Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: the best Ultra ever | Digital Trends

If you asked the AI chatbot of your choice to help design a smartphone with the best specification possible, it might come up with something similar to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which itself is packed full of AI smarts.

After all, there’s very little missing from the top Galaxy model, with everything from a stylus to a flagship processor included. Does this mean you shouldn’t think twice about buying it? Let’s find out.

About our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review

Our review of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was published in February 2024 after Andy Boxall spent more than two weeks with the phone. Throughout the initial test period we used a review sample supplied by Samsung. On March 1, Christine Romero-Chan added her thoughts about the S24 Ultra after using it for a few weeks in the new section titled “a second opinion.”

After the review model was returned to Samsung, Andy Boxall continued using his personal Galaxy S24 Ultra, purchased directly, and updated the review at the end of October 2024. Our overall score and opinion on the phone has not changed since the publication of the first review, but various points have been refined, and we’ve included more information on the latest alternatives.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: specs

Revisiting the S24 Ultra in October 2024

Many months into its release, and just as you’d expect from a $1,300 smartphone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is still very desirable, and for good reason. It’s incredibly powerful, and the combination of a massive screen, versatile camera, easy-to-use software, S Pen stylus, and cutting-edge mobile tech like Galaxy AI makes it a unique proposition. The battery life continues to impress, and six hours of screen time on a single charge is possible with general use.

There are regular deals on the Galaxy S24 Ultra too, and if you find a good one, it could be considered great value when you take into account all it can do and how long the software will be supported. It’s a one-time purchase that you can use and enjoy for years, safe in the knowledge it’s unlikely to be dramatically improved upon in the near future. After using the S24 Ultra again for a few weeks, my overall opinion of the phone really hasn’t changed, and it’s a highly recommended purchase.

However, what has changed is the competition, and it’s a lot more compelling than it was when the S24 Ultra first came out. Google has stepped up its game so much with the Pixel 9 series that either the Pixel 9 Pro or the Pixel 9 Pro Fold are superb alternatives and my personal preference. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold really impressed me during my review period, and I’m looking forward to using it again in a way I have not with the S24 Ultra. If you can afford the higher cost, then it’s a fantastic buy if you aren’t worried about the S Pen stylus.

Then there’s the Apple iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The hardware is superb, the iOS 18 software is only getting better as the year goes on, and both easily challenge the S24 Ultra for battery life. If you’re not set on owning a Samsung or Android phone, both are great big-screen phones.

This shows the extent of Samsung’s problem. The S24 Ultra remains a brilliant phone, but it’s now fighting for attention against at least four other newer and just as compelling alternatives. I find the S24 Ultra’s flat, less comfortable design hurts it, and I’d strongly recommend trying the others out before just buying the Samsung phone. It was once almost a default recommendation, but at the end of 2024 I find I lean more toward the competition and looking forward to what the Galaxy S25 Ultra brings.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: design

The Galaxy S24 Ultra looks very similar looking to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it has made various alterations that make the phone more durable, easier to use, and even more modern. It may not have had a significant redesign, but what has been altered is more meaningful than just a few new lines and a different look to the camera.

A titanium frame replaces the Armor Aluminum frame used on the S23 Ultra, and it’s warmer to the touch, likely more scratch-resistant, and has a more attractive visual texture. The sides are less curvy than before, which, combined with the grippier titanium, makes it feel more secure in your hand than the old model, but it’s still a little slippery due to the flatter design. The screen is flatter too, and with a smaller bezel at the bottom, making the enormous screen look somehow even bigger. This is an imposing smartphone.

The flat screen isn’t the design disaster on the S24 Ultra as it is on some other phones, and it actually makes writing with the S Pen stylus more comfortable when you’re holding the phone in your other hand. Dimensionally, none of this makes much of a difference compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, as it’s only a hair thinner (8.6mm compared to 8.9mm) and a millimeter shorter and less wide, too, plus it is one single gram lighter.

It means the Galaxy S24 Ultra is still a massive 232-gram smartphone that will stretch your pocket to capacity. It’s not ungainly, though, and time does mean you get used to wrangling such a whopping piece of technology. But if you want a compact device, the regular Galaxy S24 will be much more up your street.

Drop the S24 Ultra, and you could face a hefty repair bill, so a case is recommended if you’re concerned. Samsung has sealed the phone well enough to have an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, and the screen is covered in Corning’s Gorilla Armor glass, exclusive to the S24 Ultra. It’s supposed to be more scratch-resistant, which is great, but more noticeably and just as welcome is it’s less reflective than other glass, making the screen easier to see in bright conditions.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s style has been refined over the past few generations and is instantly recognizable. The addition of titanium makes it more modern, and surprisingly, so does the flat screen, which also has considerable ergonomic benefits. It’s also as durable as phones get. I’d choose one of Samsung’s brighter, exclusive online colors to give it some visual pep, but otherwise, this is a smartphone you’ll be proud to carry around — even if it doesn’t always fit in your pocket.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Titanium Orange color

If you buy the Galaxy S24 Ultra directly from Samsung, there are three additional exclusive colors to choose from, and we picked the Titanium Orange model. It’s the brightest of all the colors, but you do have to get it in the right light to appreciate it.

It’s quite muted indoors, with the orange taking on a peach tone. But get it in the sunlight, and the orange shines through, making it a very attractive phone. It’s the color to choose if the standard colors are too ordinary, but be aware that just like the exclusive colors for the Galaxy Z Flip 5, they come with legal text stamped below the Samsung logo on the back. This text is entirely missing from the standard colors.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: screen and performance

The special Gorilla Armor glass stops reflections from being such a pain, but the 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen has another trick to make outside viewing easier: a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. Dreary winter days in the U.K. mean I’ve probably not seen it hit this yet, but on the sunnier days, I’ve had no problem viewing the screen comfortably with the brightness slider at maximum. The Adaptive Brightness works well, and I haven’t needed to adjust it manually, indicating it isn’t aggressively restricting the brightness to save battery life.

But what about alongside the OnePlus 12? The new OnePlus phone has a peak brightness of 4,500 nits for those who dislike their retinas but will sit at 1,600 nits when it’s not trying to blind you. Compare them side-by-side at maximum everyday brightness (set by the slider), and the OnePlus phone certainly is a little brighter, up to the point of being quite stark. Even with the Pro setting activated for the OnePlus’s color profile, it can’t quite match the S24 Ultra’s lovely vibrance and pop. The OnePlus 12’s screen is undoubtedly a bit brighter, but unless you live on the surface of the sun, I doubt you’ll need the additional level of brightness that often.

Out of the box, the screen is set to a 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution, and you must manually switch to its full 3120 x 1440 pixel resolution. The refresh rate is set to adaptive as standard, meaning it dynamically switches between 1 and 120Hz depending on the screen’s activity. During normal use, I don’t notice any difference in sharpness when using the highest resolution setting, and it’s wonderfully smooth and stable at all times. The screen always looks excellent.

Qualcomm has worked with Samsung to optimize the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for the Galaxy chip inside the S24 Ultra, and it comes with 12GB of RAM and a choice of storage options. I’ve had no problems at all with its performance when using the phone for calls, apps, and other basic tasks. Over 30 minutes of playing games like Asphalt 9: Legends barely makes the phone warm, and even benchmarking stress tests can’t make it too hot to handle. Annoyingly, holding the phone in a landscape orientation does make it easy to cover the speakers.

This is the advantage of the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, which also uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, as its forward-facing speakers aren’t so easily obscured, plus they deliver more bass and have a much fuller, wonderfully musical tone. Due to Asus’s redesign, the ROG Phone 8 Pro is lighter and more manageable than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, plus the screen is absolutely stunning. Playing games back-to-back, I’d play for longer on the Asus phone, so do consider it if gaming is a priority.

While the OnePlus 12 and Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro are strong competition in certain situations, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s performance and visuals are incredible almost all the time, no matter what you’re doing or where, making it such a fantastic all-rounder. It’s perfect for someone who wants to do pretty much everything on their phone and not compromise.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: camera

Like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 200-megapixel main camera, a 12MP wide-angle camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom photos. The main hardware change is a new 50MP telephoto camera for a 5x optical zoom, and 10x zoom photos are now “optical quality.” Inside is Samsung’s ProVisual Engine, Super HDR, and a selection of Galaxy AI editing tools to enhance your photos during and after shooting them.

You can see how the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s telephoto cameras compare to the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s in our separate test, but rest assured that outside of slightly less detail at 10x zoom, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s telephoto cameras take better, more colorful, and more visually accurate photos than its predecessor. Despite what the nomenclature may lead you to believe, it’s a genuine upgrade.

Shoot with the main and wide-angle camera, and the S24 Ultra performs much like the S23 Ultra — taking colorful, punchy photos that are great for social media but also have depth and detail so you can edit them using apps like Lightroom for a very polished final look. I dislike how close-up shots force the main camera to activate the intrusive “focus enhancer” mode, ruining any depth of field you may be trying to create.

A more successful feature is the new AI-assisted auto slow-motion mode, where you tap and hold on a video shot at normal speed, and the S24 Ultra slows it down while the AI fills in the missing frames. If the video is very busy, it’s a tiny bit jerky, but at all other times, you’d never know it wasn’t actually shot in slow motion. You can edit the video to only slow down at certain moments too, creating your own little stylized movie. It’s great.

Photos taken in low light are bright and detailed but aren’t represented well in the preview on the phone’s screen. When the light is replaced only by ambient light, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can introduce quite a lot of noise, and while scenes are recognizable and bright, I don’t think they’re very atmospheric. The Galaxy S23 Ultra had the same problem, and when compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it lost out when taking photos at night. It’s certainly not terrible, and its overall ability at night is impressive, but the photos lack realism and atmosphere.

The camera is packed full of video features, too, including UHD resolution recording with access to all the different zoom levels, 8K at 30 frames-per-second (fps), and UHD slow motion video at 120fps. Along with assessing the battery life, I’ll continue to use the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera over the coming week. The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera impresses with its versatility; the useful AI features work very well, and the telephoto cameras have been improved at 3x and 5x zoom. The 10x zoom is also far better than I expected, and it completes the S24 Ultra’s comprehensive array of photography tools.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Galaxy AI

In case you hadn’t noticed by the fact the tech industry is constantly talking about it at the moment, AI is being touted as a very big deal, and Samsung has wasted no time getting involved. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a suite of Galaxy AI tools and features onboard. But what are they, do they work, and, most importantly, are you ever likely to use them?

The Circle to Search by Google feature is an instant winner, taking everything helpful about Google Lens and adding a quick, simple gesture so it works as a visual search tool for your photos, your Instagram feed, and across the web. It’s joined by the Generative Edit photographic tool, which works a bit like Google’s Magic Eraser to cleanly remove distracting elements from photos, resize or straighten images, and then fill in the blanks using AI. It’s superb at this, and only the most critical eye would know it had been used, so a sparkly watermark is added to images where it has worked its magic.

Outside of these two features, you may not find many uses for the other Galaxy AI tools on a regular basis. The Live Translate feature provides a real-time translation (across 13 different languages) for voice and text, while Interpreter sits in between two people and translates typed-out text in real-time. Outside of a demonstration during the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s launch, I have not needed to use either of these features yet.

Chat Assist is AI at its worst, as it makes suggestions on how to give your typed messages a different tone — and is almost always laughable. Outside of pathetically adding a few emojis or hashtags to simulate “personality,” it goes on to suck all the individuality out of your messages when it tries to give them a professional or polite tone. It’s absolutely awful. The feature does have a grammar and spelling check that’s more useful, and it’s all activated with a tap of a sparkly icon above the Samsung keyboard. Samsung’s Notes app also has some AI features to summarize notes and add formatting.

I tried out the Interpreter mode, where the AI facilitates a conversation between two people who speak different languages. It can be too clever for its own good, as it tries to “guide” the conversation but gets confused when it hears things it doesn’t expect. Not only is the illusion of automatic translation ruined, but you also focus on sorting out the phone rather than concentrating on the other person. It’s more successful when it’s used for the basics like introductions or ordering food, but there’s little here that Google Translate or other apps can’t do.

Galaxy AI is not a reason to buy the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the features mostly seem to work as advertised, and a handful of them are genuinely useful and fun, although you may not find a use for them every day. The features that are terrible, such as Chat Assist, do make you question how much thought was put into the suite of tools, though, and also remind us that AI on phones can still be a bit of a gimmick.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: battery, calls, and charging

The 5,000mAh battery inside the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the stamina to match the enormous power of the phone. During the break-in period, a single charge lasted about five hours of average use without gaming, with about 25% remaining at the end of the day. That’s solid performance, but it has gotten a lot better since then.

After a few charging cycles, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s battery will eat up nearly five hours of screen time and end the day with 50% remaining, and that’s with gaming, apps, video streaming, and calls. Once the initial full week of use was over, the S24 Ultra’s battery settled down to deliver a very strong performance. Even with the screen resolution raised to the full QHD setting and with around two hours of screen time, it still finishes the day with 75% remaining.

The battery life is shaping up to be a massive advantage of choosing Samsung’s biggest S24 model.

Running the tough, 20-minute Wild Life Extreme Stress Test benchmark saw the battery lose 14%, suggesting serious gaming will put it under some strain, but the phone didn’t get anything more than just hot during the process. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is proving to be very efficient, even under moderately heavy use, and Samsung’s software is similarly effective at power management. Used normally, you’ll easily get two full, packed days from the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s battery, and you could stretch it out for a lot longer if the phone is used lightly. The battery life is shaping up to be a massive advantage of choosing Samsung’s biggest S24 model.

You don’t get a charger in the box, and to get the fastest wired charging speed, you’ll need a 45W adapter. I used the Samsung-compatible Anker 313 GaN charger and the correct cable, and it took 70 minutes to charge the battery fully. It’s acceptable, but the OnePlus 12 is much faster. If you use a charger that doesn’t support the S24 Ultra’s fastest speed, it will take 90 minutes to charge fully. The Galaxy S24 Ultra also supports wireless charging and has reverse charging, too.

Calls and connectivity are excellent, and the S24 Ultra has been one of the best-sounding and most reliable smartphones I’ve used in this respect for a while. The speaker is crystal clear, and finding the right spot to place it against your ear is easy. I’ve had no complaints about quality either, even in low signal areas without Wi-Fi calling active.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has solidly connected to my home Wi-Fi and to both 4G and 5G networks when out and about. It all sounds like a given, but it isn’t always the case. If you want to use your phone as a phone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a great choice.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: software and S Pen stylus

If you made a checklist of everything a modern smartphone should have, the Galaxy S24 Ultra would likely have a mark in each box. It comes with Android 14 installed along with One UI 6.1, and it has been totally reliable so far. Samsung’s software does take a little getting used to, but once a few core adjustments have been made — such as setting the always-on screen and changing the ring and alert tone — it’s comfortable to use and simple to learn.

There’s plenty of customization throughout, and I like the new Creative wallpaper option, where you can make some cool AI-generated wallpapers using a few keywords like “surreal tower made of amethyst in shades of indigo and blue.” The Quick Settings screen is packed but logically laid out, and a tap of the notification icons on the lock screen allows for plenty of interaction without delving into the main screen or opening the app.

One thing to note is if you want to use Samsung’s Chat Assist features, you must also use the Samsung Keyboard, which isn’t as good as the alternatives. Swipe typing is far less accurate than Google’s Gboard, even after spending a week “training” it, and it regularly refuses to correct spelling or anticipate the correct and most logical words when typing. The good thing is that Chat Assist isn’t great either, so don’t feel bad if you want to set Gboard as the default.

The S Pen stylus is unsheathed from the bottom of the phone and does not seem to have gained any new features over the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The flat screen makes it more comfortable to rest your palm’s heel when you scribble on the screen, though, and the way it works as a wireless shutter release for the camera is great for selfies using the rear camera or avoiding having to set a timer for group shots.

Samsung promises seven years of software updates for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, making it one of the best-supported smartphones around. The phone has so much ability and is powerful enough to last for many years, so this long-term support will help offset the initial high cost of buying the device.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: price and availability

The Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1,300 or 1,250 British pounds in the U.K., making it more expensive than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It comes with 256GB of storage space at this price, but you can pay more for either 512GB or 1TB of storage. It comes in four colors: Titanium Grey, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet, and Titanium Yellow. There are three more colors, Titanium Blue, Titanium Green, and Titanium Orange, available exclusively through Samsung’s own online store.

There’s no getting away from the fact the Galaxy S24 Ultra is very expensive, and all the other big-name, similarly specced Android phones cost less. For example, the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,200, the Google Pixel 9 Pro is $1,000, and the OnePlus 12 is $800. The only way to spend more is to buy a big-screen folding smartphone instead. However, it’s also impossible to argue about the outstanding overall value of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, as it has all the features, power, and support you could realistically want for years to come.

Price is an important consideration, but having spent a lot of time with the iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro Max, Google Pixel 9 Pro, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I find it hard to put the Galaxy S24 Ultra above any of them on my list of the year’s best phones. This says more about how excellent the competition is at the end of 2024 than it does the S24 Ultra, which is still great. I strongly recommend seriously considering the latest models from Google and Apple rather than just going for the S24 Ultra immediately.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: a second opinion

One of the things that has deterred me from using the Ultra model of Samsung’s flagship S-Series devices has always been the size. I’m a fan of smaller phones simply because I enjoy being able to use my smartphone one-handed without having to participate in finger gymnastics to reach the top corners of the display.

However, I’ve been thoroughly surprised with the S24 Ultra in my time with the device. Despite the gigantic size, the new flat edges make it manageable and even comfortable to hold. It’s definitely not a one-handed phone for me and my petite hands, but to my surprise, I’m not too bothered by the size.

One of the reasons why the size does not bother me is mainly due to the S Pen. Since this is my first time with an S-Series Ultra model, I’ve been eager to try out the S Pen, and honestly, it’s my favorite thing about the device. I enjoy using the S Pen primarily for navigating around the phone instead of my finger because it leads to fewer fingerprints and smudges all over the display. The flatter display from its predecessor also makes using the S Pen even more delightful. And of course, the S Pen is also incredibly useful when attempting to take selfies, since it can be used as a remote shutter button, among other things.

Speaking of displays, the S24 Ultra definitely has one of the best I’ve used on a smartphone. I need bright displays since I live in Southern California, where it’s typically sunny. The S24 Ultra delivers on that front with its incredibly bright 2,600 nits of brightness. Plus, thanks to the new Corning Gorilla Armor glass, it’s also less reflective than other smartphones, so you don’t have as many issues with glare. And with the dense resolution, everything looks fantastic in terms of color, sharpness, and overall crispness.

Another issue I’ve had with Samsung phones is that Samsung tends to make images appear way too vibrant, to the point where it looks unnatural. Thankfully, Samsung seems to have corrected that with the S24 lineup, including the S24 Ultra. Images I’ve taken with the S24 Ultra look quite realistic and true to life, with a little oomph added for color without being over the top. I appreciate the fine-tuning of the color profile this time around.

While we’re on the subject of cameras, the 200MP main camera is very impressive. Photos turn out incredibly detailed, and the 5x optical zoom is nice to have. I do wish that Samsung had kept its 10x optical zoom camera, but the new 5x camera still delivers excellent photos.

Lastly, the battery life really is great. This massive beast packs in a 5,000mAh battery that can easily last two full days, depending on usage. It’s quite impressive and a game-changer when I primarily use an iPhone 15 Pro. The 45W charging is pretty fast, too, but I do wish that Samsung would reach OnePlus levels, as the OnePlus 12 has 80W fast charging. Given the price of the S24 Ultra, that isn’t too much to ask for, right?

Though the S24 Ultra is my first Ultra device from Samsung, it’s been one of my favorites in 2024 so far. If you can afford it (this isn’t cheap), then I recommend getting the Galaxy S24 Ultra if you need the best of the best that Android has to offer.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: verdict

A refreshed design does not make a true upgrade. New features, new technology, and lifestyle-enhancing alternations do, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has all of this along with seemingly every other feature or specification bump you could want from a new phone. Not only is it worth buying if you don’t already own a Galaxy Ultra phone, but I’d even say it’s worth buying if you have a Galaxy S23 Ultra, provided you can make peace with the price increase. It’s really that good.

Obviously, you don’t need to upgrade your Galaxy S23 Ultra (it’s still excellent), but it’s heartening to discover Samsung hasn’t just sent out a vague refresh of its most expensive non-folding phone this year, which is really what it did with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 over the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Galaxy AI stuff is being pushed hard, and while some of it is worth your time, it’s not a reason to choose the Galaxy S24 Ultra on its own. It’s a combination of all its parts — from the amazing battery life to the genuinely improved camera — that makes it a must-buy.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra really is that good.

Although I say it’s even worth an upgrade from the year-old Galaxy S23 Ultra, I do think you should mostly go into the Galaxy S24 Ultra with the intention of keeping it for years. Quite apart from Samsung’s efforts to use more recycled materials, the software update commitment, the sheer ability of the device, and the price bump all shout, “Keep me!” In all honesty, I don’t think you’ll tire of the Galaxy S24 Ultra or reach its full potential any time soon. Buy it and keep hold of it, as you simply can’t do much better.