It may feel like we’re only just entering the year 2024, but the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is already shaping up to be one of the most formidable smartphones of the year. It’s been shortlisted in more of our best phone buying guides than virtually any other current device, demonstrating all-round excellence that’s hard to beat.
Of course, by having almost all the bells and whistles you could hope for in a phone right now, the S24 Ultra also comes with a formidable price tag. So is Samsung’s latest and greatest worth it? Or is it just exaggerated?
No, if it’s within your budget
Overkill will mean different things to different people; the threshold of which varies depending on the type of mobile user you are. If you’re used to buying feature phones or budget smartphones, the price of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra alone will probably be enough to take it out of the room, but if you’re comfortable with the kind of spending you At the high end of price, what the market is asking of people, the S24 Ultra’s $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$2,199 starting price won’t be that shocking.
However, if you’re somewhere in the middle, there are several ways to ease the sting of the Ultra’s high asking price; spreading the costs on credit or buying one of the latest Samsung Galaxy S24 deals.
No, if you are serious about mobile photography
The telephoto setup of the last few generations of Ultra has been the feather in their respective caps when it comes to photography; giving it greater versatility than rivals. So when Samsung decided to replace the long-standing 10x optical zoom with a 5x sensor on the S24 Ultra – more in line with its recent rival, the iPhone 15 Pro Max – the change naturally caused a lot of concern.
Fortunately, we found that the move to a 50MP 5x optical zoom sensor gives the S24 Ultra even more camera versatility than its predecessors, helping this latest entry maintain the Ultra line’s competitive edge and moving it into the top spot in our best camera phones roundup. .
And that’s just the telephoto, there’s also the impressive 200MP main sensor on offer, video recording up to 8K, fine-grain controls for photo and video recording, and a range of new AI-led image editing tools to enjoy; it’s a photographic blend unlike any other camera phone on the market today.
No, if you are a true Samsung fan
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to Samsung fans that the S24 Ultra currently tops our list of the best Samsung phones. It is the embodiment of everything a Samsung phone should be and what it has to offer.
It offers the familiar One UI driven user experience better than any other Samsung phone and offers more performance and functionality than any other Samsung phone. Do you want the Samsung phone with the best camera, display, battery technology, connectivity and AI features? There is no replacement for the S24 Ultra.
No, if you’re interested in owning one of the most AI-advanced phones
Much of the Galaxy S24 series launch messaging has revolved around the range of new Galaxy AI features they’re bringing to the table. We’ve since been able to test some of these ourselves, and in many ways owning a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has more day-to-day benefits for its AI functionality than its main rival in this area, the Pixel 8 Pro.
Samsung detailed 12 key Galaxy AI features at the launch of the S24 series, including Circle to Search, Live Translate, Chat Assist, Genative Edit (for images), AI-generated wallpapers and more.
No, if you’re an avid mobile gamer
When researching the best gaming phones you’ll likely land on specialty devices like Asus’ latest ROG Phone 8 Pro or the Red Magic 9 Pro, but Samsung’s latest top dog is a not-so-inconspicuous gaming phone in its own right. And that’s on top of the fact that it’s an all-rounder that excels in other areas where conventional gaming phones fail (think camera performance and design).
In testing, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset powering the S24 Ultra, combined with Samsung’s own software tweaks and a vapor chamber nearly twice the size of the one in the S23 Ultra – for superior cooling – actually resulted in superior performance up to those phones that are supposedly tailor-made for gaming (confirmed by our own tests).
No, if you NEED a stylus
Outside of the Apple Pencil and the various Wacom styli used by full-time digital artists, there are few valuable digital writing tools and even fewer that are portable. Samsung’s S Pen has long complemented several Galaxy Tab and Note devices over the years – improving with each iteration – and since the Galaxy S22 series it’s been a standard part of the Ultra lineup.
This applies equally to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, whose S Pen has the lowest latency and the broadest feature set of any series to date; Not to mention it’s a fun way to activate that new Circle to Search AI feature. If you need a phone with a stylus, there’s really no other option worth considering.