Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra It's finally here, and on my list best phones You can buy it, it is the best phone overall. On paper, it doesn't seem like a huge improvement over the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and in some ways it even seems like a step backwards. Should you buy last year's Ultra, if the price is right? No! Even if the S23 Ultra falls into your lap for free, I suggest you buy this year's model or wait until you can afford a phone made from now on.
Wait, is the Galaxy S23 Ultra still on sale? Yes, and unfortunately the price doesn't make much sense considering the new product is already here. When the Galaxy S23 Ultra launched in February 2023, it cost $1,199 in the United States. Today at Samsung.com you can buy a new Galaxy S23 Ultra for the low price of… $1,199. Yes, Samsung has not lowered the price at all.
Samsung even offers more value in a trade-in if you buy a Galaxy S24 Ultra instead of an S23 Ultra. I checked the value of a iPhone 14 I traded it in for a new Galaxy Ultra and Samsung offered me $400 if I buy this year's Ultra, but only $325 if I choose the S23 Ultra.
Seven years of Android versus four
Even if you find a deal on a used or refurbished Ultra from last year, I'd still stick with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. First of all, Samsung is only promising four years of Android updates on phones starting in 2023. That's not bad, and probably longer than you'll own the phone, but the latest Galaxy S24 family, including the Ultra, comes with a promise seven years old. Android and security updates.
That's an important, game-changing promise. That could mean a higher resale value when you sell this phone in two years, since its buyer will still have five years of Android updates to enjoy. Samsung's confidence in this phone could also mean more repair options available if you keep this phone for four years and need to replace the battery.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra camera is better and I won't answer questions
Second, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a complete upgrade from the Galaxy S23 Ultra, no matter what the spec sheet says. The biggest point of contention is the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 10X zoom camera, which has been scaled down to just 5X zoom. I tested both cameras side by side and would always choose the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Let's face it, neither phone is a truly great camera for astrophotography, but they get the job done when other smartphone cameras don't come close. Moon photos taken with the Galaxy S23 Ultra look like they were taken through a telescope. They are not professional quality; you will not print them or hang them on the wall. They just look better than you'd expect, because most smartphones can only generate a blurry blob.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra takes an even better photo. Some details are lost but there is much less noise and the new phone shows better colors and dynamic range between light and dark spaces. It's a good trade-off and in almost all scenarios I like the newer camera better.
In fact, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is better in every way
Aside from the cameras, the Galaxy S23 Ultra doesn't even come close to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Although both phones have a battery cell that measures the same 5,000 mAh, we got hours more screen time from the S24 Ultra in our Future Labs battery tests.
In terms of raw power and performance? The Galaxy S23 Ultra was very fast, sure, but not as fast as the iPhone 14 Pro. The Galaxy S24 Ultra beats the fastest iPhone 15 Pro. Nuff said.
I haven't mentioned Galaxy AI's features yet because I don't think they're key to my recommendation, but they could be important in the future. If that happens, you'll want a future-proof phone. The Galaxy S24 Ultra uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, a chipset with a much more powerful neural processing unit (NPU), a specialized processor component that powers so-called artificial intelligence and machine learning functions.
We've already heard rumors from Samsung that older phones would lose AI features when the latest software features roll back to previous generations. The Galaxy S23 Ultra should have foreign language translation and some of the same photo editing features as the new phones, but it won't have all the AI features you'll find on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The list of features the S23 Ultra is missing will grow faster than the list of features Samsung adds.
With these phones priced so close, it's hard to imagine the Galaxy S24 Ultra being a tough choice over the Galaxy S23 Ultra. If you find a big discount or inherit a rich uncle's Galaxy, I'd grab that S23 Ultra and then trade it in for this year's phone.
