Galaxy S24 Ultra review: citius, altius, fortius, AI

When choosing their next flagship, users often rely on the following “five pillars” of a quality smartphone: good materials, screen, fast platform, camera capabilities, and high battery life. If we were to evaluate the “hero” of this review, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, based on these parameters alone, we could immediately give the model an award and end the article. However, modern smartphones are much more complex, they try to go beyond the usual features and offer more than just a good display or cameras. Samsung is well aware of this trend, the company once combined its best developments in the Ultra model, and, frankly, the development of its flagship line has slowed down in recent years. So this year, the manufacturer decided to do something new, focusing on the capabilities of artificial intelligence. As a result, Galaxy S24 Ultra received a number of new features. I will tell you in this review whether the device has become better thanks to them, and whether everything is really as good with its “five pillars” of a good smartphone as it seems at first glance.

Galaxy S24 Ultra specifications

Package contents

The smartphone is sold in a compact box, in which the user will additionally find only the documentation, a SIM card tray pin, and a USB-C cable for connecting to a computer or power supply. The latter must be purchased separately, or you can simply use any compatible one.

Design and materials

The appearance of the Galaxy S24 Ultra leaves a rather interesting impression: on the one hand, there is nothing in the design of the model that we haven’t seen in Samsung smartphones over the past few years.

This includes the already classic Ultra series body shape, due to the use of the S Pen, a neat camera unit with separate lenses, and a small notch for the front camera at the top of the screen.

But on the other hand, the smartphone feels completely different in your hands. No joke, the difference is really big. Samsung has finally decided that flat glass is still better than rounded glass, and the company has been working on this for 3 years, gradually reducing the curvature of the sides of the display since the Galaxy S21 Ultra. We can only hope that this process will not be reversed in the next generation. After all, flat glass is really more convenient for most tasks, except for using gestures to navigate the interface.

Despite the fact that other models in the Galaxy S24 series now have completely flat bezels, the Ultra has slightly rounded edges, which are more comfortable for my taste.

In addition, they are now made of titanium, a material that is stronger than aluminum but not lighter, so the weight of the model has decreased by just 2 grams. However, the case has also become slightly thinner, shorter and a few millimeters wider. These changes have had a great impact on ergonomics, and the device is very comfortable in the hand. And even though the surface of the processed titanium cannot be called too hard, the smartphone is absolutely comfortable to carry without a case.

The protective glass of the back panel – Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the new front glass – Gorilla Glass Armor – also adds confidence in the strength of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The latter is very interesting, because scratch resistance tests show that it is harder than Victus 2, much harder to scratch.

In addition, Armor has an additional polarizing layer that reduces glare on the screen, and this is one of those small innovations that often dramatically improves the experience of interacting with a smartphone. After using Galaxy S24 Ultra, the displays of other smartphones begin to look like a mirror. Moreover, if you don’t pay much attention to it before, then the difference is very significant. Especially in rooms with a lot of spotlight.

So, the Galaxy S24 Ultra body has not received significant design changes, but it has become more comfortable, has a titanium frame, and a new flat screen glass that better resists scratches and has less glare. Traditionally for Samsung flagships, the model also offers IP68 water and dust protection. So, in fact, we have minor improvements in design, but quite significant changes in the materials of the case and overall better protection.

Display, S Pen and fingerprint scanner

At first glance, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display hasn’t changed, as the manufacturer has used a 6.8-inch touchscreen panel with a refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz, as was the case in the previous generation. But this time it’s a completely different matrix – Dynamic LPTO AMOLED 2X. It has a slightly higher resolution than the screen in the S23 Ultra – 3120 x 1440 pixels (505 ppi) versus 3088 x 1440 pixels (500 ppi). This is not so much an improvement as a consequence of using a flat display that has a different aspect ratio – 19.5:9. It’s smaller and slightly wider.

The biggest innovation in the Galaxy S24 Ultra screen is the peak brightness of 2600 nits. This is a very high indicator, it cannot be activated manually, but in the sun the display automatically increases the brightness, which allows you to read information without any problems. Add to this the Gorilla Glass Armor polarizing layer, which reduces glare, and you get the most comfortable screen in a smartphone yet for reading outdoors in direct sunlight.

Traditionally, Samsung models offer two options for customizing the display: “Saturated Colors” and “Natural Colors”. The first option is supposed to offer extended DCI-P3 color gamut, while the latter is supposed to provide the sRGB color spectrum. But so far, the “saturated” mode is not much different from “natural”, switching from the latter to the former makes the image only slightly “colder”, which can actually be equalized with the color temperature slider.

The first idea for such a strange color gamut was the use of Gorilla Glass Armor, because the polarizing layer can suppress not only glare but also screen colors. However, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ have a similar problem, so it’s clearly not the glass. Just the other day, Samsung promised to fix it with the next software update, in addition to providing the ability to more accurately adjust color brightness and white balance. So we’ll see if it really helps.

I should also note that the Galaxy S24 Ultra has slightly updated the “always active screen” function, which displays the time, date, weather and widgets on the locked display. The latter have become more numerous and more informative. In previous generations of the model, I did not use this function because of the higher power consumption, but the use of LPTO technology in the display significantly reduces it. LTPO, or Low Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide, is a type of back panel technology used in OLED displays that allows the screen to operate at a variable refresh rate while using less battery power than standard OLED panels.

Traditionally for the Ultra series, the S Pen can be found on the left side of the smartphone. Its previous generation, which came out with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, received a number of improvements, including reduced input latency from 9 ms to 2.8 ms and a new Wacom chip for more accurate coordinate determination from 360 to 480 cycles per second. All this has made the S Pen an even more convenient tool for drawing and quick handwritten notes. So in Galaxy S24 Ultra, the pen has not changed, along with lower latency and more accurate positioning on the screen, it also supports 4096 degrees of pressure.

The only complaint about the S Pen, which I hope Samsung will also fix with a software update, is that the pen activates the backward gesture when you swipe it close to the edge of the screen. It turns out that you either need to write a little further from the edges or switch to navigation with the buttons. Otherwise, it is really very convenient to make notes on screenshots and quickly write down information.

Galaxy S24 Ultra has an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner to unlock the screen. It is located at the bottom of the display and works very quickly. Samsung uses a scanner from Qualcomm, and now it has been updated to a new version. It is difficult to say whether it has become faster, because I had no problems with its predecessors. I can only say that the ultrasonic sensor works very quickly and accurately, and in almost any conditions, even if there are water drops on the screen.

Platform and performance

Unlike the younger models in the series, which returned to the Exynos processor, the Galaxy S24 Ultra received a new top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with Adreno 750 graphics. Without going into technical details, this is now one of the fastest processors available for smartphones. However, let’s delve a little deeper into its characteristics. The chip itself is built on a 4 nanometer process and has 8 cores: one Cortex-X4 with a frequency of 3.39 GHz, three Cortex-A720 with a frequency of 3.1 GHz, two Cortex-A720 with a frequency of 2.9 GHz, and two Cortex-A520 with a frequency of 2.2 GHz. The Adreno 750 graphics accelerator operates at 1 GHz. Such a variety of cores and their frequencies allows Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to balance well between high performance and energy efficiency.

In addition to the fast processor and graphics, the Galaxy S24 Ultra also has 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage with 256GB, 512GB or 1TB, depending on the version. As in previous generations, there is no memory card slot, but 256 GB should be enough for most users. After transferring all the programs and data, I ended up with 82.22 GB of space.

As it should be in a flagship smartphone, the S24 Ultra has the most advanced wireless modules Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, UWB and NFC. And for navigation, you can use the global GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO and QZSS systems.

In synthetic benchmarks such as Geekbench 6 and PCMark, the Galaxy S24 Ultra shows a significant performance boost compared to the S23 Ultra. In real-world tasks, the speed increase is not as dramatic as in the tests, because there are not many programs for Android smartphones that require really high performance. Nevertheless, we can safely say that the power reserve of Galaxy S24 Ultra has become even greater, and the smartphone will definitely last for several years. Perhaps even for all 7 years, during which Samsung promises to update it to new versions of Android and release security patches. This, by the way, is another advantage of the model, because only Google offers this level of support, while all other Android smartphone manufacturers are still lagging behind.

Speaking of gaming, Galaxy S24 Ultra also has a performance boost, providing high frame rates in demanding games. You can play at maximum graphics settings in WoT: Blitz or Diablo Immortal. At the same time, after 15-20 minutes of play, the smartphone body becomes barely warm. The increased cooling system does a really good job.

The speed of the graphics is also confirmed by 3DMark, in the Wild Life Extreme test, the smartphone scores 4,964 points, while the predecessor S23 Ultra gained 3,792 points.

Thanks to the aforementioned cooling system, the device also demonstrates higher stability under maximum load. In the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, which runs a graphical test 20 times in a circle, creating a long and heavy load, Galaxy S24 Ultra managed to achieve a 57% stability level, scoring 4931 points in the best circle and 2809 points in the worst.

This is a generally good result for a flagship smartphone, and it’s also higher than its predecessor, the S23 Ultra, which had a 54% stability rate, with a lower number of points (best lap – 3827, worst – 2081).

The temperature of the Galaxy S24 Ultra under such a load reaches 44 degrees Celsius, and this is a fairly comfortable heating level.

So in general, we have a fast and modern platform with a very good margin of safety for the future.

Cameras

Samsung doesn’t usually update the main cameras in its flagship smartphones often, relying instead on software improvements. This can be clearly seen in the younger S-series models, the S24 and S24+, which received the same set of cameras this year. However, the Ultra also shows its superior positioning, as it has received a new module for the second year in a row. Last year, Samsung introduced the 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP2 wide-angle camera, which allowed for increased image detail. This year, the update affected one of the two telephoto modules, and this is exactly what I was looking forward to the most in Samsung flagships.

But let’s first recall the specifications of the Galaxy S24 Ultra cameras:

• 200-megapixel wide-angle camera with 1/1.3-inch sensor, 24 mm focal length, f/1.7 aperture, laser autofocus and optical stabilization;
• 50-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera with a focal length of 115 mm, f/3.4 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization and 5x zoom;
• 10-megapixel telephoto camera with a 1/3.52-inch sensor, 69 mm focal length, f/2.4 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization, and 3x zoom;
• 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 1/2.55-inch sensor, 13 mm focal length, f/2.2 aperture, 120˚ viewing angle, phase detection autofocus and electronic stabilization.

As you can see, one module has changed in the Galaxy S24 Ultra, instead of a 10-megapixel 10x periscope camera, a 50-megapixel camera with 5x optical zoom has been installed. But don’t be fooled by the reduction in zoom, this is actually a very cool upgrade.

Firstly, like the main 200-megapixel wide-angle module, the 50-megapixel telephoto camera captures 12-megapixel images using Pixel Binning technology to combine pixels, allowing it to capture more light despite the relatively small f/3.4 aperture. During the day, this translates into images with good detail, wide dynamic range, and correct white balance.

At the same time, the camera perfectly compensates for the lack of 10x optical zoom thanks to digital zoom, and the 50-megapixel sensor also provides good photo quality.

But the most interesting thing about the new module is its support for night mode. This is the first time that the telephoto module in Samsung smartphones can take photos in low light. In previous generations of flagships, when the telephoto camera’s lighting deteriorated, it switched to the main wide-angle module, meaning that the user actually received a crop from a larger sensor. Now, in low light, you can take better pictures with 5x and 10x zoom, with less noise.

The specifications of the other cameras of the Galaxy S24 Ultra have not changed compared to its predecessor, but they have received new post-processing algorithms, due to both the update to OneUI 6.1 and the transition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.

The 200-megapixel wide-angle camera is a significant upgrade from Samsung’s previous 100-megapixel sensor, with a higher level of detail and more pleasing color reproduction.

The large size of the sensor, aperture, pixel grouping in groups of 16, and optical stabilization ensure high quality, including for low-light photos.

The 10-megapixel telephoto module hasn’t changed either, it takes 3 shots with good detail during the day, and now it can also take night photos.

The 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera in Galaxy S24 Ultra is actually the same module that was in the S21 Ultra. It still copes well with the task of creating images when you need to capture more of the scene, for example, when shooting a cityscape, and even in low light it produces quite good photos, given the lack of optical stabilization.

However, I hope that it will be next in line for an update, because it could definitely use a higher resolution and the ability to group pixels to capture more light and, consequently, more detail.

Another important innovation in the Galaxy S24 Ultra is video, the smartphone can finally record videos in 4K 60 FPS with the ability to switch between all cameras.

Now you can start recording with the main wide-angle module, switch to 3x, 5x, 10x telephoto, ultra-wide-angle, and even the 12-megapixel front-facing camera. And all this while continuously shooting a single video.

An example of a photo taken with the front camera.

In general, the smartphone supports shooting up to 8K 30 FPS, but at this maximum resolution, there is no switching between different modules. Video recording can be started either with the main 200-megapixel camera or with a 50-megapixel telephoto with 5x zoom.

In general, the Galaxy S24 Ultra offers interesting updates to telephoto cameras, while offering a wide range of options for creating different shots, literally without leaving one place.

AI features

Over the past year, artificial intelligence has flooded the information space, so it was only a matter of time before smartphone manufacturers would pay attention to the possibilities of this technology and try to implement it in their models. In fact, Google has been working in this direction for a long time, but due to the limited representation of its smartphones and its generally small market share, most users have been ignorant of it. Therefore, it is not surprising that, having enlisted the support of Google, Samsung decided to introduce AI capabilities in smartphones to the mass consumer, which should become one of the main areas of development of its smartphones. What does the manufacturer offer?

First of all, it’s worth noting that although all the artificial intelligence features are available in Galaxy S24 smartphones, and in particular in Ultra, right out of the box, some of them do not have Ukrainian localization. But if you speak one of the supported languages, such as English, you can use automatic translation during calls. The voice recorder app also has automatic transcription of conversations from English, which can help speed up the transcription of interviews or recording meetings. It works very well. Samsung promises to add support for more languages, including Ukrainian, this year, but without specifying a timeframe.

In general, artificial intelligence capabilities are integrated into standard Samsung apps, not at the system level. For example, there is an option to automatically format text and create summaries in Samsung Notes, but it only works in Samsung Notes. However, it’s worth noting that it does work, you can throw in a meeting transcript and get a quick summary, or just format tasks by point.

The only app that allows you to use some AI capabilities across the board is the standard Samsung keyboard. It now uses AI models to check spelling and grammar and allows you to change the text to different writing styles. For example, for professional writing, or vice versa for social media with emoticons and hashtags. However, for short texts, which are usually typed on a smartphone keyboard, this feature seemed to me to be frankly superfluous. I never found any scenarios where I would need this feature, unlike spelling and grammar, which do provide useful corrections.

Most often, I used the AI capabilities of the Galaxy S24 Ultra in the standard gallery of the smartphone, which now provides new generative tools for image correction. In particular, the ability to automatically select an object in a photo, move it or delete it, while the freed-up space is filled with a generated image. In most cases, this works just fine, especially if the object to be deleted/moved is not very large, then it is not difficult for the AI model to fill in the empty space correctly.

Photos edited in this way are marked with a special watermark located in the lower left corner of the image. This way, you can see which photos have been edited by AI. But this is more for the user, because the watermark itself can be cropped or removed using the same editing tools.

In general, the artificial intelligence capabilities of Galaxy S24 Ultra have varying degrees of usefulness, and not all of them are yet available in Ukrainian. Nevertheless, this is an interesting direction of development for smartphones, and it is indeed a very useful tool for photo editing.

Audio

The smartphone has stereo speakers, one of which is combined with the earpiece speaker, and the other is located on the bottom edge, between the S Pen and the USB-C port.

The size of the latter grille has become a little smaller and now it is a single slot, but it did not affect the volume at all, the device sounds very loud. If there was more bass, S 24 Ultra could be used as a portable speaker.

Battery life

It has a 5000 mAh battery, no changes compared to its predecessor, but the battery life is slightly better. With Always on screen and maximum resolution, I had the S24 Ultra last more than 1.5-2 days on average, depending on the load, while the S23 Ultra was closer to one active day of use. This is also confirmed by the PCMark battery life test, in which the S24 Ultra lasted more than 15 hours with the screen active, while the S23 Ultra’s result was 13 hours and 45 minutes.

Nothing has changed in terms of charging, Samsung is taking a conservative approach here, so the smartphone supports charging up to 45 W (PowerDelivery 3.0), which allows you to recharge the battery up to 65% in 30 minutes. There is also wireless charging up to 15 W and the ability to reverse charge accessories from the smartphone itself, but the power here is lower – only 4.5 W. But it’s enough for headphones or a watch.