Samsung has finally debuted the Galaxy S24 series at an event held in San Francisco and out of the trio, the Galaxy S24+ and the Galaxy S24 Ultra pack the most high end hardware the lineup has to offer. So which one should you go for out of the two? Let’s find out.
Design & Display
Design is usually a subjective matter where one person may like a design language while the other person won’t. While comparing the Galaxy S24+ and the S24 Ultra, you can notice that they differ a lot in terms of design. While the Ultra houses the S-Pen and has a boxy form factor with flat display and rear panel, the Galaxy S24+ has curved corners with a completely flat frame that is easier to grip and use with one hand.
Both the handsets are IP68 rated as well. The Ultra gives you a lighter and stronger titanium build while the Plus model retains the Armour Aluminium frame from its predecessors. Overall, if you like the shape of the Plus model better, then go for it but if the S-Pen matters to you a lot along with the Titanium frame, then you have no other option apart from the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
As for the display, both of them have slight variations, where the Ultra packs the 6.8-inch QHD+ panel while the Galaxy S24+ gets a marginally smaller 6.7-inch panel with the same display specs as the Ultra including the resolution, refresh rate, and 2600 nits peak brightness. Once again, it’s the shape which comes into play, where the Ultra has sharp corners while the Plus model has rounded ones. Based on the look, it’s up to you as to which one you’d prefer.
Performance
The Galaxy S24+ and the Galaxy S24 Ultra run on the same Chipset in some regions, and that’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. However, the rest of the world gets the Exynos 2400 SoC from Samsung and the brand hasn’t exactly had a successful past with the Exynos processors. While we won’t judge it as of now, we would still prefer the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 powered model considering we have seen how nicely the chipset performs in other flagships and what it’s capable of.
The 12 gigs of RAM and 128GB and 512GB storage options remain the same on the two devices, with exception for one variant for the Galaxy S24 Ultra which has 1TB storage. That particular configuration isn’t available for the Galaxy S24+. The software experience, including Galaxy AI, will remain identical on the two phones and both of them are slated to receive the same amount of updates. Only the S-Pen specific features will be limited to the S24 Ultra.
Cameras
Cameras is the department where the S24 Ultra takes a leap ahead of the S24+. The S24 Ultra gets a quad-camera setup at the rear, including a 200 MP primary wide camera with dual pixel AF, f/1.7 aperture, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, a 50MP telephoto camera with 5x Optical Zoom support, OIS, f/3.4 Aperture and a 10MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom support, OIS and f/2.4 aperture. In addition, there’s a 12MP front sensor with an f/2.2 aperture for selfies and video calls.
Optics include a 50MP primary wide camera with f/1.8 aperture, multi-directional PDAF and OIS. Then there’s a 10MP telephoto sensor with 3x Optical Zoom support, an f/2.4 aperture, OIS, PDAF and a 12MP ultra-wide sensor with an f/2.2 Aperture and 120-degree FoV. Next, it has a 12MP f/2.2 front-facing camera.
The S24 Ultra clearly has a better set of Sensors at the rear that offer you more freedom to take better shots in various lighting conditions, and especially clearer zoomed photos, thanks to the extra 50MP telephoto sensor. While the S24+ won’t disappoint you either with its cameras, the S24 Ultra still has an EDGE over its sibling when it comes to optics.
Battery Life & Additional Features
The Galaxy S24+ gets a 4900mAh battery with 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging while the Ultra has a slightly bigger 5000mAh battery with the same wired and wireless charging speeds. Both of them should give you similar battery backup in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 models with Ultra being slightly ahead. We cannot comment on how the Exynos 2400-powered model of the Galaxy S24+ would perform.
Additional features on both the devices include Dolby Atmos powered dual speakers and IP68 dust & water resistance. Connectivity options on the device include UWB support and Wi-Fi 6E (7 on Ultra), 5G, LTE, NFC, Bluetooth v5.3 and Wi-Fi Direct. They also have an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner.
Verdict
The Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S24+ are both beasts of smartphones. They offer everything you’d need from a flagship. However, if you can give up on the S-Pen as well as the superior cameras, the Galaxy S24+ is the one to go for because of its lower price and how close it comes to the Ultra in terms of the overall value it offers.
