Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Everything you need to know!

Well it’s here, it’s big, and it’s looking plenty powerful. As the most premium (read: expensive) variant of the S24 line, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has some pretty big shoes to fill. Fortunately, based on what we saw from the Galaxy Unpacked presentation, we think it’s in a pretty good spot to do so.

But first, what exactly do you get when springing for Samsung’s most premium slate this year? Quite a number of things actually:

Comparison with the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra:

To start this rundown of features, here’s how the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra stacks up compared to its immediate predecessor:

Design and Materials

First off, the build. The Galaxy S24 Ultra follows the iPhone 15 Pros in sporting a titanium frame instead of the usual Armor Aluminum they’ve used in previous phones. Right away, it didn’t seem like it was done to make the phone lighter though, ala Apple. The S24 Ultra reportedly still weighs the same as the S23 Ultra, sitting at a rather hefty 232g.

That’s not all the Galaxy S24 Ultra is packing for durability though. The smartphone has also been equipped with Corning’s latest ‘Gorilla Armor’, giving it better toughness and scratch resistance for drops and day-to-day use.

Another big change they made is that the S24 Ultra has ditched the curved edges from the Galaxy Note days, opting instead for a flat, 6.8-inch Quad HD+ display. And yes, it still sports Samsung’s LTPO AMOLED complete with variable refresh rates of up to 120Hz.

Unlike Apple though, Samsung has opted to add a pop of color in their titanium-equipped flagships. You can get the phone in Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet, and a bright Titanium Yellow from most retailers and Titanium Blue, Titanium Green, and Titanium Orange online, directly from Samsung.

Cameras

The Galaxy S24 Ultra sports almost the same cameras as its predecessor…with the exception of one lens. The S24 Ultra trades its old 10x Optical Zoom periscope telephoto for…a 5x optical periscope telephoto? Isn’t that a downgrade? Not quite.

While the optical zoom is now smaller at 5x, the overall camera has been boosted to a 50 MP periscope telephoto; up from the 10 MP from the S23 Ultra. This change is apparently taken by getting the average between its 10x and 3x zoom, resulting in the most optimal configuration.

Samsung’s also touting its improved “ProVisual Engine”, which powers these cameras. Improvements in the engine also helps improve its Nightography features and space zoom capabilities, giving it better low-light performance.

And yes, Samsung’s AI does play a big role in camera performance too. Its NPU promises better post-processing in pictures as well as a suite of convenient tools like a Magic Editor for tweaking the details of your photo.

Note that any pictures you edit or generate with AI will have a small watermark showing this, as well as an indicator in the metadata, which Samsung hopes will help alleviate any concerns about using these emerging technologies.

Performance and Gaming

Alright, let’s talk about performance now. Unlike its smaller S24 and S24+ siblings, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in all regions. So no worries there if you’re the type who’s very peculiar about the chip powering your smartphone.

And yes, it uses a custom version of the chip, which just means it’s sporting a slightly higher clock speed than other brands using the same chip.

Samsung promises around a 53% uplift in ray tracing performance in games, courtesy of the upgrades it made to its CPU, GPU, and NPU. This generally results in more realistic shadows and lighting but of course, it will still depend on whether the game supports this lighting technology.

In addition to these chipset enhancements, Samsung has modified its cooling solutions as well, with the S24 line sporting wider vapor chambers for better heat dissipation. Hopefully this means that running intensive games and processing won’t make the phone feel too hot, reducing performance throttling and just the general discomfort when holding a hot device.

If you’re interested in Samsung’s older yet still excellent flagships, you can find the Galaxy S23 Ultra at discounted prices here at Kimstore!

Wi-Fi 7 Compatibility

With AI dominating much of the hype and conversation not just at Galaxy Unpacked but the tech world in general, it’s easy to miss some more general improvements in certain areas. First seen in the newest crop of gaming laptops at CES 2024 was Wi-Fi 7 compatibility.

In a nutshell, Wi-Fi 7 should supposedly deliver faster download and upload speeds by means of having more bandwidth and the ability to bundle connections across different bands. This is generally seen as a big improvement for online multiplayer too, which is why gaming laptops are among the first to have it.

Still, not all places have Wi-Fi 7 routers just yet due to having just launched recently. But once it becomes more widespread in the future, the Galaxy S24 Ultra should be able to utilize it just fine.

In fact, it’s the only S24 phone that is compatible with it. It all boils down to that Snapdragon-Exynos differentiation.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is Wi-Fi 7 compatible, so the S24 Ultra is compatible. However, while customers in regions like the US can get an S24 or S24+ with a Snapdragon chip, the feature appears to have been turned off in order to maintain feature parity with its Exynos brethren.

For those who want to take advantage of this admittedly new connection standard, the S24 Ultra is their only choice right now if they want a new Galaxy device.

So what’s the catch?

So far, so good. But is there a catch to all of these new features and tech the phone is packing? Well, it’s very expensive for one. Price is up by about USD 100 from the S23 Ultra, with the S24 Ultra starting at USD 1,299. That makes it pricier than even the base iPhone 15 Pro Max, making it one of the most expensive smartphones right now.

Still, it’s not the most expensive Galaxy flagship. The Galaxy S20 Ultra for one, launched at a whopping USD 1,399 back in 2020. And of course, the Galaxy Z Fold5 is still a pricier handset by virtue of its fancy folding tech, especially when springing for more storage.

Those who will be upgrading from an older Galaxy flagship could get a discount by trading in their older device as well, when buying from official Samsung outlets. How much of a discount you get ultimately depends on the device you’re trading in.

For now though, we’ll have to wait and see. Price starts at PHP 84,990 here in the Philippines and that should get you the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which should release on February 07, 2024.

Make sure to stay tuned to see further updates on when we’ll be able to get you these latest batch of Samsung flagships. In the meantime, you can browse through our collection of Samsung Galaxy devices at discounted prices here at Kimstore!

For gadgets and electronics, get it at Kimstore!