The Samsung Galaxy S series has always been the top flagship of the Android camp, and the Ultra model is the best among them. Today, Samsung brought the new Galaxy S24 Ultra, which not only has a new titanium alloy body, 1440p direct screen, but also is equipped with powerful AI functions. The price has also been increased to US$1,299 (Note: Currently about 9,353 RMB).
First of all, the most noticeable change on the S24 Ultra is a titanium body, similar to Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro, which Samsung says provides better durability. Unlike Apple, Samsung didn’t choose titanium for weight savings, but rather for its superior durability, as titanium is heavier than aluminum. The S24 Ultra weighs almost the same as the S23 Ultra at around 232 grams, making it slightly heavier than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. In terms of color, the new phone is available in titanium yellow, titanium purple, titanium black and titanium gray. As per tradition, Samsung has some additional color versions available exclusively through the Samsung.com store, including titanium orange, titanium green and titanium blue. .
The other big change with the S24 Ultra is the screen. The S24 Ultra is equipped with a 6.8-inch 1440p display, the same as the S23 Ultra, but the new phone finally abandons the curved screen inherited from the Note series and uses a straight screen. Unlike the straight edges of the S24 and S24 Plus, the S24 Ultra’s bezels are still slightly curved, but the chance of accidentally touching the edge of the screen with the S Pen is now much less likely.
There are also some changes to the S24 Ultra’s rear camera. Samsung replaced the S23 Ultra’s 10-megapixel 10x zoom camera with a 50-megapixel 5x zoom camera that enables 10x zoom through lossless crop zoom. Despite no longer being a native focal length, Samsung says the S24 Ultra’s 10x zoom image quality is actually improved over the S23 Ultra. The phone can still achieve 100x zoom, but that still seems to be a mostly gimmicky feature.
The hardware for the other four cameras is unchanged from last year, including a 20-megapixel f/1.7 main camera, a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto camera, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, as well as a front-facing 12-megapixel selfie camera.
AI functionality is a highlight of the S24 Ultra, which integrates almost all AI functionality currently available on flagship phones. The S24 series is equipped with local and cloud-based AI capabilities and runs Google’s Gemini base model. It is worth mentioning that the AI functions of the three new phones are exactly the same.
The S24 series introduces some image and video editing tools powered by generative AI, and Google Bard-like star icons can be seen throughout the UI. Users can circle the subjects in the photo to cut out and resize them, as well as move or remove them directly. You can also adjust the horizon line of your photo and let AI fill in the missing edges of the image, which is useful for taking photos with shaky hands.
In addition to still photos, the S24 Ultra also has a very cool video function, which can convert any video into a 120fps slow-motion video afterwards, no matter what mode, frame rate or even camera you use to shoot it, this function uses AI frame interpolation technology to Make up for lost frames.
Other system features include the new Circle to Search function from Google. Just press and hold the navigation key or the Home button, circle the content you want to search, and Google will help you. The keyboard can also suggest text based on what you’re typing, making your message more relevant to your tone.
In addition, there are real-time call translation, text translation, voice-to-text translation, automatic note formatting and other functions, which can be described as comprehensive.
It is worth mentioning that Samsung plans to bring these AI features to the S23 series phones as well as the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 phones in the future.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip, which is available in all sales regions worldwide. The S24 and S24 Plus only use Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the US, Canada, China (and possibly Japan), and Exynos chips in other regions, but Samsung says this won’t affect AI capabilities. In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 7.
Surprisingly, Qi2 wireless charging has been removed from all Galaxy S24 series phones, meaning there is no support for magnetic attachments and accessories like MagSafe. However, Samsung, like Google, promises 7 years of OS upgrades for the S24 series, including 7 years of security updates. While the Ultra is a bit more expensive this year, it should be worth it if you plan on using it for the long haul.
The Samsung S24 Ultra is available for pre-order today and will start shipping on January 31st, starting at $1,299 for the 256GB version.
