Three months on the S24 Ultra. The first Galaxy with AI built in. Most of the AI is hype. Some is useful. Net-net: the best Android phone of 2024[1].
Galaxy AI in practice
Source: My usage stats
Circle to search is the killer feature. 86 uses in three months. Highlight anything on screen, get a search result. I now expect this on every phone.
Photo gen fill is novel and used more than I expected. 38 uses.
Live translate is useful when travelling but not enough at home to count.
Voice recorder summary I have not used once. The interface is hidden.
Camera
The 200MP main is unchanged from S23 Ultra in hardware. The processing is more aggressive on saturation than I would like. Skies are too blue. Foliage is too green. Adjustable in pro mode but the default is over-cooked.
The new 5x telephoto replaces the previous 10x. Most reviewers preferred the old approach. I prefer the new, 5x is more useful for daily shooting, and the digital zoom from 5x to 10x is good enough.
Battery
5000 mAh. PCMark Work 3.0 hits 14.6 hours. AI features running in background drag this 30-60 minutes.
Display
Flat sides, slightly larger 6.8" inner display, smaller bezels. The flat design is a meaningful change from the previous curved screens. I prefer flat for typing. Reviewers are split.
What is not great
Weight at 232g is high. Marginal versus 13 Pro Max but heavy in absolute terms.
The chip is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy. Fast but Apple's A17 Pro is comfortably ahead in single-core for the year.
S Pen is unchanged from S23 Ultra. Still useful, still niche.
Buying advice
From an S22 Ultra: yes. From an S23 Ultra: skip unless Circle to Search is critical.
The AI features will mostly fade. Circle to Search is the one that stuck.
This is the original April 2024 take. See the S25 Ultra review for follow-up.
About the data
A note on what the numbers in this post represent so you can read them with the right confidence:
- "My own bench" rows are personal measurements on my own hardware. They are honest about my setup and reproducible there, but they should not be treated as universal benchmark scores.
- Benchmark numbers attributed to public sources (Geekbench Browser, DXOMARK, NotebookCheck, FIA timing) are illustrative, the trend is what matters, not the third decimal place. Cross-check against the source for anything you would act on financially.
- Client outcomes and ROI percentages in business-focused posts are anonymised composites drawn from my own consulting work. Real numbers, real direction, sanitised so individual clients are not identifiable.
- Foldable crease-depth and similar engineering measurements are estimates pulled from teardown reports and reviewer claims; manufacturers do not publish these directly.
- Forecasts and "what I bet" lines are exactly that, opinions, not predictions with a track record yet.
If you spot a number that contradicts a source you trust, tell me, I would rather correct it than be the chart that was off by 6 percent and pretended otherwise.