Itel is renowned for offering budget-friendly smartphones, and with the launch of the Itel S24, the company continues this trend. It stands out with an eye-catching design that changes colour under the sunlight, a chipset that manages everyday tasks reasonably well, and a camera that delivers impressive daylight photos for its price. However, it’s not all roses, the S24 has some shortcomings too.
Itel S24
Rs 10,999
What Is Good?
- Attractive design, colour-changing back panel
- Stereo speakers
- 90Hz display
- Good daylight photography
- Excellent selfies, accurate skin tones
- Good battery life, decent charging speeds
- NFC support
What Is Bad?
- Room for improvement in low-light photography
- Outdoor brightness is too low
- Pre-installed apps
- Not 5G compatible
But does it get everything else right? And can the Itel S24 hold its own against competitors? Let’s find out in my review.
Itel S24 Review: Pricing and Availability in India
The Itel S24 is offered in just one variant. This phone is available for purchase on both Amazon and Flipkart. On Amazon, the price is Rs 10,999. Conversely, on Flipkart, the Itel S24 costs Rs 60 more.
| Variants | Pricing |
| 8GB RAM + 128GB Storage | Rs 10,999 |
Itel S24 Review: Design and Build Quality
The Itel S24 is available in two colours: Dawn White and Starry Black. For this review, I got the Dawn White model. The back panel has a glossy finish, and the camera is designed in a watch-dial shape, giving the phone a premium look. At first glance, it’s hard to believe this phone is priced at just Rs 11,000.
However, the glossy finish does attract fingerprints. If you use this phone while eating food, be prepared for it to pick up turmeric stains. Fortunately, a good gadget cleaner can easily remove these stains.
| Design | Specifications |
| Weight | 192 grams |
| Thickness | 8.3mm |
| IP Rating | IP53 |
| Port and Button Placements | Bottom: Speaker grille, Type-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack
Top: Second speaker grille Left Side: SIM Tray Right Side: Power button — doubles up as fingerprint scanner and volume buttons |
This phone can change colours under sunlight, like a chameleon. It’s not the first time we have seen this on a phone, but it always awes me. When exposed to sunlight, the white colour shifts to baby pink. The device is compact, comfortable, and sleek, making it easy to use without a case. However, the glossy finish may lead to a few slips.
The phone’s right frame features a power button that doubles as a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, along with the volume buttons. The scanner is reliable and works well. The S24 also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a welcome addition.
Overall, considering the price, the Itel S24 looks classy and the dual-colour tone adds a refreshing touch for those who prefer something different from the usual monotone designs.
Itel S24 Review: Display and Audio
The Itel S24 has a 6.56-inch IPS LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate. The phone’s selfie camera has a punch-hole design, avoiding the dated look of a water drop-style notch.
| Display | Specifications |
| Size | 6.56-inch |
| Type | IPS |
| Resolution | 720 x 1612 Pixels |
| Refresh Rate | 90Hz |
| Peak Brightness | Claimed: 480 nits, Tested: 351 nits |
| Minimum Brightness | 03 nits |
The bezels on this phone are generally fine, but the bottom chin is quite prominent. This can be distracting if you prefer a sleek design with minimal bezels. The display performs well indoors, but it’s less impressive under direct sunlight. I often had to shield the screen from the sun to see it clearly, and even then, the brightness seemed inadequate.
The 90Hz refresh rate is sufficient but falls short compared to the Realme C65, which offers a 120Hz refresh rate and is priced lower. The colours are vibrant and vivid when used indoors, making it ideal for multimedia consumption. This phone supports Widevine L1 on Netflix but lacks HDR capabilities. Having L1 support at this price point is truly impressive. I watched Suits on Netflix, and the quality is really good.
Regarding audio, the Itel S24 has stereo speakers and supports DTS, enhancing the sound quality for a more immersive experience. The audio quality is good, but I did notice the back panel reverberating when playing loud music. That said, the speaker quality is good for content consumption.
Itel S24 Review: Performance and Software
The Itel S24 is equipped with the MediaTek Helio G91 SoC. It has a single configuration with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. In real-world usage, basic tasks such as calling, messaging, and casual browsing are easily handled. However, I noticed minor lags while scrolling through the home page, and the same issue persisted while navigating through Instagram.
These stutters were also prominent when scrolling through Reels, which ruined my experience to the point where I stopped watching it altogether. My daily usage was reflected in synthetic benchmarks as well, the itel S24 comes up with respectable numbers in AnTuTu v10 but falls behind the similarly priced Redmi 13C 5G and Redmi 12 5G. In the CPU throttling test, the Itel S24 maintained 88 per cent of its peak performance, which is commendable.
| Hardware | Specifications |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio G91 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Storage Test | 261924 |
| CPU Throttling Test | 88 per cent of its max performance |
| Software Version | Android 13 |
| Connectivity Details | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2 |
I played Subway Surfers on this phone but couldn’t track the FPS while playing. The experience was smooth with minor lags, which sometimes interfered during gameplay. I also played BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile on this phone. These resource-intensive games take a while to load on this phone. However, considering the price, it’s impressive that we can play such demanding titles. So, let’s appreciate what this device can handle and enjoy the experience.
In BGMI, the device offers Medium graphics and High frame rate settings, with a maximum frame rate of 52fps and occasional drops to 27fps. Although these drops are massive, the gameplay remained moderately smooth overall.
Switching to Call of Duty: Mobile, Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rates were the highest settings available. However, frequent lags and stutters during intense battles forced me to abandon matches. This was expected as the Itel S24 is not built for high-intense gaming.
This device runs on Android 13, which provides features like a Dynamic bar that provides quick access to battery charging details, notifications, charging animation, face unlock, and more.
This phone comes with NFC support, a rarity at this price point. The phone also has i-smart gestures like three-finger screenshot float ball are very intuitive and straightforward, making the UI experience even better. While the pre-installed apps are limited, they are fortunately removable, contributing to a cleaner user experience.
Itel S24 Review: Cameras
The Itel S24 has a 108-megapixel primary camera and an AI lens on the back, along with an 8-megapixel front camera for selfies. The primary camera performs well in daylight, capturing images that closely reflect the natural scene. Although the corners of many photos taken with this phone were often noisy and grainy, given the price of Rs 10,999, it’s still a reasonable value.
Colours are generally true to life and consistent under good lighting conditions. However, in portrait mode, cheeks and chins often appear overly red in daylight. Overall, this phone produces photos with a pleasing background blur, and the edge detection has surpassed my expectations by maintaining consistency across different scenarios.
| Camera | Specifications |
| Primary Camera | 108-megapixel, f/1.6 |
| Selfie Camera | 8-megapixel |
| Video Recording Capabilities | Up to 2K at 30fps |
The low-light camera performance of the Itel S24 is average, something you would expect at this price segment. It tends to invite grains and noise around the edges, but the rest of the image is serviceable.
The selfie camera stands out for its quality. It captures photos with highly accurate skin tones, revealing even the smallest details. One impressive aspect is that the front camera doesn’t artificially smooth the skin, preserving natural textures. The camera app conveniently includes various filters for those interested in social-media-ready shots.
Itel S24 Review: Battery and Charging
The Itel S24 features a 5000mAh battery and includes an 18W charging adapter in the box. It charges from zero to 31 per cent in 30 minutes, while reaching a full charge takes 1 hour and 52 minutes, which is relatively long. Still, this is reasonable for a smartphone in this price category.
| Battery Capacity | 5000mAh |
| Charging Adapter | Supports 18W, adapter in the box |
| Charging Time | 1 hour 52 minutes |
| PCMark Battery Test | 13 hours 12 minutes |
In the PCMark Battery Test, the phone lasted 13 hours and 12 minutes, which is good. I used this phone throughout the entire day without needing to charge it again. My usage ranged from light to moderate, like playing games, taking pictures around my neighbourhood, watching videos on YouTube, and social media. For casual users like me, the battery life is excellent.
However, if you frequently engage in gaming or heavy multimedia consumption, you can expect the phone to last around eight to nine hours before needing a recharge.
Itel S24 Review: Verdict
The Itel S24 boasts impressive battery life, a good display, and a premium design with colour-changing capabilities that might entice the youth of today. However, there’s room for improvement in low-light photography. Yet, considering its price segment, the phone still offers interesting features.
It’s worth mentioning that it doesn’t have any 5G capabilities, if this is something that you need, consider counterparts such as the Realme C65 5G, Redmi 12 5G and the Redmi 13C 5G. That said, the Itel S24 is a great option if you are looking for a secondary smartphone with reliable battery life.
The Itel S24 aims to establish itself in the sub-15K price segment. The real question is: are you willing to invest more for additional features, or are you content to compromise on certain aspects?
