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The story of the Samsung Galaxy S24 centers around artificial intelligence — namely, the suite of AI-powered features Samsung has introduced to all three phones in its S24 lineup. It's understandable, as AI is new and buzzy, and the Galaxy AI capabilities at the heart of the Galaxy S24 are actually practical and (with some exceptions) polished.
But to focus exclusively on Galaxy AI is to do the Galaxy S24 a disservice. Yes, the hardware tweaks and enhancements aren't terribly groundbreaking — not that it's easy making significant changes to a phone this well-established. But the changes Samsung does make are important, improving upon an already stellar display while also tackling a long-standing complaint about the most compact model in its flagship lineup.
My Samsung Galaxy S24 review will look at the Galaxy AI features, of course, and whether they make the most affordable model in Samsung's flagship lineup worth a purchase or upgrade. But I’ll also look at the other changes made to the Galaxy S24 that produce one of the most well-rounded Samsung phones in years.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 REVIEW: SPECS
| Galaxy S24 | |
| Starting price | $799/£799 |
| Display size and resolution | 6.2-inch AMOLED (2340 x 1080) |
| Display brightness, refresh rate | 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (North America) / Exynos 2400 (Elsewhere) |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB |
| Rear cameras | 50MP main (f/1.8), 12MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 10MP telephoto (f/2.4) with 3x optical zoom |
| Front camera | 12MP (f/2.2) |
| Battery size | 4,000 mAh |
| Battery lfie (Hrs:Mins) | 13:28 |
SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 REVIEW: PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The Galaxy S24 is available for $799/£799, with the base model featuring 128GB of storage. (In Australia, the base model of the Galaxy S24 features 256GB of storage and starts at AU$1,399.) In the U.S., that's the same price Samsung charged last year for the Galaxy S23 — something worth calling out in light of Samsung's $100 price hike for the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
There's also a 256GB version of the Galaxy S24 available in the U.S. and U.K. for $859/£859.
You'll be able to find the Galaxy S24 at Samsung's website as well as at major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. (Order from Samsung and you can choose from three exclusive colors on top of the four color options available elsewhere.) U.S. phone carriers are now selling the Galaxy S24, too, with many offering Galaxy S24 deals that can help you lower the cost of the phone.
You won't spot too many differences between the Galaxy S24 and the Galaxy S23 it nudges aside in the lineup of best Samsung phones. The screen and back panel on the S24 are both flat and are joined by metal side rails, but the phone has adopted a unibody-like design that blends all the separate panels together brilliantly.
Samsung continues to make the S24 out of aluminum — titanium is reserved for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, as is the more durable Gorilla Armor Glass for the Ultra's display. Still, the Galaxy S24 counts on Gorilla Glass Victus 2 to be tough enough, and it offers IP68 water-resistance, so don't worry about dropping the phone in the drink.
The biggest design change to the Galaxy S24 involves the bezels — they're smaller than before which allows the new phone to offer a slightly bigger screen than the S23 without noticeably changing the dimensions of the phone. Even with a 6.2-inch display, the Galaxy S24 remains as compact as its predecessor.
I wish I could get excited about the Galaxy S24 color options, which strike me as a bit muted. Names like Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet and Amber Yellow make the colors sound a lot more dramatic than they actually look. I would suggest heading to Samsung's online store where exclusive options in blue, orange and green at least add some variety to your choices.
I've mentioned the Galaxy S24's larger display, which offers a resolution of 2340 x 1080 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. But besides the modest increase in size from the 6.1-inch panel on the S23, the biggest addition is a boost to the screen's brightness. Like the rest of the new lineup, the Galaxy S24 promises a maximum brightness of 2,600 nits.
I have to say our lab testing didn't come close to that theoretical maximum, which was probably achieved under very controlled circumstances. Still, the 1,416 nits it reaches using a light meter and with HDR enabled is nothing to sneeze at — it improves upon the Galaxy S23's 1,340-nit reading and was in line with the iPhone 15's 1,401-nit result.
| Samsung Galaxy S24 | iPhone 15 | Samsung Galaxy S23 | |
| Display size | 6.2 inches | 6.1 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Brightness (nits) | 1,416 | 1,401 | 1,340 |
| sRGB color spectrum | 137.5% (Vivid), 120.8 (Natural) | 114.4 | 128.6 (Vivid), 212.1 (Natural) |
| DCI-P3 color spectrum | 97.4 (Vivid), 85.5 (Natural) | 81.1 | 150.2 (Vivid), 91.1 (Natural) |
| Delta-e rating | 0.22 (Vivid), 0.24 (Natural) | 0.18 | 0.34 (Vivid), 0.24 (Natural) |
I found I had to keep the display brightness slider rather high to see screen details under less favorable lighting conditions, but at least the S24 has that capability in its toolkit. A trailer for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare on YouTube looked pretty dark in some scenes, though I suspect that's a Guy Ritchie problem and not a Samsung one. Streaming Under Pressure on Netflix produced bright crisp images of the U.S. Women's soccer team in action.
The Galaxy S24 recreates more colors than the iPhone 15's display does using both the sRGB and DCI-P3 spectrums. Apple's screen is a bit more accurate, though, with a Delta-E rating of 0.18 to the S24's 0.22 with the display in its default Vivid mode. (Numbers closer to zero are better.)
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