The Galaxy S24 Ultra is undeniably the standout in Samsung’s new flagship line-up, with plenty of new features that keep it relevant, despite being so familiar. It’s still the most expensive in the line-up, starting at Rs 1,29,999, but still only the second phone in India to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The other two S24 variants come with the Exynos 2400 in India this time. Cameras remain instrumental, and this is what sets it apart in the market. But trust me, that’s not the only major take away this year — Galaxy AI is being pitched as the true differentiator.
The Magic of AI, in the palm of your hands
It almost feels as if folks at Samsung had a roundtable conference after ChatGPT went viral and said – “yo, can we make a phone which runs like that”? Samsung has taken everything a step further by just casually integrating AI elements not just in their apps, but in their user interface (UI) as well.
If you thought Pixel was an ‘AI-first phone’, then this is the ‘first AI phone’.
AI has always been a part of smartphones, but now Samsung will be executing these tricks directly on the phone in a much more in your-face sort of way. Complicated? Let me help you understand.
Most of the AI features in the Galaxy AI circle around the holy trinity of photography, language, and productivity — and all of these are fun to use. But, more importantly, it makes the life of the end user simpler. Here are a few of them:
- Circle to Google search: This is a very simple, but effective feature. After long pressing the home button, you can just circle a certain text or image. Say, you want to check out the latest cleats Jude Bellingham is wearing, just circle the boots and a Google search will come up with a bunch of results. What’s so special about this feature, you ask? Previously, for this exact thing to work, you had to take a screenshot and then switch to Google Lens — all that extra legwork is no longer needed.
- Live Translate: The Galaxy AI can simply help you translate different languages in real-time, which is just crazy if you think about it. This works on calls, by translating what the other person is saying in your preferred language. The Samsung Message app can also now translate texts in real-time as well.
- Notes: The Samsung Notes app will now summarise all the notes you wrote down during the meeting. It will also organise all the jumbled-up scribbled notes in a very neat manner. The Notes app will also check for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, which is a bonus.
- Generative Edit: Whatever the Google Pixel 8 series could do, the Galaxy S24 series can do it better, and faster. The gallery app allows you to colourise, remaster, and erase objects, shadows, and reflections from your photo within seconds. You can also add a blur effect or move your subject around. It also gives you a before and after preview, just in case you want to change your mind. All these features work well, and roughly take up to ten seconds to process.
- AI Slow Motion: The Galaxy AI can slow down any footage, even if extra frames are not available at their disposal. The AI will generate the frames for the video. This does not cause any kind of jitter but is rather smooth. A simple long press on the video adds this effect and it’s quite seamless.
There are more things to unravel on the Galaxy AI side, but with the limited time I had with these devices, these were the features I could try. Wait for a deeper dive in our full review of the Galaxy S24.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra First Impressions: Design and build quality
With the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung takes durability to the next level. It follows in the footsteps of the iPhone 15 Pro series by using titanium for its frames — making it more durable than the armour aluminium used last year. The change in materials hasn’t caused any major weight reduction. It still weighs 232 grams with the dimensions mostly remaining the same.
The overall design approach hasn’t deviated much from last year, but it now has an even boxier design with steeply curved edges — giving it a better ergonomic feel than before. The buttons and port placements remain the same. Don’t get me wrong, this phone is still humongous, but slightly easier to hold.
The Titanium Black and Gray are the subtle colours in the Galaxy S24 Ultra lineup, but that Violet variant looks something different. You also get some online exclusive colours.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra First Impressions: Display
At a time, when almost all the phones are launching with a curved display, Samsung takes the other route. The S24 Ultra comes with a near-flat display this, which is part of the reason the phone has a boxy design.
Why has Samsung made the Ultra flagship flat?
Well, display helps them keep the phone on the thinner side and also provides a better S Pen experience.
Fun-fact: The last time a Galaxy S-Ultra or Note device had a flat panel was back in 2015, in the Galaxy Note 5.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display still has the same display dimensions as the S23 Ultra, but the resolution and brightness get a bump.
So, it spans 6.8 inches, has QHD+ resolution (3120×1440) and a peak brightness of 2600 nits, just like its younger siblings. The refresh rate of the panel also ranges from 1Hz to 120Hz, to save battery. Samsung has managed to slim down the bezels here as well.
Adding on to the “most durable Galaxy” tag, the S24 Ultra features a layer of Corning Gorilla Armor glass. This is said to be less reflective and more resistant to scratches. You also get an S Pen that sits snug at the bottom of the phone — there are no changes here.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra First Impressions: Cameras
The camera on Samsung’s last flagship was already one of the best in the business, but somehow Galaxy S24 Ultra has managed to find a way to sell it as new. We now have a 50-megapixel sensor sitting underneath a telephoto lens, which offers 5x optical zoom. While it can still zoom to 10x, it won’t be done optically.
Samsung claims that these shots will be of a similar quality — we’ll be testing these soon. The option to digitally zoom up to 100x is still here.
The rest of Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera module remains largely the same. You get a 200-megapixel primary camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera, and the above-mentioned upgrade. At the front, you get a 12-megapixel shooter for selfies.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra First Impressions: Hardware
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the only one in the Galaxy S24 series that is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Just like last time, Samsung gets a tailor-made version of the chipset, which plays to its advantage for AI-related workloads. The phone also gets a large vapour chamber cooling, as Samsung pushes the Ultra towards gamers with ray-tracing, and more.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options, with 12GB of RAM being constant in all the variants.
The phone is backed by a 5,000mAh battery, similar to last year. My screen on time with the iQOO 12 (also comes with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) has been quite impressive, and if the optimisation by Samsung is done right, the battery should be of no concern.
The charging situation, on the other hand, might be. The wired charging wattage at 45W remains unchanged from Galaxy S23 Ultra. You do get wireless charging support here as well.
The S24 Ultra also runs on One UI 6.1 based on Android 14. It has received some notable visual revamp, we have covered it in the S24 and S24 Plus first impressions piece. The S24 Ultra is also eligible for seven-year software support.
Initial thoughts
The S24 Ultra, with its all-new AI-driven UI, has done one of the most difficult things a flagship of this stature can do – remain relevant while being familiar, and more importantly, be even more influential than before.
This also further paves the way for more AI smartphones, which is inevitable. The new cameras, performance and design changes are subtle, but always welcome. We’ll be further testing the AI capabilities and cameras of the S24 Ultra for our full review, coming soon. Stay tuned.
