Samsung Galaxy S24 Review: Who needs a ‘Plus’ or ‘Ultra’ anyway?

Ben Schoon | Mar 16 2024 - 8:30 am PT

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra put out a wonderful showing earlier this year, but do you really need the “Ultra?” That’s the question I brought with me to the smallest Galaxy S24, and I walked away pleasantly surprised with how similar the two experiences were.

With its Galaxy S24 series, Samsung offers three variants. At the top there’s the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the all-out Samsung phone with its S Pen, 200MP camera, and top-of-the-line screen and specs. But that comes with a cost, and that price is a big reason why the Galaxy S24 and S24+ are attractive options.

The Galaxy S24+, as our Andrew Romero said last month, is considered to be an excellent value in the face of the Ultra. It has a similar screen, the same core specs and battery life, the same AI features, and much of the same experience. The only big change, really, is the camera setup, trading a 200MP camera for a 50MP shooter, and making some other tweaks beyond that.

The “regular” Galaxy S24, then, is just a smaller version of that. It still has excellent hardware with its aluminum frame and glass back, and I love the purple color Samsung launched this year.

In terms of the software and performance, there’s nothing different from what I said in our Galaxy S24 Ultra review. One UI 6.1 is speedy, full of features, and has some genuinely useful AI tools, but it also carries the burden of Samsung’s software fumbles in the past. Overall, though, the Android 14 base and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 shine through to deliver one of the best smartphone experiences out there.

And on this smaller Galaxy S24, I’ve noticed not a single hiccup from the “mere” 8GB of RAM installed on this model. That includes in AI, where Samsung’s tools and Google’s Gemini Nano run just as well as on the S24 Ultra. You can check out that review for a deeper dive into Samsung’s new features.

Galaxy S24 Ultra Review

The screen is similarly still stellar. The 6.1-inch display is just a FHD+ panel, but Samsung’s sheer quality in SuperAMOLED displays remains excellent even without the lack of the excellent anti-reflective Gorilla Armor found on the Ultra. And, even without that, I still greatly enjoyed using the device just because of its compact size. While it’s hard to call anything over 6 inches a “small phone,” in today’s market, the Galaxy S24 is about as small as you’ll find, and it gives up virtually nothing for that size.

Battery life was my key concern coming into using the device, but I was pleasantly surprised. The 4,000 mAh battery paired with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 easily lasted my through a full day of use, just not to the same extent I saw on Galaxy S24 Ultra. Generally speaking I’d get 3-4 hours of screen time with 30% left by bedtime with ease, and on heavier days I was generally going to sleep with at least 15% left. Charging is perfectly acceptable, too, at 25W wired and 15W wireless.

Then, there’s the camera. Samsung tends to struggle here compared to Google and Apple mainly due to processing. I’ve held the opinion that Samsung’s 50MP sensors in these “lesser” devices tend to be better overall compared to the 200MP behemoth in the Ultra, but this year things seem about on par. Colors are generally vibrant, but shadows can often be overbrightened. And, as has been the case for years, the camera struggles very much with motion. Not being an Ultra, you’re also giving up on 5x telephoto zoom for 3x, but I didn’t really feel like I was missing out a ton.

The Ultra is decidedly a better overall camera, but this one is perfectly acceptable, and benefits from all of the enhancements Samsung makes on the software side for its flagship.

And that really condenses down the whole experience of using the base Galaxy S24, for me. It’s a smaller, more affordable version of the Ultra with a few compromises here or there. But overall, it delivers most of the experience. I think anyone would be well-pleased with it.