The perennial leader-of-the-pack among Android flagships delivers upgrades in all the right places for 2024.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra brings a surprising number of excellent new features to a product line that was already among the cream of the crop in smartphones. And if you’re coming from a phone that is at least two years old, the S24 Ultra will feel like a superphone.
With its new best-in-class anti-reflective display with 2,600-nits of brightness, the S24 Ultra is a joy to look at and use all day long. The camera system is more versatile than ever and has modes for nearly every possible shot you could want. And the AI features, especially Circle to Search and Live Translation, make those tasks smoother and more frictionless.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Display
6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x (1440 x 3120) with 2,600 nits of brightness
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
RAM/Storage
12GB with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Camera
200MP f/1.7 wide, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto (3x), 50 MP periscope telephoto, and 12MP front
Battery
5,000mAh with 45W wired/15W wireless charging
Durability
IP68, Gorilla Armor, titanium frame
Colors
Gray, Black, Violet,
I used the S24 Ultra as my work phone for a full two weeks, running on a Google Fi SIM card. It went with me on two trips. I took photos at night, in the rain, in the snow, in various sunlight conditions, and in lots of indoor settings. I used it as a mobile hotspot extensively while I was traveling. I used it as my primary camera during the MIT Reality Hack event. I tracked my daily usage using the Digital Wellbeing app, my daily data consumption using the Google Fi app, and my daily battery drain using the Settings app.
New anti-reflective, anti-scratch screen and brighter display — Never under-estimate the value of improving the display of a smartphone for enhancing the overall pleasure of using the device every day. To be clear, the Galaxy S Ultra line has always had excellent screens because Samsung’s sister company Samsung Display is one of the world’s leading display makers and so Samsung phones always have access to the latest technologies.
But this year is the biggest leap I’ve ever seen year-to-year in the display for a flagship Samsung phone. And not just about the quality of the image on the display itself, although that’s better with a peak brightness that has jumped from 1,750 nits to 2,600 nits, smoother movements and animations, strong color accuracy and vibrance, and excellent performance outdoors in full sunlight.
Even more impressive is the new anti-reflective, anti-scratch glass that Corning calls « Gorilla Armor. » The anti-reflective properties actually reminded me of Samsung’s S95D OLED TV from CES 2024, which features a very impressive anti-glare screen that doesn’t lose any of its vibrance. The same can be said for the S24 Ultra, and that makes its screen more enjoyable to use than the iPhone 15 Pro Max and other flagship phones.
The new display on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has 2,600 nits of peak brightness.
Then there’s the anti-scratch properties. When I was reviewing the iPhone 15 Pro Max, I had it outside of a case for 30 minutes when I first received the review unit and it got a scratch on the screen that hasn’t gone away. I used the S24 Ultra without a case for three days and it didn’t get the tiniest speck on it. I’ve since used it extensively and there’s still not even the slightest hint of a scratch anywhere on the screen.
