Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review

Samsung sold the S24 Ultra on Galaxy AI, and the AI is the least of it. Circle to Search, live call translation and the generative photo editor were genuinely new in January 2024, with Google's model doing the heavy lifting, but what made the phone was the hardware. The display went flat for the first time on an Ultra, and the Gorilla Armor glass cut reflections so far that reading outdoors changed character; at 2600 nits peak it was the brightest panel of its year.

The frame moved to titanium, lighter and stiffer than the S23 Ultra's aluminium. The camera dropped the 10 megapixel 10x periscope for a 50 megapixel 5x, and after a week most reviewers agreed the trade was right: the 5x was sharper at every step up to 10x than the old lens had been at 10x itself, and the 200 megapixel main and the 3x were unchanged. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy went to every market, the 5000 mAh battery gave a long day and a half, and the S Pen stayed in its slot.

Then the commitment that, alongside Google's, reset the industry: seven years of Android upgrades and security patches, through 2031. Faults were small. The display shipped with muted colours until a Vividness slider was added, 45W charging was the same slow figure as before, and $1,299.99 was up $100 on the S23 Ultra. It was the Android phone of 2024 more or less by consensus, and the first Ultra that could argue on build alone.