Samsung just unveiled the Galaxy S24 Ultra, their new flagship. It looks very much like last year’s S23 Ultra and you might be wondering if there are any changes. There are several of them actually.
The first physical difference you will notice is the screen, it’s now completely flat unlike the slight curve on last year’s S23 Ultra. Some prefer the premium look of curved glass considering you are paying top dollar for the device but others prefer the durability of a flat screen especially during falls.
Speaking of durability, Samsung’s new high-end phone has a titanium frame, which should be tougher than the aluminum frame on the S23 Ultra. The S24 Ultra’s screen is also made of Corning’s newest and toughest material, Gorilla Glass Armor, while the S23 has Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
That screen is also brighter with a maximum of 2,600 nits (the S23 Ultra maxed out at 1,750 nits) and thus easier to see in bright daylight.
Under the hood, the S24 Ultra is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in the S23 Ultra. RAM in the S24 Ultra starts at 12GB unlike the 8GB base of last year’s device. For even better performance, the S24 Ultra also has an improved cooling system with a vapor chamber that’s twice as large and two added layers of thermal insulation, so we’d expect it to maintain better framerates and temperatures when running performance-intensive operations, like gaming.
Camera hardware is mostly the same apart from the new 50-megapixel 5x optical telephoto camera in place of the 10-megapixel 10x optical camera in the S23 Ultra. The higher megapixel count should mean photos taken with it are sharper than those shot with the S23’s 10x optical camera. You can get 10x zoom on the S24 Ultra as well, the camera shoots with its 5x optical camera and crop zooms in.
Galaxy AI is the biggest difference between the new phone and last year’s devices. The most noteworthy is Circle to Search, which lets you trace an area on your screen with your stylus or finger to have your phone look up what you’ve circled without ever having to leave the app you’re in. There are also other generative AI capabilities, like summarizing notes and live translations during phone calls.
Last year’s S23 line up is sure going to get the AI features at some point via a software update. Still on the topic of updates, the S24 Ultra comes with Android 14 and will get seven years of Android software and security patches, up from four years in the S23 Ultra (which comes with Android 13) which is big deal for future proofing the device.
Should you upgrade?
If you are coming from a device that isn’t the S23 Ultra, the answer is a resounding yes! But wait, the S23 Ultra itself just got a little more enticing since its price is going to drop now that the S24 Ultra has been released and it’s more expensive at launch. The S24 ultra starting price is $1,300, while the S23 Ultra had a $1,200 price tag at launch. Considering how close they are in terms of specs and design, that pricing might be the main deciding factor.
For those who already have the S23 Ultra, there are a few things to consider. The main reason to upgrade to the new one is to access generative AI today — or if you wanted a phone that could conceivably last you seven years.
The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the first smartphone chipset to include generative AI on its silicon. It’s the magic that processing some of the generative AI features on the device which is much quicker than doing the heavy lifting on the cloud. S23 Ultra might be forced to do the processing on the cloud once Galaxy AI update is rolled out. Will that information in mind, you have all you need to decide on the upgrade.