Samsung Galaxy S24 Review
The Samsung Galaxy S24 offers incremental upgrades from its predecessor – the Galaxy S23 – without revolutionary changes. The brighter, larger LTPO 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and Armor Aluminum 2 frame with a matte finish are notable improvements. One UI 6.1 enhances functionality, alongside the Galaxy AI features, though still evolving. Seven years of software support is a strong selling point as well. The Exynos 2400 chipset, while closer to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in performance than ever before, faces throttling and heat management challenges. The S24 remains a compact flagship, appealing to those seeking a smaller device and Samsung’s latest technology. However, for those seeking alternatives or dissatisfied with Exynos, exploring other options might be wise until pricing stabilises.
Last month, Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy S24 series with a primary focus on integrating AI smarts into its 2024 flagship offerings. In a landscape where AI has taken centre stage, Samsung’s approach isn’t merely a passing trend but rather a genuinely practical enhancement. The device’s AI-driven features are far from being gimmicks. While improvements and enhancements are needed, some of these AI features do feel like they could become game-changers as the technology evolves. Additionally, Samsung’s One UI has matured, further enhancing the user experience. The Samsung Galaxy S24 undoubtedly shines in 2024, particularly for users upgrading from devices several generations old.
For those less interested in AI and for those who possess a fairly recent Samsung flagship phone, the hardware remains largely unchanged. So, is it still worth your money? Let’s delve right into it.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 stands out as a premium and classy compact smartphone in an era where such form factors are becoming increasingly rare. Despite sharing similarities with its predecessor – the Samsung Galaxy S23 (review) – such as its sleek flat display and triple-lens camera module, the S24 brings some notable improvements to the table.
The Galaxy S24 has the same dimensions as its predecessor but still manages to incorporate a larger display thanks to the bezels getting narrower this time around. The design refresh also features a flat matte aluminium frame that feels luxurious; and very iPhone-esque, might we add. There are slight contours in the shape though which makes it pretty comfortable to hold. Plus, the S24 is super lightweight at just 167 g!
As for the rear panel, the Samsung Galaxy S24 is available in multiple colourways – Amber Yellow, Cobalt Violet, and Onyx Black are available on e-commerce platforms and the Samsung website, while the Sapphire Blue and Jade Green colours are exclusive on the Samsung website.
The Amber Yellow unit we got for review has a very pastel, muted yellow tone. It is nowhere near as vibrant as the colour tone shown on Samsung’s own website, but I would say the understated nature of these colours looks very classy. The matte rear panel resists fingerprints, but it is quite slippery, so err on the side of caution and use it with a nice and grippy case.
Samsung has also made improvements to the S24’s build quality, incorporating an Armour Aluminium 2 frame for enhanced drop and scratch resistance. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protects both the display and rear panel, while IP68 dust and water resistance ensures durability. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is faster than I’ve ever experienced on a Samsung device before, although it may have trouble working with tempered glass screen protectors.
Samsung has fitted a larger 6.2-inch display in the same footprint as the S23 this time around. You get a Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with Full HD+ resolution and 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate support. There’s also HDR10+ support, but no Dolby Vision yet. One notable upgrade in the display department is the improved brightness – the new display is now rated for 2,600 nits of peak brightness. Using a LUX meter, we measured close to 2,200 nits of peak brightness in the Auto Brightness mode under bright sunlight, which is undoubtedly impressive.
The Galaxy S24’s LTPO panel supports dynamic refresh rate that switches the refresh rate intelligently based on the requirement. I noticed it going as low as 24 Hz and switching to 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 120 Hz based on the app being used at the time. The Always-On display brings the refresh rate down to 24 Hz. Sadly, I did not experience it going down to 1 Hz (through the Android refresh rate overlay) during my usage.
Speaking of the Always On Display (AOD), Samsung has made a change this year. Like the iPhone 15 series, the AOD carries over the lock screen wallpaper and just dims it significantly when the screen is turned off. However, this results in higher battery consumption in comparison to last year, when the AOD wallpapers covered a smaller part of the screen’s real estate.
AOD and refresh rate aside, this is a world-class display with fantastic, vibrant colours (although there’s still no 10-bit support), deep blacks, excellent viewing angles, and sharp details.
Chipset fragmentation on the flagship Samsung smartphones is, unfortunately, back. In India, the Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+ feature Samsung’s own Exynos 2400 SoC while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is reserved for the S24 Ultra. Samsung has maintained that both chipsets have equivalent performance chops, and I put that to the test as soon as I got my hands on the Exynos 2400-powered Galaxy S24. Before I reveal the results, let me throw a few more specifications your way.
The Galaxy S24’s Exynos 2400 chipset is a deca-core (10-core) CPU clocked at a maximum speed of 3.2 GHz. In contrast, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset is an octa-core CPU with a maximum clock speed of 3.39 GHz. The phone comes with 8 or 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256 or 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage, which proved to be plenty fast in benchmarks and real-world tests.
Now, let’s get to the Exyn… ahem… elephant in the room. Does the Exynos 2400 chipset match the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor? I compared the phone to the S24 Ultra with the Snapdragon chipset, a few other Android flagship phones with the latest Snapdragon processor, and of course, the iPhone 15.
In CPU benchmarks such as AnTuTu, there is a marginal difference. The S24 scores more than 1.6 million but flagships such as the OnePlus 12, iQOO 12, and the S24 Ultra do pull ahead. The S24 Ultra has an approximately 10 per cent higher score than the S24 in AnTuTu. In GeekBench, the only flagship the S24 could beat was the OnePlus 12. Other phones with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 pulled ahead, but strangely the OnePlus 12 didn’t. The Samsung Galaxy S24 got a solid score of 17,736 in PCMark Work, meaning it will excel in performing tasks such as working on Excel sheets, editing photos, etc.
In GPU benchmarks, once again the S24 lagged behind the iQOO 12 and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra but it did outperform the OnePlus 12. So, as per benchmarks, there is a performance disparity between the Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 but it is not as pronounced as it used to be the last time we had chipset fragmentation with the Galaxy series in India. There’s only a 7-12 per cent uptick in performance on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 S24 Ultra.
However, where it falters is throttling. In the CPU Throttling Test, the Exynos 2400-powered Galaxy S24 throttled to 58 per cent of its peak performance, meanwhile, the S24 Ultra with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 only throttled to 73 per cent, which is a big difference. The S24 also runs 4-5 degrees (Celsius) hotter than the S24 Ultra, although this also boils down to the fact that the S24 Ultra has a more robust cooling system.
Now, the throttling really comes into play when you’re gaming, video editing, or doing any highly-intensive task on your phone. In day-to-day usage, the phone feels just as smooth as its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 counterpart, with smooth animations and impressive speed. However, fire up a game or two of BGMI and after half an hour or so, you will feel the drop in frame rate. Additionally, after this strenuous session of gaming, the phone continued lagging for 5-10 minutes even when doing basic tasks such as scrolling through the screens or messaging on WhatsApp.
This is where the flagship experience gets away from the Samsung Galaxy S24. It will be interesting to see how this device fares long-term compared to the S24 Ultra with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. So, overall, the Samsung Galaxy S24 is a powerful phone, but it faces the same issue as the Pixel 8 Pro – the chipset is not a complete flagship.
As for software, the Samsung Galaxy S24 features Samsung’s latest One UI 6.1 with Android 14 on top. The software is Samsung’s most refined yet – everything is super clean and polished, animations are the best I’ve experienced on a Samsung device so far, and with Good Lock, there’s no stopping how much you can customise this phone to your liking. The best part is that Samsung is now providing a MASSIVE seven years of OS and security updates, which is excellent.
The Galaxy Unpacked event was all about Galaxy AI – a slew of AI-assisted features present on the Galaxy S24 family of smartphones that attempt to make life easier. While some of these features may still seem more like party tricks than practical aids, there are several standout functionalities that left a lasting impression.
Among these, Circle to Search stands out as a personal favourite. This feature allows users to initiate a Google Search simply by circling the desired item or subject, providing swift access to relevant information.
Chat Assist is another noteworthy addition, offering users the ability to translate text into different languages, correct spelling and grammar errors, and even adjust the tone of the message. While Live Translate during calls appears promising, real-world performance was quite inconsistent, with occasional inaccuracies in translation.
Instant Slow-Motion is a handy feature that allows users to apply slow-motion effects to videos after they’ve been captured, simply by pressing and holding the screen in the gallery.
Samsung’s take on generative AI editing, akin to the Pixel 8 Pro’s capabilities, introduces functionalities such as object manipulation, resizing, and removal. Processing times are lengthy, sure, but the results are generally pretty good, although there are some occasional glitches. Additionally, the ability to straighten photos and fill in backgrounds using generative AI is pretty cool.
So, Galaxy AI, while not perfect, is certainly a right step towards our AI-assisted future. I already can’t wait to check this feature out as the technology gets more robust.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 packs the same set of cameras as its predecessor – no change here. In fact, even the sensor sizes and apertures are the exact same. The phone houses a 50 MP primary camera with OIS, a 10 MP telephoto lens with OIS, and a 12 MP ultrawide shooter. The selfie camera is the same old 12 MP camera as last year.
The photos from the primary camera in daylight come out pretty great; colour, detail retention, and dynamic range are excellent and Samsung gets the white balance right as well. The photos can be quite contrast-heavy at times, but it looks great for social media. The photos also don’t seem as artificially sharpened as before, which is a good thing.
Photos from the 3x telephoto shooter in daylight have similar colour science and look plenty detailed for the most part.
The 12 MP ultrawide camera is also capable of clicking some fantastic images in daylight; the dynamic range is surprisingly good with plenty of detail in the light and dark areas of the photo. Colours also look more natural than they did on the S23 – so the tuning has improved a bit.
As for portraits, both 1x and 3x portrait shots look great in ideal lighting – the edge detection is impressive, skin tones look close to natural, and there’s a good amount of detail as well. However, I did notice that the 3x portrait shots against harsh light come out a bit soft and blurry. Additionally, the highlights aren’t as controlled as one would hope for. In low-light, the disparity between the 1x and 3x portrait shots is more pronounced – detail retention is just not as good on the 3x camera.
As for low-light shots in general, they look pretty decent. The detail retention and colour look good, but there is some level of grain prevalent.
Additionally, in extreme low light, the S24 tends to boost the exposure up a lot which just doesn’t look flattering. Lens flare is also a bit of an issue. Overall, these are powerful cameras – some of the best at this price even now, but they are in serious need of an upgrade since phones such as the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12 are doing such great things with their cameras at a lower price.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 from last year surprised us with its excellent battery life, and the S24 does the exact same thing. Phew! The phone has a bigger 4,000 mAh battery that lasts a good 6-7 hours with the screen turned on with moderate use. I was constantly ending days with at least 20-30 per cent battery left in the tank which is exceptional for a phone this size.
In our 4K video loop test where we play a 4K video on a loop on VLC and check how long it takes for a phone to go from 100-0 per cent battery, the Samsung Galaxy S24 lasted almost a whopping 17 hours! Note that this figure is slightly lower than what we got on the S23 last year, but this is still in the excellent battery range.
The only disappointment is the charging speed which tops at only 25 W. The S24 takes 1 hour and 14 minutes to charge to full, which is laboriously slow in 2024. You do get wireless charging and reverse wireless charging support, as usual, which is good.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 offers incremental upgrades from its predecessor – the Galaxy S23 – without revolutionary changes. The brighter, larger LTPO 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and Armor Aluminum 2 frame with a matte finish are notable improvements. One UI 6.1 enhances functionality, alongside the Galaxy AI features, though still evolving. Seven years of software support is a strong selling point as well. The Exynos 2400 chipset, while closer to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in performance than ever before, faces throttling and heat management challenges.
The S24 remains a compact flagship, appealing to those seeking a smaller device and Samsung’s latest technology. However, for those seeking alternatives or dissatisfied with Exynos, exploring other options might be wise until pricing stabilises. The Galaxy S23 could actually offer better value until then. Not to forget some worthy contenders such as the OnePlus 12, iQOO 12, and Pixel 8 as well.
