Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S23 Ultra: Do you need to upgrade?

With each progressing year, Samsung has followed the same ideology as Apple, launching new flagships with minimal design changes. The Galaxy S23 Ultra received only minor changes over the S22 Ultra, which itself adopted the same design as the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra when Samsung decided to converge the two series.

Another noticeable change over the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s new flat display. In reality, the display isn’t entirely flat, but the curvature of the edges has been reduced significantly, and the curved part of the screen now mostly overlaps the bezels along the screen. While people are irresolvably divided over the topic of curved screens, Samsung says the new display improves readability and productivity. For more durability, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is switching to the latest generation of Corning’s Gorilla Glass — i.e., Gorilla Glass Armor, with a claimed four times more resistance to scratches and the ability to cut reflection by up to 75%.

The switch from curved to flatter display edges does not impact the viewing area of the display (at least not noticeably enough). However, there are minor adjustments to the overall dimensions of the phone, which is now taller and slightly less broad than last year. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is also marginally thicker but weighs precisely the same as last year despite switching over to titanium, which is generally perceived to be lighter than aluminum.

Alongside the new frame, Samsung also brings newer colors, including yellow (another iPhone inspiration?), gray, and violet, to complement the already-existing black. There are also additional colors exclusive to Samsung’s website.

Besides the frame and the display, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s design is pretty much the same as last year’s. The attributes carried over from the previous year include disjointed circular rings for different rear cameras and the laser autofocus module, a flattened frame to ease gripping, and the slot for the S Pen. While the placement of the buttons remains unchanged, Samsung now claims to use 10% recycled thermoplastics to make them. The cameras themselves have slightly changed, along with some other internal components that we discuss in the later sections.

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S23 Ultra: display

As mentioned previously, the Galaxy S24 Ultra sports a new display. Besides the physical changes to the panel, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display is much brighter and now boasts a peak brightness of 2,600 nits (a unit of intensity of light) as compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 1,750 nits of peak brightness. It is worth highlighting that “peak brightness” only represents the highest brightness of individually lighting pixels, primarily while viewing HDR content.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was unquestionably one of last year’s best camera phones. This year, the Galaxy S24 Ultra appears prepared to take that title, all thanks to an improved 200MP sensor compared to the previous year.

Although the specifics are not immediately apparent from Samsung’s keynote, Samsung says the new sensor is 60% bigger than the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s ISOCELL HP2. This should allow for significantly more light, especially in dim scenarios, and allow for better night-time photography. Samsung further claims to have improved the optical image stabilization (OIS) on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, reducing jitters and lags due to shakes or movement.

The other two sensors — the 12MP ultrawide and the 10MP telephoto with 3x zoom — remain unchanged. However, Samsung heavily relies on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s AI capabilities to improve the camera’s performance.

The Galaxy S24 series leverages the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s on-device AI processing abilities to enhance images while they are being captured under the ambit of “ProVisual Engine.” The AI features come in handy in various ways, from sharpening images to reducing shutter lag. The AI will further help improve images by suggesting edits and allowing folks to create or replace parts of the photos with “Generative Edit,” similar to the Google Pixel 8 series.

Samsung’s cameras are often blamed for capturing photos with too much HDR, especially in low light. In response, it has now introduced Super HDR, allowing you to preview shots with HDR in the viewfinder as they would come out after processing. This might allow you to turn off HDR if it’s too aggressive. Samsung also mentions third-party apps such as Instagram will now be able to capture images or record videos with HDR. However, unlike the Pixel 8, the HDR metadata will not be recorded along with the photo, meaning they will not appear different on screens with and without HDR support.

Since most of these camera improvements are tied to better hardware — whether on the sensor or the chip level, we may not see them trickle down to older phones, especially the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S23 Ultra: software and updates

The One UI 6 update has already been rolled out to the Galaxy S23 series, including the Ultra. So, there’s no reason for the Galaxy S24 Ultra to run an older version of the software. In fact, Samsung will offer additional features as part of the updated One UI 6.1, running out-of-the-box on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and other S24 devices.

Most of the features should eventually also be available on older devices such as the Galaxy S23 series. Samsung does not mention any customization features similar to the Pixel 8’s AI-generated wallpapers, but we might see them coming when the feature becomes more mainstream in the Android ecosystem.

With Google announcing seven years of firmware updates to the Pixel 8 series, Samsung is making similar claims and promising seven years of Android version and security updates to the Galaxy S24 series. This is one aspect that Galaxy S24 Ultra will outlast the S23 Ultra by several more years, despite being just one generation apart. This is because the Galaxy S23 Ultra will receive only three more Android version updates following Android 14.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra will be sold in the U.S. for a starting price of $1,300, marking a $100 bump over the S23 Ultra’s initial pricing. It will be available starting January 31, 2024, with preorders starting January 17. If you preorder the Galaxy S24 Ultra by January 30, you can avail of a free storage upgrade and get the 512GB variant for the price of 256GB (or 1TB for the price of 512GB). You will receive an additional $100 in Samsung credits, which can be used to purchase something else on the brand’s website.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra is available for a starting price of $1,200, but you can find more attractive deals on third-party sellers such as

and

. Following the preordering period, we might witness price drops for the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a clear upgrade over the S23 Ultra, with better performance, an improved display, and superior cameras. But what makes the choice for the Galaxy S24 Ultra a no-brainer over the S23 Ultra is the prolonged software support that Samsung offers on the former. With seven years of Android generation and security updates, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will receive active software support until Android 21, even though the hardware, especially the chipset, may not survive the brunt of generational improvements.

The only aspect where the Galaxy S23 Ultra still makes more sense than the Galaxy S24 Ultra is if Samsung manages to bring the price down significantly and make it a better value for money — or you get a lucrative deal from the small seller you befriended principally for that reason. Otherwise, you will be losing out on instant access to the new AI features and the promise of better usage in years to come.

However, if you already own a Galaxy S23 Ultra, you almost certainly don’t need to upgrade to the S24 Ultra. The S24 Ultra is technically better, sure, but the S23 Ultra is still a fantastic Android phone — and it’ll be getting most (if not all) of the Galaxy AI features that the S24 Ultra has.

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