The titanium pulls everything together, but Galaxy AI's tricks are mostly helpful in small doses.
The massive Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn't disappoint. But there's nothing here that's screaming, "Upgrade now! Do it!"
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is big, beautiful, and a heck-of-a-lot-of smartphone. It is the best of everything Android can do, as it can do more than the Google Pixel 8 Pro—it has a built-in stylus. But the real kicker of this year’s Ultra release is its titanium finish, which pulls together the whole look of its “ultimate” aesthetic.
No smartphone is perfect, of course, and after a little over a week with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, I am starting to get irked by some of the Ultra’s quirks. For one, it’s still a ginormous smartphone—though, to be fair, it descended from the same model that brought you the “phablet.” Still, it will overpower people with my sized hands. The full titanium backing also gets a little warm on long streaming sessions, which might explain why Apple didn’t go full titanium for the iPhone 15 Pro.
It’s also about $100 more this generation, starting at $1,300 for the 256GB storage version. The good news is that there have been some improvements to this year’s Ultra. But besides the titanium, which we’re all still dubious about its overall durability, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s best new features are primarily within the software realm. You don’t need Samsung’s latest and greatest hardware to access that.
Galaxy S24 Ultra Features It’s titanium, baby!
I’m digging the titanium aesthetic that’s taking over premium smartphones. Apple started the trend with the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, and now Samsung is carrying the torch for the Android-wielders of the world. As a result, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is most certainly in a class of its own. It has its own unique colorways, like Titanium Violet and Yellow. Samsung offered Titanium Gray to Gizmodo for review. The only parts of the Ultra’s frame that aren’t titanium are the volume rocker and power button.
As I mentioned, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can get warm if you stream an app like YouTube TV. At one point, I clocked about a 20-degree difference between the top and bottom of the device, though it was fine while watching apps like Pluto TV and Frndly TV. I’ve contacted Samsung to ask why that app might have been causing the heat disparity and will report when I hear back. I’ve also called in some cases to see if it exacerbates the toastiness.
There isn’t much difference in heft or weight distribution from last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra—at least nothing discernably so. If you’re not used to this much slab of a smartphone on you at all times, it will be a lifestyle change. Compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Google Pixel 8 Pro, it’s about an ounce more dense in weight. The Ultra is the biggest smartphone you can get without bringing home a tablet.
Galaxy S24 Ultra Specs Ultra performance
Every new flagship includes enhanced specifications, especially at this price range. This year, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which will power most of the year’s top-tier Android phones. You can only buy the Ultra with 12 GB of RAM, which is how much memory every high-performance smartphone should have—especially those pushing AI capabilities like Samsung with Galaxy AI. I’m glad Samsung finally ditched the 8GB “entry-level” Ultra because it didn’t make sense to offer the ultimate smartphone with a minimum helping of RAM. In our casual benchmark tests, the Galaxy S24 performed well, on par with the OnePlus 12, which also hails a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 16GB of RAM.
With this year’s release, Samsung also boasts improved ray tracing, though less than a handful of mobile games are currently taking advantage of the spec. It’s great for Samsung’s marketing materials, but you don’t get an apples-to-apples experience with ray tracing on the smartphone as you would on a full-fledged PC. If you like the handheld experience, at the very least, reflections and shadows will appear detailed in games like Diablo Immortal.
Galaxy S24 Battery
The battery capabilities on the Galaxy S24 Ultra seem as reliable as last year’s release, which had the same size 5,000 mAh battery. I will update this section with concrete numbers on how the Galaxy S24 Ultra performs against the iPhone 15 Pro Max, OnePlus 12, and Pixel 8 Pro in Gizmodo’s internal battery benchmark tests.
Galaxy S24 Ultra Camera Further and sharper
Samsung switched up the camera sensors on this year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, but only in the telephoto department. The S24 Ultra starts with a similar 200-MP primary camera as the last two generations, with a maximum aperture of f/1.7, which aids in those late-night shots. A higher resolution sensor in the S24 Ultra replaces the 10-MP telephoto camera in the S23 Ultra. It’s now a 50-MP sensor with up to 5x optical telephoto zoom, versus the lower resolution 10x optical capabilities offered before. Photos definitely seem sharper from far away, but the most significant benefit appears to be that I don’t need to have some smartphone stabilization method on me when I want to take a photo of the boats on my daily mental health walks.
Galaxy S24 Ultra Galaxy AI What’s with all the AI tricks?
If I learned anything at CES, it was that AI has been weaponized for mass marketing. I was half expecting that to happen with Samsung’s Galaxy AI. But while it’s mostly Google’s large language models running underneath the polished One UI veneer of features like Circle to Search, Galaxy AI proves it will be a worthy tool to have on hand. The only bummer is that you’ll have to pay for some of the features after 2025.
Circle to Search is one of the best new features for Android in a long time. If you’re a person who frequently collects little pieces of the internet, the feature is going to become a part of your everyday routine. I use Circle to Search to save links, clip places to eat from TikTok, and scour eBay for Polly Pockets I encounter on Instagram Reels. Circle to Search is the Google Lens feature for the current AI generation. But that additional bit of usability and the fact that you can scroll up to jump into Google Search immediately makes the whole Google-lives-in-Android experience feel entirely native. This isn’t an exclusive Samsung feature, however. Pixel users will also get the ability in the coming weeks. How nice for Samsung to be the manufacturer to debut it all.