Back in February last year, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series was launched, featuring the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. All three phones had the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, and there were not a ton of upgrades over the Galaxy S22 series. The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is now official, and the hype this time is around the AI features that these phones have. Samsung calls it the “Galaxy AI,” and there are some incredible AI features offered in all three phones.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 & GALAXY S24+
The Galaxy S24 & S24+ look pretty identical to their predecessors. Both phones still have the same camera layout on the rear and a flat panel on the front with minimal bezels. One noticeable design change this year is the flat-frame design, compared to a rounded frame on the Galaxy S23 & S23+.
As for the color options, there are seven to choose from – Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, Sandstone Orange, Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow. And like every year, some of these are exclusively available on Samsung’s official website. These exclusive color options are Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, and Sandstone Orange.
The frame is made of Armor Aluminum, and both the phones are IP68 certified. There is Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back. Both phones have an ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor and stereo speakers.
Last year, Samsung offered the “Samsung 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” chipset for all three phones in all regions. But this year, some regions are getting phones with Exynos chipsets instead of Qualcomm chipsets. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy / Exynos 2400. In the US, Canada, China, and Japan, the phones feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, whereas for the rest of the markets, there is the Exynos 2400.
Of course, real-world reviews will tell if the Exynos 2400 is a good chip compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But, as we have seen in the past, the Exynos variants have had more issues than the Snapdragon variants.
Exynos 2400 is built on Samsung’s 3rd Gen 4nm LPP process. This is also the first Exynos chip to use the Fan-out Wafer Level Package (FOWLP) which improves thermal management so in theory, this chip should manage thermals better than the previous Exynos chipsets. The Exynos 2400 SOC has a deca-core CPU that includes one Cortex-X4 core clocked at 3.2GHz, two Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 2.9GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 2.6GHz, and four Cortex-A520 cores clocked at 2GHz. The SOC features the Xclipse 940 GPU based on AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, on the other hand, is built on the TSMC’s 4nm N4P process. The chip has an octa-core CPU with one Cortex-X4 core clocked at 3.3GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 3.2GHz, three Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 3.0GHz, and two Cortex-A520 cores clocked at 2.3GHz. There is an Adreno 750 GPU.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 variants support WiFi 7, whereas the Exynos variants support WiFi 6E. There is Ultra Wideband (UWB) support for the Galaxy S24+, but the vanilla model misses out on that.
While the chipsets are the same for Samsung Galaxy S24 & S24+, there is a difference in the storage options. The Galaxy S24 comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage in the base variant, whereas the S24+ has 12GB RAM and 256GB storage as the base. Moreover, the 128GB variant of the Galaxy S24 has UFS 3.1 storage and it is only when you go for a 256GB variant that you get UFS 4.0 storage. On the other hand, the Galaxy S24+ has UFS 4.0 from the base variant.
The camera setup is identical on the two phones. Both phones have a triple camera setup on the rear. The primary camera has a 50MP1/1.56″ sensor with OIS and 1.0-micron pixel size. The ultrawide camera has a 12MP 1/2.55″ sensor with a 120-degree FOV and 1.4-micron pixel size. The third camera has an f/2.4 telephoto lens with a 10MP 1/3.94″ sensor, OIS, and 3x optical zoom. There is support for 8K video recording at 24 of 30fps. The phones also support 4K 120fps video recording.
For selfies, both the phones have a 12MP sensor with an f/2.2 lens with 4K 60fps video recording support.
On paper, the camera setup remains the same as the Galaxy S23 & S23+.
The battery sizes differ for the two phones. Samsung Galaxy S24 has a 4,000mAh battery (up from 3,900mAh in the S23), whereas the Galaxy S24+ has a 4,900mAh battery (up from 4,700mAh in the S23+). Both phones support 15W wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. But, while the Galaxy S24 supports up to 25W fast wired charging, the limit is 45W for the S24+.
Samsung Galaxy S24 has a 6.2-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with a Full-HD+ resolution, up to 120Hz refresh rate, and 2600 nits peak brightness. This is a significant upgrade, considering the Samsung Galaxy S23 did not have LTPO tech. Simply put, the display on the Galaxy S24 can lower its refresh rate to 1Hz when required to save battery life. So, the display this year is not only brighter but also more power efficient.
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ has a 6.7-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and 2600 nits peak brightness. Compared to a Full-HD+ display on the S24, the Galaxy S24+ has a Quad-HD+ display (1440 x 3088 pixels). The Galaxy S23+ had a full-HD+ display last year.
OneUI 6.1 runs out of the box, based on Android 14. As for software updates, Samsung has promised seven years of software and security updates for these phones. So, these phones will be getting software updates till 2031! This makes Samsung the second smartphone brand after Google to promise seven years of updates.
Samsung Galaxy S24 with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage starts at $799 in the US, €899 in Europe, and £799 in the UK. In the Indian market, the base variant has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, and the price is ₹79,999. In India, the Galaxy S24 comes in five color options – Sapphire Blue, Jade Green, Amber Yellow, Cobalt Violet, and Onyx Black. The Marble Gray and Sandstone Orange color options are not available in India.
Samsung Galaxy S24+ with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage starts at $999 in the US, €1,159 in Europe, £999 in the UK, and ₹99,999 in India. There are only four color options for the Indian market – Sapphire Blue, Jade Green, Cobalt Violet, and Onyx Black.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the most premium flagship phone, which is not foldable, from the brand for 2024. Design-wise, there is hardly any noticeable change versus the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is not a bad thing since the design is near perfect now. That camera layout on the back has become an identity of Samsung’s Ultra phones.
There are some upgrades in the materials, though. The front and back have Gorilla Glass Armor protection. This is the toughest Gorilla Glass ever, which also reduces reflections by up to 75% compared to a typical glass surface. The frame is made of Titanium, following Apple’s footsteps.
The display on the front is completely flat this year, and the bezels are incredibly slim, the slimmest on any Samsung phone to date. This is a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a Quad-HD+ resolution (1440 x 3088 pixels), 2600 nits peak brightness, and up to 120Hz refresh rate. There is an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under the display.
The SOC is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. Unlike the Galaxy S24 & S24+, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra does not have Exynos chipset for some regions. Instead, all the regions get the same “Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy” chip. The base variant starts with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
The battery is the same at 5,000mAh, and so is the 45W wired and 15W wireless charging.
The main USP of Samsung’s Ultra phones is the camera. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has four cameras on the rear. The primary camera has a 200MP 1/1.33″ sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and OIS. The ultrawide camera has a 12MP 1/2.55″ sensor with a 120-degree FOV lens. The 3X telephoto camera has a 10MP 1/3.6″ sensor with OIS and f/1.24 aperture. Finally, the phone has a periscope telephoto camera with a 50MP 1/2.52″ sensor, f/3.4 aperture, 5x optical zoom, and OIS. For comparison, the Galaxy S23 Ultra had a 10MP periscope telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom.
The selfie camera has a 12MP sensor with 4K 60fps video recording. The rear camera can shoot up to 8K 30fps videos and 4K 120fps videos.
Other features include Android 14-based OneUI 6.1, seven years of software and security updates, Ultra Wideband (UWB) support, WiFi 7, USB Type-C 3.2, IP68 rating, and stereo speakers.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage starts at $1299 in the US, £1,249 in the UK, and ₹1,29,999 in India. In Europe, the phone has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage in the base model, and the price is €1,449.
The color options are – Titanium Green, Titanium Blue, Titanium Orange, Titanium Violet, Titanium Yellow, Titanium Black, and Titanium Gray. In India, the Titanium Yellow won’t be available.