Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: It's the ultimate 2024 premium smartphone, and we've only just begun

Note: This article was first published on 31 January 2024.

Unpacking an AI-powered phone

Tech events come and go throughout the year, but an indisputable fact is that Samsung’s Galaxy S series launch is always one of the biggest, most exciting events of the year. This year, the Galaxy S24 series launch introduced the premium flagship Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra along with the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ models. 

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, on paper, has nearly all the trimmings a true premium flagship phone should have. It comes with a customised version of Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset, a flat 6.8-inch QHD+ display with 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, a new peak brightness of 2,600 nits (nearly 50% higher than its predecessor), Corning Gorilla Armor on the front display that supposedly reduces glare by up to 75%, and a new layer of titanium on the chassis frame. 

With 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM across all storage configurations and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s starting point is already higher than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. All these upgrades easily account for why the S24 Ultra's starting price has also inched up from last year, but it's easily justifiable.

While we still get a 200MP main camera, the Quad Tele System rear camera array has been upgraded with a new 50MP 5x optical zoom telephoto lens, capped off with a new ProVisual Engine technology to enhance camera performance using AI tools. All these are on top of existing camera performance techniques like pixel-binning, machine learning and more. 

With a host of improvements across the board, it’s hard not to wonder if this phone might be the ultimate Android phone of 2024 this early into the year.

Boosted vision for a flat display

Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra iterated far more than previous models. Not only is the display now flat, but the bezels are finally consistent on all four sides. Immediately, it makes for a much more aesthetically pleasing outlook.

The new Vision Booster feature automatically counters extreme sunlit conditions by adjusting display brightness to a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The display is incredibly legible outdoors, even under harsh afternoon sunlight. Despite the Sun bearing down on us, the panel still outputs vibrant colours. We’re very pleased with this upgrade from the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 1,750 nit peak brightness.

The screen is mildly different now, with a 3,120 x 1,440 pixels resolution compared to the 3,088 x 1,440 pixels resolution of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. However, it still retains the 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 6.8-inch size. The change is likely because of its new flat design and minimised bezels. 

Protected by Corning Gorilla Armor, the glass on the front display lives up to the company’s claims of reducing glare (up to 75%), pairing beautifully with the brighter display to reduce reflections from windows and adjacent light sources while in use. 

The under-display fingerprint reader is blazing fast, with just a quick tap needed for the phone to read my fingerprint and unlock it. Face recognition is also snappy, with both methods taking less than half a second to unlock the phone.

The new titanium frame of the phone is a nice touch, and Samsung’s implementation is even slightly better than that of another titanium-clad competitor because of its ability to withstand oily smudges and fingerprints better. The downside to a flat display on a big screen is the added dexterity required to wield the phone firmly, especially if you have average-sized or smaller hands.

Our unit in Titanium Grey looks similar to the iPhone's Natural Titanium colourway at first glance. But, under different angles, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s titanium appearance has a warmer hue compared to the cooler tint of the titanium iPhones.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes in Titanium Grey, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet and Titanium Yellow. While the black and grey models are a little more subdued, the yellow option does offer a bright pop of colour. Titanium Violet stands out with its deep purple hues, and it looks almost black in darker venues.

Some readers have asked us what colour to choose if they want to stand out with their new purchase and our recommendation is to go with Titanium Yellow if you would like something fresh, or pick up Titanium Velvet if you prefer darker tones.

Samsung said the Galaxy S24 series features vapour chambers that are 1.9x larger for better heat management and thermal dissipation. While we didn't take apart our review unit (you may refer to the above image as showcased by Samsung), there was a noticeable difference while gaming. The phone doesn’t feel quite as hot in the hand, even after prolonged periods. This is a pleasant surprise as compared to many other past high-end Android phones we've tested. While you may hear otherwise in other reports on the internet, we feel Samsung has made a notable positive impact in heat management while assessing our review unit.

The built-in stereo speakers are impressive, delivering punchy, clear audio that can handle videos and music well. We’ll still recommend getting a pair of true wireless earbuds for the optimal listening experience. Need our recommendations? We've got you covered.

One UI 6 and Galaxy AI features

Samsung’s One UI 6.1 and new Galaxy AI features are nice changes to a familiar handset. The Korean interface has been relatively consistent as of late, so the switch to a new Quick Panel in One UI 6.1 is definitely a big step forward, and I much prefer this new look with a tile-based system. 

The pull-down tiles are consistent and look great, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options front and centre before opening into a large tile for all the other features like flight mode, auto-rotate, hotspot, torchlight, and more. It’s a fresh new look that’s modern and enjoyable. However, I do hope Samsung will eventually give us the option to customise this screen and remove or arrange the options based on what we individually want.

The other big selling point of the Galaxy S24 series is Galaxy AI, with both on-device and cloud-based artificial intelligence features. We've previously covered most of the features here, but I’ve also tried out some useful tools, like Circle to Search with Google below. 

I tested it with a shot I took of the Sultan Mosque, and it immediately pulled up the information with Google recommending tours for the place of interest. I can see this being a useful tool for planning overseas trips and such, where you can circle landmarks you see on Instagram and figure out where they are. 

I also tried Generative Edit, which is similar to Google’s Magic Editor tool. It’s definitely super handy if you’re taking photos in crowded areas and want to get rid of people in your shot. 

While it’s not always 100% (as seen in the above photo where the garbled chalkboard “Jazz” word and the smudged walls at the back), it’s really impressive.

I edited this photo twice, taking out different elements each time. The phone took roughly 15 seconds on average for each edit. Of course, you’re also able to edit everything out at once if you so prefer, as the phone will wait for you to finish making all your edits before processing it, which is nice. 

If you’re a fan of the Ultra model because of the S Pen stylus, rest assured, it still works just as well as it did on the previous Ultra models. You still get Air Actions, the writing experience is still as good as ever and pulling out the pen when the phone’s screen is locked still automatically lets you jot down notes. Re-inserting the stylus will save those notes, too.

We suppose Samsung thinks there's no need to change what isn't broken, and its matured stylus ecosystem could make the Ultra worth its asking price without any new tricks.

Imaging performance

The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s native camera app has also received a refresh with One UI 6.1, making the layout easier to navigate, with a single tap needed to change resolutions, easily adjust image quality, and more. 

As for the rear camera array, it’s as follows:

• 200MP main wide (f/1.7 aperture, 1/1.3-inch, 0.6µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS)
• 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2 aperture, 120˚ FOV, 1/2.55-inch, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF)
• 50MP 5x optical zoom telephoto (f/3.4 aperture, PDAF, OIS)
• 10MP 3x optical zoom telephoto (f/2.4 aperture, 1/3.52-inch, 1.12µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS)

The cameras here are mostly retained from the Galaxy S23 Ultra except for the new 50MP 5x optical zoom telephoto with adaptive pixel sensor. It replaces the old 10MP 10x optical zoom telephoto lens.

In our opinion, this is a clever change by Samsung. The company found out that most people shoot at the 3x or 5x zoom range, which means that zoomed-in photos taken with the Galaxy S24 Ultra now offer excellent image quality at those ranges, while not sacrificing too much on the 10x zoom thanks to AI-powered algorithms (ProVisual Engine) helping to ensure a crisp image.

The main camera remains a strong performer, with bright, vibrant colours that characterise Samsung’s colour science. Shots are packed with great contrast and saturation, with plenty of detail even when shooting in default (pixel-binned 12.5MP) option. 

For shots that you might want to zoom into or crop in, the 50MP option is decent. The 200MP option allows you to really pixel-peep, although you’ll want only to use it in well-lit conditions. In all honesty, the regular 12.5MP option should be your go-to choice for social media uploads since it also won’t eat up too much space in your phone if you snap a lot of photos (4MB versus a 200MP shot's 17MB file size).

You will notice some fish-eye distortion at the corners when using the ultra-wide camera. Despite that, a photo editing app can help make these shots usable for social media and the like.

Night mode is also very pleasant, with nicely exposed images that don’t have too much noise or artefacts. 

Photos taken at 3x, 5x and 10x are definitely serviceable, and as always, there's the 100x space zoom if you enjoy taking photos of the moon.

This year, it’s clear that the standout features are Galaxy AI-related. It’s no different when it comes to photography, with features like Generative Edit mentioned earlier, Edit Suggestion which uses AI to suggest edits based on perceived “flaws” in photos and Instant Slow-mo, which utilises generative AI to “create” extra frames for smoother slow-motion video clips.

Benchmark Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, the latest flagship processor and the first proper SD8G3 benchmark we’re doing. We expect the numbers to be markedly different from those we’ve clocked on other phones running the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Putting it to the test

To find out how the competitors line up specs and price-wise, check them out in this link.

To find out more about the tests we conduct and what they relate to, we've jotted them down here.

Benchmark Performance remarks

As expected, the numbers from the Galaxy S24 Ultra are breathtaking, with several tests re-done to ensure that it wasn’t a fluke. The JetStream 2.0 score is the highest that we’ve seen from an Android phone, with the runner-up being the Galaxy S24+ and the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Across the board, the scores are noticeably higher as well.

One outlier we noticed was that the storage test scores on the Galaxy S24 UItra and Galaxy S24+ were a bit on the low side compared to the Galaxy S23 series and even other flagship smartphones. However, this didn’t have much of an impact on normal usage. This bodes well for the slew of flagship phones coming out in 2024 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. 

Day-to-day usage is snappy as expected, with no lag at all when switching between apps, watching videos, playing games and more. 

Battery Life

Our new battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test to determine a modern Android-based smartphone's battery uptime in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage with a combination of both web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing (on documents), and more. 

With a 5,000mAh battery capacity, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra performed incredibly in the battery test. In fact, I had to redo this because I wasn’t sure if I had made a mistake.

With the tests clocking in at 16h 27m and 16h 18m, it’s by far the longest-lasting phone we’ve tested with this new battery benchmark, even beating out the incredible Nothing Phone (2) by 34 minutes. When it's left idle for a whole day, the phone only uses up around 8% of its battery when connected to Wi-Fi and receiving notifications intermittently.  

There is 15W wireless charging, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra has decent wired fast charging at 45W. There’s no charger head provided in the box, but there is a cable, which we used in our charging tests.

Samsung claimed it only takes 30 minutes to charge from 0-50%. We found it only took around 24 minutes to get to 50% and around 70 minutes to go from 0-100% when paired with a fast charger. Big thumbs up to Samsung on both battery efficiency and charging speeds on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, although we do wish to see full charging below an hour, much like some Chinese handsets.

Samsung provides AI as the solulu to your delulu

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is an incredible premium smartphone, and it lives up to our expectations of a 2024 flagship. There's hardly any reason to get any other Android phone if you want the maximum specs with a sensible design language, interface, and practical premium add-ons.

The design is immaculate, with the new titanium frame feeling excellent in hand and the now-flat display making for an immersive viewing experience without cutting into useable screen real estate. Flat sides also mean a harsher grip style and an illusion of its bulky build, but that's hardly a problem for people who want something big and powerful.

We also have to highlight the screen reflection reduction of the display; after using the phone for a while, it was painful to go back to other phones that not only weren’t as bright as the Galaxy S24 Ultra but also had plenty of screen reflections. 

The cameras are mostly the same as last year, although the new 5x optical telephoto lens is a more practical use of its quad camera array. The real changes are on the software side of things, and the new AI-powered features are quite useful, particularly in photo editing and search. 

Battery life is also sublime, with some of the best endurance we’ve seen on any modern flagship smartphone.

Despite all its good points, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can be a little pricey. What if you want flagship performance at a lower price point and don’t require the S Pen, the new titanium frame and the insane telephoto cameras? Well, then, the Samsung Galaxy S24+ can be an alternative. Looking at the benchmark numbers, the Galaxy S24+’s performance does take a dip compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but it’s running on an Exynos 2400 chip and not the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Despite the discrepancy, the Galaxy S24+ still has a respectable standing.

More than that, the Galaxy S24+ even beats out the Galaxy S24 Ultra by a bit in the battery endurance test, around 19 minutes, to be exact. Considering that the Galaxy S24+ starts at just S$1,528 versus the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s S$1,928 while still retaining AI-powered features like Generative Edit and Circle to Search, it definitely looks like a strong option.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a great example of an expensive phone with no corners cut and bringing just a little bit more to the table with AI-powered additions that may help the everyday person. Topping it off with things like excellent raw power, battery, and display, we think it's a good symbol of what pricey Android smartphones should be moving forward. For this, we're making it an Editor's Choice pick to encourage stronger rivals to uplift our Android choices in Singapore.

The pricing and availability for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is as follows, with online-exclusive colours only available on Samsung’s Online Store:

The phone can be purchased at the following places:

• Samsung Online Store
• Samsung Experience Stores (physical outlet)
• Amazon Singapore 
• Lazada and Shopee (official Samsung e-store)
• Selected consumer electronics and IT stores
• Local telcos (M1, Singtel, StarHub)

For more information on available accessories and the options for the other Galaxy S24 series phones, check out our pricing and availability article here. If you’re still unsure which Galaxy S24 series phone is right for you, don’t worry; we have you covered.