A large number of Galaxy S21 users have been complaining on Reddit and some other forums that the battery life is too poor, and the February 2021 security patch that began last week may be the culprit. All customer complaints come from those who own the Exynos variant, although it should be emphasized that the problem is most likely a software issue, not the new Samsung hardware. And according to some users, the battery may drain faster due to cellular network connection issues. According to the affected Galaxy S21 owner, the battery life is within the normal range after enabling airplane mode.
There seems to be a lot of complaints about Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21+, while Galaxy S21 Ultra is rarely mentioned. Unfortunately, since none of our Exynos-based Galaxy S21 models are affected by this issue, we cannot confirm exactly how this issue occurred or whether it will affect the Galaxy S21 Ultra. As we mentioned in the Galaxy S21+ review, the battery life is good, but good enough. The Galaxy S21 Ultra brings a more positive experience, with surprisingly good battery life even at 120Hz. However, the average battery life of the basic model Galaxy S21 is not ideal. Samsung is aware of these issues and is working to resolve them.
Samsung is clearly aware that these harmful symptoms will affect subsequent Galaxy S21 series updates. According to the Norwegian technology blog Tek.no, Samsung is working on a new firmware update that will solve the problem. The company has not disclosed a timetable, but if the security patches released in March 2021 are not released as soon as possible, these new battery life issues can be fixed. For now, we recommend that Galaxy S21 owners avoid using the February 2021 security patch as much as possible until the problem is resolved.
