Read our comprehensive review of the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and find out why it won our Editor’s Choice Award!

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : Model + Colour Options

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is available in four main colours:

• Titanium Black
• Titanium Gray
• Titanium Violet, and
• Titanium Yellow

Here are the official launch prices for the three available storage capacities:

• 256 GB : US$1,299.99 | £1,249 | A$2,199 | S$1,928 | RM6,299
• 512 GB : US$1,419.99 | £1,349 | A$2,399 | S$2,128 | RM6,799
• 1 TB : US$1,659 | £1,549 | A$2,799 | S$2,428 | RM7,799

Read more : Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Colour Options Compared!

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : Specifications Compared!

I created this table to compare the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s specifications to last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra!

Specifications	Galaxy S24 Ultra	Galaxy S23 Ultra
Display Size	6.8 inch
Display Type	Dynamic AMOLED 2X
Display Resolution	1440 x 3120 pixels
Refresh Rate	Adaptive Refresh (1 to 120 Hz)
Protection	Gorilla Armour Titanium Frame	Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Armour Aluminium
Dust + Water Resistance	IP68
Platform	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3	Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Memory	12 GB
Storage Options	256 GB / 512 GB / 1 TB
External Storage	NA
Front Camera	12 MP camera, f/2.2
Main Camera	200 MP Adaptive Pixel camera, f/1.7
Zoom Cameras	50 MP 5x camera, f/3.4 10 MP 3x camera, f/2.4	10 MP 10x camera, f/4.9 10 MP 3x camera, f/2.4
Ultra-Wide Camera	12 MP ultra-wide camera, f/2.2
Laser Sensor	Laser auto-focus sensor	None
Connectivity	Wi-Fi : Wi-Fi 7 Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Bluetooth : BT 5.3 USB : USB Type C	Wi-Fi : Wi-Fi 6E Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Bluetooth : BT 5.3 USB : USB Type C
S Pen	Yes, IP68-rated
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes, Under Display
Other Sensors	Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic, Light, Proximity
GPS	GPS, Beidou, Galileo, Glonass
NFC	Yes
Battery	5,000 mAh
Charging	45 watt wired 15 watt wireless Wireless PowerShare
Dimensions	79.0 mm wide 162.3 mm tall 8.6 mm thick	78.1 mm wide 163.4 mm tall 8.9 mm thick
Weight	233 grams (mmW) 232 g (Sub6)	234 grams

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : What’s Inside The Box?

We got our hands on the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone right after its official launch. Let’s take a quick look at the box before we check out what’s inside!

Read more : Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : What’s Inside The Box!

Once you fully unbox the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, this is what you will find inside:

• the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone
• a Quick Start Guide in two languages, and a warranty card
• a USB Type C to USB Type C data and charging cable
• a SIM tray extraction pin

That’s it! While the Galaxy S24 Ultra supports 45 watt fast charging, it does not come with the charger. You will need to purchase it separately. Neither does it come with a TPU bumper case to tide you over until you get a better one.

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Key Features

 

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Key Features

Now, let us go through its key features, and show you why the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is worthy of our Editor’s Choice Award!

Boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Performance!

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered exclusively by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in all regions of the world. It comes with a slightly overclocked prime core.

• 1 x Arm Cortex-X4 core (3.39 GHz, instead of 3.3 GHz)
• 3 x Arm Cortex-A720 cores
• 2 x Arm Cortex-A720 cores
• 2 x Arm Cortex-A520 cores

This mobile SoC also comes with the Qualcomm Adreno 750 GPU which supports ray-tracing, an improved Hexagon NPU, and the Snapdragon X75 5G modem that supports Sub-6Ghz and mmWave connectivity.

Improved Cooling

To ensure that the processor remains cool, the Galaxy S24 Ultra sports a 90% larger vapour chamber. This should allow it to better sustain peak performance during intense gaming sessions or AI photo / video editing,

Read more : Samsung Galaxy S24 Models + Specifications Compared!

200 MP Main Camera

The Galaxy S24 Ultra sports the same 200 MP Adaptive Pixel main camera, which was first introduced in last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra.

It is built around the Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, which is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S24 Ultra camera can combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can also record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.

50 MP Telephoto Camera

The main camera upgrade in the Galaxy S24 Ultra is its new 50 MP telephoto camera, with a 5X optical zoom. It is said to be built around the Sony IMX854 sensor, which is a 1/2.52″ sensor with 0.7 μm pixels.

While its optical zoom reach has halved from 10X, a combination of its higher resolution sensor, and deep learning AI algorithms, allow Samsung to deliver better digital zoom. This new zoom camera also has the advantage of a wider f/3.4 aperture (compared to just f/4.9), which should improve its low-light performance.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra reuses the same 3X zoom and 12 MP ultra-wide angle cameras from the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

12 MP Selfie Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also reuses the Galaxy S23 Ultra‘s 12 MP camera, with the same f/2.2 aperture. This is a Dual Pixel camera, which allows for faster and more accurate auto-focus.

SIM Tray Without SD Card Slot

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra supports two physical SIM cards, as well as a single eSIM. The SIM tray is located at the bottom, next to the USB port.

S Pen

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with the same S Pen as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It too boasts a very quick 2.8 ms latency.

We tried swapping them and both S Pens appear to fit both devices. From what we can tell – they are physically and functionally similar, if not exactly the same.

USB Type C Port

At the bottom of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, you will find a SIM card tray, next to the USB port, as well as the S Pen in its slot. The USB port is, of course, the bidirectional Type C port, which is now the EU standard.

Read more : EU Orders All Brands To Use USB-C, Including Apple!

Corning Gorilla Armour

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is protected in the front by Corning Gorilla Armour glass, which is not only tougher against scratches, but also reduces reflection by up to 75%.

Titanium Frame

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the first Samsung smartphone to feature a titanium frame, which is not only tougher, but also allows for a thinner chassis.

5,000 mAh Fast-Charging Battery

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, which supports 45 watt fast wired charging, and 15 watt fast wireless charging.

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Battery + Charging

 

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Battery Life Comparison!

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh battery, which has held steady for the last few generations – S23 Ultra, S22 Ultra and S21 Ultra.

To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, to fix the brightness level and make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.

We also set its display brightness to 50%, which is slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day.

We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with the Standard and Adaptive refresh rates :

Look at that! The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra lasted almost 14 hours with the Adaptive refresh mode enabled, and lasted almost 16.5 hours with the Standard refresh mode!

This is a 6-7% improvement in battery life over last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra – approximately an extra hour of battery life, at the same battery capacity. Very nice!

Now, let’s compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the Z Flip5, the S23 Ultra, and the S22 Ultra smartphones.

Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra naturally has the best battery life with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz (Standard) – lasting just under 16.5 hours.

Even though it runs on powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is more power-efficient than Samsung’s older flagship devices like the Z Flip5, the S23 Ultra, and the S22 Ultra.

Work 3.0	S24 Ultra	S23 Ultra	S22 Ultra	Z Flip 5
Battery Capacity	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	3,700 mAh
Battery Life	16 hrs 25 mins	15 hrs 18 mins	14 hrs 15 mins	11 hrs 4 mins
Utilisation per min.	4.06 mAh	4.36 mAh	4.68 mAh	4.46 mAh

Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s Adaptive refresh rate is so efficient, it lasts almost 14 hours. Even so, the higher refresh rate uses a significant amount of power.

Even with the same battery capacity and similar Adaptive Mode enabled, the Galaxy S24 Ultra uses 6% less power than the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and 23% less power than the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Work 3.0	S24 Ultra	S23 Ultra	S22 Ultra	Z Flip 5
Battery Capacity	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	3,700 mAh
Battery Life	13 hrs 49 mins	13 hrs 0 mins	10 hrs 38 mins	9 hrs 9 mins
Utilisation per min.	4.83 mAh	5.13 mAh	6.27 mAh	5.39 mAh

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Battery Recharging Speed!

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra supports up to 45 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.

So we tested it using the standard 15 watt and 25 watt Samsung fast chargers that shipped with their previous smartphones, which is what we believe most users will end up doing.

	S22 Ultra	S24 Ultra	S23 Ultra	S24 Ultra	Z Flip 5	Z Flip 5
Battery Capacity	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	5,000 mAh	3,700 mAh	3,700 mAh
Charger Output	15 watts	25 watts	15 watts	15 watts	25 watts	15 watts
Charging Time	64.5 min	68 min	88.8 min	106.5 min	105 min	129.5 min
Charging Speed (per minute)	62.0 mAh	58.8 mAh	45.0 mAh	37.6 mAh	28.2 mAh	22.9 mAh

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra charges really fast with a 15 watt charger, and even faster with a 25 watt charger. It basically needs just over 1.75 hours to fully recharge with a 15 watt charger, and just over one hour with a 25 watt charger.

This gives us a battery life to recharging time ratio of about 7.8:1 (15 watt), or 12.2:1 (25 watt), which is good. You basically get about an hour’s worth of battery life for every 8 minutes you recharge at 15 watts, or 5 minutes at 25 watts.

If you prefer to get faster charging, you should purchase the optional 25 watt USB-C super fast charger. It will cut your charging time by a considerable 38.5 minutes for a full recharge:

• Buy in US : Charger only | Charger + cable
• Buy in UK : Charger + cable | Charger + cable
• Buy in SG : Charger only | Charger only | Charger only
• Buy in MY : Charger only | Charger only | Charger only

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Performance

 

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Performance Summary

There is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offers top-notch performance, thanks to its use of a slightly overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, and a 90% larger vapour chamber.

It shows in the benchmarks – the Galaxy S24 Ultra topped all of the benchmarks, except for work performance. It is particularly strong in 3D graphics and ray tracing performance. With gaming performance like this, dedicated gaming smartphones seem rather pointless.

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Work Performance

We first tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.

Work 3.0	S23 Ultra	S24 Ultra	Z Flip 5	Z Flip 4	S23 FE
Mobile Platform	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8 Gen 3	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8+ Gen 1	Exynos 2200
Performance Score	16408	14931	14655	14429	13971
Web Browsing	15680	11663	11404	12097	11664
Video Editing	7879	6474	7943	7387	7369
Writing	22257	20333	19525	17593	18138
Photo Editing	35533	34350	324420	31762	27060
Data Manipulation	12171	14070	11788	12523	12616

Interestingly, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 was much slower than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 used in last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra, and just barely faster than the SD 8 Gen 2 used in the Galaxy Z Flip5.

I should point out that these are peak performance results. The truth is – you won’t be able to actually tell the difference between all these flagship-class mobile processors in normal usage. They are all really fast.

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Storage Performance

PCMark also has an Android Storage 2.0 benchmark that measures the smartphone’s storage I/O performance.

Storage 2.0	Z Flip 5	S23 Ultra	S24 Ultra	S23 FE	Z Flip 4
Mobile Platform	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 9 Gen 3	Exynos 2200	SD 8+ Gen 1
Storage Score	48435	41647	33005	31839	27271
Sequential Read (MB/s)	2676.53	2592.42	2907.37	1584.66	1350.51
Random Read (MB/s)	49.95	38.25	60.98	31.25	33.94
Sequential Write (MB/s)	2631.38	603.29	3084.95	510.16	256.81
Random Write (MB/s)	76.66	81.44	106.34	81.13	50.29

Samsung appeared to be using faster flash storage in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, its overall storage score was lower than the S23 Ultra and Z Flip5, due to much slower database read and write speeds.

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Gaming Performance

For gaming, we tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra using 3DMark, with these results :

3DMark	S24 Ultra	S23 Ultra	Z Flip 5	Z Flip 4	S23 FE
Mobile Platform	SD 8 Gen 3	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8+ Gen 1	Exynos 2200
Solar Bay Unlimited	8576	NA	5481	NA	4570
Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	5020	3814	3705	2636	2233
Wild Life Unlimited	20534	14554	14823	11144	8671
Sling Shot Extreme Unlimited	19653	13904	13558	6912	9484
Sling Shot Unlimited	22656	16344	16661	10690	11348

Where the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra really shines is in its gaming performance. Its Adreno 750 GPU not only supports ray tracing, it does a fantastic job of delivering top-notch 3D graphics performance.

Not only does it have a faster GPU, the Samsung S24 Ultra also has a 90% larger vapour chamber that allows it to better sustain peak performance during intense gaming sessions.

Although ray tracing games are far and few in between for now, the new Solar Bay benchmark shows that the Galaxy S24 Ultra delivers 56% better 3D with ray tracing performance than the Galaxy Z Flip5, and 88% better performance. than the Galaxy S23 FE!

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Overall Performance

We then tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra using AnTuTu, yielding these results :

AnTuTu	S24 Ultra	S23 Ultra	Z Flip 5	S23 FE	Z Flip 4
Device	SD 8 Gen 3	SD 8 Gen 2	SD 8 Gen 2	Exynos 2200	SD 8+ Gen 1
AnTuTu Score	1826776	1212174	1187296	1166868	856357
CPU	456400	261886	393404	329078	205939
GPU	682555	538823	282780	425455	362669
Memory	380519	236163	291048	193981	135707
UX	307302	175302	220064	218354	152042

Will you look at that? The AnTuTu benchmark shows that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a solid 50% faster than the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 5 – both powered by last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Very nice!

But note that its temperature jumped by almost 12°C! At peak performance, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can get really toasty!

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Camera Performance

 

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Camera Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra boasts a super-high resolution 200 MP main camera, built around the ISOCELL HP2 sensor. This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size.

This 200 MP camera can combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance. It can also record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps in the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.

Here are some photo samples I took using the 200 MP main camera in its standard 12 MP mode, at 4000 x 3000 pixels. Its standard JPEG file size is between 4 MB and 8 MB, but to save space, I highly recommend that you enable HEIF – the High Efficiency Image Format, to halve the amount of storage space required for each photo.

By default, the 200 MP camera takes 12 MP photos, combining sixteen pixels into one super-large pixel. Coupled with the improved lens and wider aperture, the final photos are not only much brighter, but have significantly lower noise.

Of course, the 200 MP capability is not there for marketing purposes. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra can truly take 200 MP photos, with a resolution of 16,320 pixels x 12,240 pixels, with each file at about 13-15 MB!

Instead of using the new 50 MP telephoto camera, you can use faraway shots at night using the 200 MP mode, to take advantage of its wide f/1.7 aperture. Then you zoom in, and crop out the section of the photo you want.

Take a look at this 200 MP photo that I took at the Marina Bay Sands using last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra. From that single photo, I could zoom in to make out individuals within the dome-shaped Apple Store hundreds of metres away – all unbeknownst that they were being captured on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at night!

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Camera Performance Summary

If you want the best smartphone cameras for photo and video money can buy, you should definitely consider the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Please ignore the 200 MP marketing spiel. In everyday use, it has pretty limited use cases – best used for taking night shots of distance objects IMHO. 99.9% of the time, you are not going to be using this camera in its 200 MP mode.

What you are really getting is an awesome 12 MP camera with super-large pixels for really great noise-free images, and better low-light photos. Just look at the photo samples – everything looks much better when taken with this camera!

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Summary + Award

 

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Summary + Award

It is getting really tough for Samsung to introduce radical improvements in its flagship smartphones. So it’s not surprising that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is an evolutionary upgrade of the excellent Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Samsung didn’t even bother to hide that, reusing the same design almost to the millimetre! It even reused the same S Pen from last year. Its improvements were almost entirely internal.

Its display, for example, is the “same” as the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display on paper. But it is brighter and offers improved power efficiency. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor not only offers really excellent performance, it is also more power-efficient, which helps to significantly improve its battery life.

Even though it comes with the same battery capacity as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the new Galaxy S24 Ultra boasts 6%-7% longer battery life! That’s an extra hour of battery life on average!

Aside from its Galaxy AI features (which will filter down to older models), the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a new 50 MP telephoto camera. While its optical zoom has been halved, its higher resolution sensor and deep-learning AI algorithms allow you to take better quality photos with digital zoom. It also offers better low-light performance, thanks to its wider aperture.

This builds upon Samsung’s legacy of offering the very best photographic and video recording capabilities in its flagship Galaxy S-series, especially when it comes to low-light photography. If you really love photography, and especially like taking photos at night, or in low-light conditions, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will surely impress you.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is even tougher this year. It is protected by a Titanium frame for the first time, as well as the new Gorilla Armour glass in the front. As a bonus, Gorilla Armour really is less reflective.

For these reasons, we gladly award the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra our Editor’s Choice Award! Great work, Samsung!

 

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : Price + Colour Options

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is available in four main colours:

• Titanium Black
• Titanium Gray
• Titanium Violet, and
• Titanium Yellow

Here are the official launch prices for the three available storage capacities:

• 256 GB : US$1,299.99 | £1,249 | A$2,199 | S$1,928 | RM6,299
• 512 GB : US$1,419.99 | £1,349 | A$2,399 | S$2,128 | RM6,799
• 1 TB : US$1,659 | £1,549 | A$2,799 | S$2,428 | RM7,799

Recommended : Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Unboxing : What’s Inside?

 

 

Recommended Reading

• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Battery Life + Charging Review!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (SD8 Gen 3) Performance Review!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Series : All Colour Options Compared!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra : All 4 Colours Compared!
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Models + Specifications Compared!

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