Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review

In a year where new smartphone cycles feel shorter and longer, Samsung has done a good job of making the Galaxy S24 Ultra stand out. It has great cameras, a brilliant display and long battery life.

The titanium exterior frame looks fantastic, and the flat AMOLED screen eliminates glare problems that plagued previous models. But the phone’s best feature is seven years of OS upgrades and security updates, matching what Google offers on Pixel phones.

Camera

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a pretty great phone camera. It’s the most impressive zoom smartphone camera around and offers smoother, more detailed images than any other phone. The hardware hasn’t changed much since the S23 Ultra, but Samsung has done a good job of refining the camera software and adding smart AI features.

The main camera has a 200-megapixel sensor and the telephoto zoom lens now has a 50-megapixel sensor. That’s up from the 10MP 3x telephoto camera on last year’s model.

Overall, photos from the S24 Ultra are a bit brighter and more colorful than iPhone pics. They also tend to have a cooler color tone and are less over-processed than some of Apple’s shots. Samsung also does a better job of keeping image noise down and doesn’t overdo it with digital sharpening.

Using the S24 Ultra’s zoom features is great, but they can trip up on certain objects and subjects. That’s because they’re relying on the phone to guess what should be behind an object or subject, which can sometimes make things look odd and out of place.

Like other recent Galaxy phones, the S24 Ultra has a number of cool AI photo editing tools. For instance, Generative Edit AI lets you resize or move objects in a photo and change the background to match your scene. The Gallery app will also suggest photo edits based on the context of your shot.

Display

Samsung has a couple of meaningful changes to the Galaxy S24 Ultra that lift it into the upper pantheon of Android flagships from a display quality perspective. One of them is obvious: the flat screen, which nixes the curved glass of phones from previous generations and makes the phone feel much nicer in the hand. That change alone makes this a phone worth considering, even if it doesn’t have any other big new features.

The other upgrade is a new Dynamic AMOLED 2X display that stretches to the edges of the screen for an immersive experience. Samsung claims this display can achieve a 100 percent Mobile Color Volume of DCI-P3 and offers peak brightness of up to 2600 nits to improve contrast and make colors look vibrant and clear. The company also touts the ability to adjust the screen settings to reduce power consumption and extend battery life, though it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to limit how bright the display can get.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is running a version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform that’s optimized for Samsung’s devices, and it felt snappy and smooth throughout my tests. The phone ran all of my favorite apps with ease, and it handled games like Diablo Immortal and Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat just as well as I’ve come to expect from high-end smartphones. The Galaxy S24 Ultra also has a handful of Samsung-exclusive AI features, including real-time translation and Circle to Search that let you quickly find information with a single tap.

Performance

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a great phone, and it shows the year-over-year improvements Samsung has made in both its hardware and software. Its 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen has more brightness headroom and superior color than its predecessor; the cameras have improved dynamic range and sharpness; and the phone feels incredibly snappy and smooth. Language translations occur immediately; games like Diablo Immortal and Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat run smoothly; and scrolling around the interface is responsive.

But what really distinguishes the S24 Ultra is its robust collection of AI tools. The most notable addition is Live Translation for real-time bi-lingual calls; and other tools like Interpreter, Chat Assist (which can refine the tone of text messages), Generative Edit, and Note Assist all make this one of the most advanced Samsung phones in this regard.

In some cases, these AI-driven features are better than what Google offers in the Pixel 8 Pro, which has a similar price tag but is more focused on the core capabilities of the phone. Moreover, the S24 Ultra’s titanium frame and top-notch performance give it an edge over Apple’s iPhone lineup in terms of durability and power. And it also comes with 7 years of Android OS upgrades and security updates, which is a significant improvement over the 4 years that Samsung has typically offered for previous Galaxy flagships.

Battery

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has the advantage of a bigger battery than its predecessor, and its 5,000 mAh cell is a big reason why it can easily last you through a whole day of heavy use. It also utilises the new Exynos 2400 processor, which is optimised for gaming so you can enjoy mind-blowing graphics.

The display is also fantastic, delivering an extremely saturated and vibrant image. It’s a joy to watch content on, and I found myself using the phone in direct sunlight without issue. Its peak brightness of 2,600 nits is lower than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it’s still quite bright for a mobile display.

There’s also plenty of storage to go around, as the S24 Ultra offers 256 GB on its base model. And if that isn’t enough, you can add a further 512 GB for an additional $120.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a solid premium flagship, but it’s not our top pick. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is much better in the camera and display departments, and it’s also a cheaper option. That said, the S24 Ultra is a solid choice and we recommend it to anyone looking for a top-of-the-line Android smartphone. Just make sure you keep an eye out for deals. For example, we saw the S24 Ultra reduced to £1100 on Amazon during our testing period.