The Nokia C series is one of the best-selling lineups from the company. Even though the C series is barely two years old, it makes up 16% of the company’s total smartphone sales in the past 5 years.
Nokia has now has added two more affordable phones to the series, the C21 and C21 Plus. Pricing is yet to be announced, but since these are budget phones, we can safely assume a $100-$200 price tag.
Design and Display
Nokia C21 Plus is one of the most high-end phones in the series. This is because it has a metal chassis, tough glass protection on the screen, and an IP52 rating, which is hard to find on other C series phones. The display is a 6.5-inch LCD with 720p resolution and a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera.
As the name says, the C21 is simply the cheaper version of the C21 Plus. It has the same display and build, minus the IP52 rating. This one only has a single camera on the back.
Internals and Storage
Both phones are powered by the same Unisoc SC9863A SoC, which is a 28nm chip made for entry-level phones. This is paired with 2GB, 3GB, and 4GB RAM options with 32GB/64GB storage variants complete with a microSD card slot.
Performance should not be a problem here since the phone boots Android 11 Go Edition, a lighter version of Android 11 for cheaper devices.
Cameras
The camera setup on the C21 Plus is quite basic. There is a 13MP wide-angle lens acting as the primary camera along with a 2MP depth sensor and an LED flash. The waterdrop notch selfie camera is a 5MP shooter.
As for the C21, the main camera has been downgraded to an 8MP shooter and there is no secondary lens. The 5MP selfie camera remains the same, however.
Battery and Pricing
There are two versions of the C21 Plus, one with a 5,050 mAh battery that can last up to three days, and one with a 4,000 mAh cell that goes on for 2 days. Both versions offer a 10W charger in the retail box.
The vanilla C21 is limited to a 3,000 mAh battery with support for only 5W wired charging. But this should still last at least 1.5 days since it’s only a budget phone.
Specifications
| Nokia C21 | Nokia C21 Plus | |
| Chipset | Unisoc SC9863A (28nm) | Unisoc SC9863A (28nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A55 & 4×1.2 GHz Cortex-A55) | Octa-core (4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A55 & 4×1.2 GHz Cortex-A55) |
| GPU | IMG8322 | IMG8322 |
| OS | Android 11 (Go edition) | Android 11 (Go edition) |
| Supported Networks | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE |
| Display | 6.52″ IPS LCD, 720 x 1600 pixels, 269 PPI, | 6.52″ IPS LCD, 720 x 1600 pixels, 269 PPI, scratch protection |
| RAM | 2GB, 3GB | 2GB, 3GB, 4GB |
| Storage | 32GB, 64GB | 32GB, 64GB |
| Card Slot | yes | yes |
| Main Camera | 8MP | 13 MP, (wide), AF 2 MP, (depth) |
| Front Camera | 5MP | 5MP |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Rear-mounted | Rear-mounted |
| Colors | Dark Blue, Warm Gray | Dark Blue, Warm Gray |
| Battery |
3,000 mAh | 4,000 mAh/5,050 mAh |
| Price |
N/A | N/A |
