Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Galaxy S23 Ultra: Samsung is making all the right moves
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Intro
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is one of the best phone releases of 2024. Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, it is an exceptional Android flagship phone that covers all the bases: great performance, superb and versatile camera, top battery life, and tons of features that enrich the Android experience.
Easily one of the best phones of 2024, period.
But should you consider upgrading from the Galaxy S23 Ultra? If cooler heads prevail, you'd probably be wise to hold off on upgrading, as the differences in-between such close device generations are not that big. And yet, who's to say the Galaxy S24 Ultra wouldn't be the hottest commodity on the market come 2024?
Let's see how the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra stacks up against the aging but still perfectly capable Galaxy S23 Ultra:
| Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Galaxy S24 Ultra has a new titanium design and most flat corners | A more rounded and flat aluminum design with slightly more curves, similar in size |
| Mostly the same screen with higher 2,600 nits peak brightness | Similarly sized display, lower 1,750-nit peak brightness |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in all units across the globe | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 globally |
| Runs on Android 14 with Samsung One UI 6.1 | Android 14 with One UI 6 |
| Will come with 12GB RAM in all versions | 12GB RAM in all 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB versions |
| Four cameras on the back, including both a 3X zoom and a new 5X telephoto | Four cameras on the back, with a 10X periscope and 3X telephoto. |
| Comes with S Pen | Also comes with an S Pen |
| Large 5000mAh battery size (but battery life will likely remain same-ish) | 5,000mAh battery with very decent battery life |
| Seven years of software updates | Four years of software updates |
| Fast 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging as predecessor | 45W max wired charging speed and 15W wireless charging |
| $1,300 starting price, $100 pricier than Galaxy S23 Ultra | $1,200 at launch |
As we already in late 2024, it's time to turn our heads to Samsung's next top super-premium flagship device––the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Coming in early 2025, this one will continue the evolution process. We expect the yearly hardware improvements as well as a slightly revamped design language that will see the sharp, flat edges at the bottom substituted for rounded ones.
However, the overall changes won't be major, so we don't expect Galaxy S24 Ultra to find themselves in a "must-upgrade" situation. Generally, the same could apply to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but that remains to be seen.
Table of Contents:
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Design and Size
Not many changes, but expect some important changes
With the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung keeps the same general design language as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but ditches aluminum in favor of titanium, the premium new material to grace super high-end phones. The display on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is now completely flat, whereas the one on the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a very slight curve to the extreme sides: the Galaxy S24 Ultra is therefore more utilitarian.
Both phones feel excellent in the hand, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra providing a bit more grip thanks to the brushed titanium frame. Yet, let's face it: you'll slap a case on it, so it doesn't really matter.
There is still an S Pen on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but there isn't anything new in terms of features in comparison with the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Speaking of features that persist, the IP68 water- and dust-resistance is here to stay.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra colors are Titanium Yellow, Titanium Violet, Titanium Black, and Titanium Gray; the intriguing Titanium Orange, Titanium Green, and Titanium Blue are exclusive to the Samsung.com store. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is available in Lavender, Cream, Phantom Black, and Green; there are a few more Galaxy S23 Ultra colors exclusively available on Samsung.com.
Display Differences
Bright future ahead of us
The Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn't change the essential display specs and comes with the same 6.8-inch LTPO 3.0 OLED display with a dynamically switching 1-120Hz refresh rate, which definitely improves the viewing experience and is an altogether a nice-to-have feature.
This makes its screen smooth, vibrant, and gorgeous. In all honesty, the Galaxy S23 Ultra isn't that much different, but it has a slight drawback.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra's display can achieve the super-high peak brightness of 2,600 nits. After two years of mostly staying one step behind most of the competition when it comes to maximum display brightness, Samsung finally joins the eye-scorching club.
This would make the Galaxy S24 Ultra a phone that's perfectly legible in even the brightest environments. It's yet another top Android phone that employs superb peak brightness, just like the OnePlus 12 and the Google Pixel 8 Pro.
In our display tests, the Galaxy S24 Ultra fares much better than the Galaxy S23 Ultra, achieving higher maximum brightness as well as better default color accuracy.
While Samsung advertises peak brightness levels above 2,000 nits, you may notice that the brightness levels we've achieved are significantly lower. That's because we measure maximum brightness at 100% APL, which means the whole display is displaying a static white image at maximum brightness. Manufacturers usually measure over a smaller portion of the display, which enables the display diodes to draw more power and get brighter.
The lower reflectivity of the Gorilla Glass Armor also does an outstanding job at keeping those pesky reflections away. This is especially helpful under direct sunlight, elevating screen legibility to the next level.
No changes in the biometrics department: an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner built into the display is the main biometrics unlocking mechanism of choice on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Face unlock is also on deck, so generally, no changes in comparison with the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Performance and Software
Crouching tiger, hidden Snapdragon
Unlike the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in all regions around the globe (the smaller phones only have this one in the US).
Just like the S23 Ultra's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip, which was a slightly spiced-up version chip that most other Android flagships got, the Galaxy S24 Ultra gets a slightly better Snapdragon from the get-go as well.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy is an octacore chip consisting of a prime Cortex-X4 core running at 3.3GHz, triple high-performance Cortex-A720 3.15GHz cores, dual Cortex-A720 clocked at 2.96GHz, and two efficiency Cortex-A520 cores that hum at 2.27GHz.
The chipset will boast the Adreno 750 GPU, which is much faster than the one on the previous Snapdragon generation. Samsung boasts a much better performance in ray-traced graphics, as well as optimization for some of the most popular mobile games out there, good news for gamers worldwide.
In our benchmark tests, the Galaxy S24 Ultra totally dominates its predecessor in both Geekbench 6 and 3DMark Extreme. In real life, however, both phones feel quite snappy, so you might not notice such a large difference between the two devices.
In terms of storage and RAM, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with 12GB of RAM in all 256, 512GB, and 1TB storage versions. At the same time, the Galaxy S23 Ultra was available with 8GB of RAM in its most basic version, but also came with 12GB of RAM in the 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage tiers.
Software-wise, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will likely come with One UI 6 based on Android 14, and will be supported for the massive amount of 7 years! This is huge, as it means you will be able to use your next Galaxy until the end of the decade and beyond if you wish so!
Samsung announced that Android 15 and One UI 7 will arrive in early 2025, along with the Galaxy S25 range. We suppose that neither the Galaxy S24 Ultra, nor the Galaxy S23 Ultra will have to wait that long for the Android 15 update to reach them (a few weeks or a month, probably).
Camera
Upgrades… or downgrades?
Samsung made some radical changes to the camera setup on the back of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It got rid of the 10X periscope and instead opted for a 5X telephoto camera with significantly improved resolution, enabling optical-grade zoom up to 10X.
This is a departure from most previous Galaxy Ultra phones, where the 10X periscope camera was the standout feature, delivering 100X Space Zoom. As luck would have it, the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 50MP telephoto still supports 100X Space Zoom.
The main camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra sticks to 200MP, but boasts more capable software, supercharged by AI. Samsung boasts much greater low-light capabilities (Nightography) on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, for example.
There's also a plethora of AI features that aim to make the Galaxy S24 Ultra camera experience better than before. Some of these include Magic Eraser, Generative Edits, and improved remaster are coming to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. You can also remove reflections from photos with the power of on-device Galaxy AI.
As a refresher, the Galaxy S23 Ultra came with a 200MP F1.7 main camera, a 10MP 3X F2.4 telephoto, a 10MP 10X F4.9 periscope, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera, along with a 12MP front-facing camera.
As far as image quality goes, we have some preliminary camera samples taken with both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra. These are just to give you a general idea of what each phone is capable of.
As far as image quality goes, we have some preliminary camera samples taken with both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra. These are just to give you a general idea of what each phone is capable of.
We've run both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra through our new PhoneArena Camera test, which tests both phones cameras in various situations, and the winner is clear: it's the Galaxy S24 Ultra that takes the cake. The Galaxy S23 Ultra, while great, lags behind in most tests, so if you want the very best, it's the Galaxy S24 Ultra that you should consider.
PhoneArena Camera Score:
Let's check out some real-world examples:
Main Camera - Day
With the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung is toning down the image processing in comparison with last year's Galaxy S23 Ultra. We can observe a much more natural image processing on the newer phone, with a more natural color rendition as well as less sharpening.
Compared with that, the Galaxy S23 Ultra looks overdone and a bit too much, all things considered, but if over-sharpened details and boosted colors are your thing, there's nothing wrong with liking how the Galaxy S23 Ultra camera produce looks.
Main Camera - Low-light
In low-light conditions, we can see that the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra perform mostly the same, though the newer phone has slightly better dynamics and preserves more information in the shadows. With the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you don't get the same level of low-light dynamics. Still, the difference isn't that grand.
Zoom Quality
In good daylight, both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra perform similarly when it comes to zooming. Surprisingly, 10X looks equally good on both the new and the old phone, so one should totally not mourn the lack of a 10X dedicated periscope. Using the 50MP 5X telephoto seems to deliver mostly similar results, which is great.
The same can be observed at nighttime. One can see some slight differences here and there, but those could be attributed to the marginal differences in taking the sample photos with each device.
Ultra-wide Camera
Selfies
If you're one that occasionally dabbles with selfies, then you won't really be disappointed with either, as both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra are more than capable of capturing a superb selfie.
Video quality
Audio Quality and Haptics
Like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung's next flagship phone employs a dual speaker configuration. If it's anything like its predecessor, we'd be happy campers, as the Galaxy S23 Ultra is one of the better-sounding flagships of 2023, so our hopes for the Galaxy S24 Ultra are quite high. The same applies to the haptic feedback as well: Samsung has nailed the accurate vibrations, which enrich the premium flagship experience.
Battery Life and Charging
No changes in battery size, but some changes in battery
If you've been hoping that Samsung could have pulled out a magic wand and magically enlarged the Galaxy S24 Ultra's battery to larger proportions, then you're out of luck. There's a 5,000mAh battery making the rounds on the newest Galaxy flagship, which is just as much as the battery on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn't last considerably longer than the Galaxy S23 Ultra on a single charge, which isn't a bad thing at all: the latter isn't too shabby when it comes to battery endurance, and we probably shouldn't expect such major gains.
In our custom browsing benchmark test, which has us replicate a regular browsing experience with the screen set at 200 nits, the Galaxy S23 Ultra surprisingly comes on top of its successor with a slightly better result. However, in our custom video playback test, the Galaxy S24 Ultra successfully regains some lost ground.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn't last considerably longer than the Galaxy S23 Ultra on a single charge, which isn't a bad thing at all: the latter isn't too shabby when it comes to battery endurance, and we probably shouldn't expect such major gains.
PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:
Charging-wise, Samsung sticks to 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging, as well as reverse wireless charging that can top up your Galaxy Watch or earbuds. We didn't get a boost in charging speeds, but then again, we didn't expect to score one either, so it's mostly all good. You don't get a charger in the box of either phone, too.
Specs Comparison
Below, you will find a brief summary of the Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra specs:
| Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra | Galaxy S23 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 162.3 × 79 × 8.6mm, 233gr | 163.3 x 78 x 8.9 mm, 234gr |
| Screen | 6.8" Dynamic 2X AMOLED 1-120Hz LTPO 3.0 dynamic refresh rate 2,600 nits | 6.8" Dynamic 2X AMOLED 1-120Hz LTPO 3.0 dynamic refresh rate 1,750 nits |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy |
| RAM, Storage | 12/256GB 12/512GB 12/1TB LPDDR5X | 8/256GB 12/256GB 12/512GB 12/1TB LPDDR5 |
| Cameras | 200MP main 12MP ultra 10MP 3X telephoto 50MP 5X periscope 12MP front | 200MP main 12MP ultra 10MP 3X telephoto 10MP 10X periscope 12MP front |
| Battery | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Charging | 45W wired 15W wireless Reverse wireless charging | 45W wired 15W wireless Reverse wireless charging |
Summary
Image Credit - PhoneArena
When it comes to breaking the existing state of affairs, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has actually solidified Samsung's spot at the very top.
The latest Samsung flagship touches upon the more important pillars of a great smartphone experience, delivering improved performance, a brighter display, and a camera experience enhanced by AI.
However, the core essence of the large S Pen-wielding Samsung flagship remains largely unchanged––and that's actually great!
In reality, all Samsung had to do to make the Galaxy S24 Ultra great is slightly improve everything that made the Galaxy S23 Ultra so good in the first place, and that's precisely what has happened here.
Here's to hoping the company will capture the same mojo with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, too.
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