Fresh benchmarks of the Samsung Galaxy S21 raise expectations that it is more powerful than we first thought.

Leaker Ice Universe posted a series of Geekbench 5 results for the Exynos 2100 version of the Galaxy S21, which will be available in Europe. These results show a significant improvement in test scores for this chip over the past few months. The results for the Snapdragon 888 chip in the US version of the Galaxy S21 also look quite promising.

The Geekbench listing does not fully name the phone, but the codename "SM-G996B" is known to refer to the European version of the Galaxy S21 Plus.

The three results posted on December 19 show an average score of 1,089 in the single-core test and 3,528 in the multi-core test; benchmarks of the same model in September showed scores of 1,040 and 3,107, so in the last two months the single-core and multi cores increased by 13%. This suggests that Samsung is optimizing its next-generation Exynos chips.

Compared to the Galaxy S20 Plus, the older model had 818 single cores and 3,076 multicores. More interesting, however, is the comparison between the Exynos S21 and the Snapdragon 888-powered S21.

For the supposed Galaxy 21 with the new Snapdragon 888 chip, there are unexpectedly low benchmark results. These leaked benchmarks revealed scores of 1,120 in single-core tests and 3,319 in multi-core results.

However, it is possible that the Snapdragon 888 was not properly optimized as of November. Furthermore, chipmaker Qualcomm has since posted Geekbench results for the Snapdragon 888 recorded on a non-retail reference device, showing 1,135 for single-core and 3,794 for multi-core.

These results are likely why Ice Universe mentioned the 4,000 number in a tweet. If the Exynos 2100 can reach this milestone in multi-core scores, there will be no need to argue about which is the better chip. For now, however, the Snapdragon 888 still appears to have the upper hand.

For multiple Galaxy generations, Snapdragon 8 series chips have outperformed Samsung's own Exynos silicon in overall performance. The performance gap is not huge, but it is enough to make it clear that Qualcomm is a better chip manufacturer than Samsung. In other words, buying a Galaxy S21 in the US is a better deal than buying one in Europe.

According to the latest rumors, the Galaxy S21 will be released on January 14, so Samsung still has time to tweak the software before launch. While it won't be able to outperform the iPhone 12 with its powerful A14 Bionic chip, which outperforms the best Android phones, the S21 has plenty of other features to entice customers.

These include 120Hz displays on all models, QHD displays up to 6.8 inches, and a quad rear camera array with two telephoto cameras on the top-of-the-line Galaxy S21 Ultra. With this in mind, there is a good chance that the Galaxy S21 will rank on next year's list of best smartphones.