is very slow compared to other competitors in the market, such as Oppo, Huawei. They can fully charge the phone in 30 minutes, while S21 takes more than 1 hour and a half to fully charge.
3. Camera is very laggy. Sometimes I have to wait for more than 5 seconds to open the camera and wait another 5 seconds until the camera responds. Even the video you record is laggy when you watch it, and this is even worse when you use slow-motion mode. I was hoping the system update will fix it, but it is simply not improving. If you don't believe this, you can Google "S21 laggy camera".
4. Performance is bad. Exynos 2100 is the most advanced processor you can get on an Android phone, but FPS is not stable when I play Wild Rift even with performance mode switched on. I set the graphic quality to normal, and FPS normally fluctuate between 45 to 110 when having a team fight.
5. Overheating. It gets very hot when using the camera and playing games. It is OK in wintertime, but I am worried about using this phone in summer.
In summary, don't buy this phone. It is overpriced and just not worthy. Even my old S8 is better, at least the camera is not laggy.
Charging port easily damaged – Moisture detected fault. Had the phone 6 months somehow the charging port got damaged simply by plugging chargers in. No more Samsungs for me, they charged me $255 AUD to repair Never had this issue with s9. Show details
Samsung and Android girl, dare I say it but it might be an iPhone next time – EDITED, a month or two later. This phone us absolutely terrible. Calls drop out constantly, terribly static and faint when you are using the phone, you struggle to hear a lot. The apps always freeze, google maps for example. It's awesome when you are using it to get somewhere... not lol. And the battery life is terrible. By far the worst… Read more
phone I have had the misfortune of having, back to iPhone after this
Samsung girl, had an Oppo 5G Reno, did the job awesome camera but not the best at making phone calls, which was the purpose of a mobile phone.
So I head back to a Samsung S21, what a mistake. 1. Immediately I noticed how slow and lethargic the phone itself is, from opening an app to dialing - every aspect of this phone is slow, I can only imagine what it'll be like in a years time. 2. Phone call quality is terrible (and I thought the Oppo was bad, seems like a dream ahhh the good old days). Crackly quality, sometimes it just drops out, restartthe phone and call back whoeverI was talking too. And a lot of the time it simply doesn't ring. 3. The apps, are constantly closing, and you have to restart your phone or reset it. Continuously.
Samsung's are meant to get better not worse. After the last two Android phones I'm likely to finally head back to an iPhone I'm that sick of them, oh well only 22 more months to go on this phone contract and I know this phone will not go the distance.
Steer clear of the S21 it would be their worst phone to date.
So this phone is that bad I have literally gone back to the iPhone. Samsung drove me to it lol.
Hey Carly, We're sorry to hear you're experiencing these… Read more
Samsung S21 Is A Rip Off – You will be disappointed if you've been using older models. Have been using Samsung Galaxy for years and never did I expect they would go backwards on the basics. No adaptor to transfer data from your old phone. No charger with the phone. No notification light for when phone is charging or to indicate when phone is fully charged. No notification… Read more
light for missed calls. No notification light for sms' received. No home button at the bottom like older models. Screen brightness doesn't allow you to reduce enough, needs lower settings from factory. Alot of the functions are very different to what they are on the older models, I was using a Samsung 7. Functionality of buttons and phone in general is not user friendly. Layout of software and Apps is confusing. Way overpriced at $1,247. Will definitely need something more suitable going forward.
Really bad network and reception issue – The phone has really poor reception and network issues. I have contacted Samsung care to reset network settings which did not fix the issue. I am have tried to contact Samsung to arrange a physical inspection of the phone which they have not responded. Phone was purchased through telestra in March 2021. Issue with phone has been occurring the last 4 months and causing issues with my business. Also phone has been lagging. Show details
No charger included – The phone is good no complaints there what annoys me it doesn't include a charger just a cable that doesn't fit a regular USB port on my old charger block. I pay over $1200 and they can't even include a charger. Apparently its due to saving the environment and reduce waste... Yeah right nobody believes that crap. Show details
US global version Snapdragon – I didn't want the Exynos Australian S21 so I purchased the US model Snapdragon model from Amazon US and I'm very glad I did. Lightning fast operation, outstanding battery life. Show details
Great device – Fantastic for taking photos and recording videos. Camera quality is outstanding with plenty of features for different video modes. Overall very user friendly device. Sleek design. I would have liked a more detailed video editing software. Show details
Better than the S20 – I've owned many different phones over the years (iPhone and Android), and would consider it my hobby in a way. I was excited when Samsung announced the improved Exynos 2100 processor, which they claimed is a big improvement over the Exynos 990 in the Galaxy S20 (which I also owned for a while). I was told by Samsung when purchasing the phone… Read more
that the new CPU is more efficient than the one in the S20 and as a result, I will see improvements with battery life. I must say that despite the fact that I'm not blown away by the battery stamina as I would be with an iPhone, it does last me all day (it is able to last the entire day when I'm at work, with room to spare for usage at home). I don't get the most screen on time (3 hours on average), but I'm not on my phone all day. The standby time isn't the best, but that's common with Samsung phones. As long as the phone lasts me the entire day (which it does), I'm not too fussed.
The camera is capable of producing excellent results, particularly thanks to the S21's ultrawide lens which is great for landscape (or in my case, cityscape) shots. I haven't used the camera at night, so I'm unable to make a comment about night time shots.
Samsung has gone back to a plastic back with the regular S21 (the S21 Plus and Ultra models still use glass), which I would argue isn't a significant drawback for two main reasons. Firstly, a phone with a glass back is more expensive to repair if you drop it (as you've gotta worry about repairing two panels of glass- the screen and the back); and I don't notice it as I use a case (although you could go caseless without too many consequences).
One other feature that has been downgraded is the screen resolution. Instead of 1440p, the maximum screen resolution tops out at 1080p. I don't believe it's a major issue at all, considering I can't tell the difference between 1440p and 1080p. Not to mention how I care about better battery life than higher screen resolution.
Does this phone represent better value for money than the S21+ or Ultra? Heck yes! Is this phone for those who want absolutely every feature at its best? No. For that, I'd recommend the S21 Ultra. Overall, I think the S21 is the default option for the majority of people who just want a reliable phone and are upgrading from an older Samsung device or even an iPhone.
Find out how Samsung Galaxy S21 5G 128GB compares to other Mobile Phones
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A sheer disappointment compared to Galaxy S10 5G – Not a good phone to be honest. I switch from Apple SE thinking that this is better phone as the apple has now nothing fancy to offer. But this phone is even worse. I switched to Samsung because of my company phone that is S10 5G. And this phone stands no where against S10 or SE. To start with the battery doesn't last any longer than S10 or SE. The… Read more
finger print scanner is pathetic and doesn't pick up the finger print at once. 3 -4 attempts at least. Camera is better than S10 or SE. Sound is comparable to S10. The body feels like a cheap phone. Its all plasticy. Not a good decision to buy this phone. And it doesn't come with adapter or charger. No earphones. A sheer disappointment.
Not working after less than 1 week – My son bought the S21 from Samsung online. Less than a week later it wouldn’t work - kept rebooting and would not read SIM card, after waiting 2 weeks for service it was taken to the George st Sydney shop, returned to us still not working (we thought it was fixed) and as the Samsung shop and the online retainer are different entities we now have… Read more
to wait again to get a replacement. Buy from another retailer, or do I as I will do and buy another brand that doesn’t stop working with 1 week, whose service is customer focussed. Bad and frustrating experience all around.
Good in theory but really isn't – While on paper the phone appears to have good specs and all the makings of a good phone, unfortunately after receiving it yesterday mine is extremely buggy and barely usable. That in itself is disappointing but I understand I got a dud and the odd product now and again will be faulty. But to really make things worse the only Samsung store in my… Read more
area has no appointments for over a month..! I was previously quite happy with My Galaxy S8 but this phone is a piece of junk, the plastic backing is also extremely tacky and feels very low budget.
Update after 4 months: This phone is in NO WAY worth upgrading to. There is absolutely 0 updgrade from something 4 years old. Save your money.
A downgrade from the s10 – Lower resolution screen. No wrap around screen. Heavier. Thicker. No Oximeter. No 3.5mm jack. No removable memory. Not much is improved. This seems like a phone that is focused on cost saving, not innovation. Show details
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Hey Belinda, We're sorry to hear this is happening with… Read more (+1 reply)