Back in the day, yearly cellphone upgrades had been fairly frequent. Nowadays, nonetheless, telephones could be prohibitively costly if you cannot discover the proper deal, and it is simply flat-out unreasonable to pay full value typically.
So, is the new $1,300 Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra a cellphone value upgrading to? The reply totally is dependent upon what you’re upgrading from. Galaxy S23 Ultra customers ought to persist with what they have except there’s an issue. All the new AI options of the Galaxy S24 Ultra are coming to the Galaxy S23 Ultra in the One UI 6.1 replace, and it is not going the digital camera modifications on the S24 Ultra shall be value your time.
But, if you’re coming from an older Samsung Galaxy cellphone, there are a ton of fantastic Galaxy S24 offers and trade-in gives that can get you upgraded to the most premium cellphone Samsung makes. On high of that, Samsung’s new seven-year software program replace assure means the Galaxy S24 Ultra will feel and appear new for a really very long time, together with new software program options and different upgrades that occur alongside the manner.
While I’m nonetheless testing the S24 Ultra in preparation for a full overview, there are little doubt a few of you who’re already questioning if it is value upgrading to the machine. Hopefully, this could assist if you’re contemplating hitting that preorder button.
Why you ought to upgrade to the Galaxy S24 Ultra
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If you’ve by no means used certainly one of Samsung’s Galaxy S Ultra telephones, you’re in for a deal with. Samsung mixed its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note traces a couple of years again and now packs an S Pen into the physique of the Galaxy S24 Ultra for straightforward note-taking talents.
To make that even higher, the show on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is flat for the first time since Samsung mixed these cellphone traces. Previously, Samsung curved the glass on the left and proper edges, which made the cellphone look fancy, however it made note-taking on the edges tougher than it wanted to be.
The curved glass additionally meant that discovering a great display screen protector was powerful. My personal Galaxy S23 Ultra obtained a damaged display screen as a result of it fell and landed proper on the edge between the place the display screen protector and case might hold the glass protected. That should not occur with the S24 Ultra, thank heaven.
All of Samsung’s new AI options can be found on each Galaxy S24 mannequin, however a lot of them, like Circle to Search, are finest used on the S24 Ultra due to the S Pen. Using the S Pen is way extra correct than a finger, and it makes modifying textual content considerably simpler.
Aside from the S Pen, you’re going to love the new digital camera array on the again of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Samsung modified issues up this yr and is together with a brand new 50MP 5x zoom digital camera instead of the outdated 10MP 10x zoom digital camera. While this seems like a downgrade at first, Samsung mentioned most of its customers by no means zoomed past 10x in the first place.
By making this transformation, Samsung has ensured “optical high quality” from any picture taken between 1x and 10x zoom. We’ve nonetheless obtained to take a look at this new digital camera for ourselves, however on paper, the change makes a variety of sense for any consumer who would not care about zooming past 10x.
If your cellphone is greater than two years outdated, it makes a variety of sense to commerce it in for the Galaxy S24 Ultra and get a very stable upgrade. Companies like AT&T and Verizon will give you $1,000 off the S24 Ultra when you commerce in any outdated Galaxy cellphone. The older, the higher since most of those telephones cannot be resold for anyplace close to that sort of cash.
Why you should not upgrade to the Galaxy S24 Ultra
As I mentioned earlier than, there’s nearly no purpose a Galaxy S23 Ultra proprietor ought to hassle spending the cash to upgrade this yr. There merely aren’t sufficient modifications to warrant the extra cash — particularly since the Ultra technically has a $100 value improve this yr, as the least expensive mannequin now prices $1,300.
All Galaxy S23 homeowners will obtain all the new Galaxy AI options in the S24 collection with the One UI 6.1 replace, so there is no new software program characteristic to really upgrade for.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor inside the S24 collection is nice and gives a 25% efficiency improve over the processor in the Galaxy S23 collection, however it’s not going to impress anybody coming from these telephones.
Sure, video games like War Thunder Mobile and Arena Breakout assist fancy new ray-tracing options, however they don’t seem to be value spending a lot of cash on. You’d be a lot better off spending the money on a PS5 with ray-tracing capabilities, as an alternative.
And whereas that processor is technically barely extra battery environment friendly — 5%, to be actual — Samsung did not improve the battery dimension or enhance the charging speeds on this cellphone, so you will not see a distinction there. There’s additionally no Qi2 assist on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so wi-fi charging can be the identical expertise.
Samsung has improved the technical elements of all the Galaxy S24 shows, however the firm continues to be avoiding making any modifications to its flicker frequency for PWM-sensitive people. Meanwhile, corporations like OnePlus, Motorola, Honor, and others have been making enormous strides in introducing new eye well being options to hold customers feeling good for the lengthy haul.
In quick, Galaxy S23 homeowners ought to maintain on for no less than one other yr earlier than making the upgrade. Meanwhile, everybody else simply wants to think about if the value is smart, particularly given the improve.
If you need to study much more, take a look at my Samsung Galaxy S24 hands-on, and be on the lookout for my upcoming overview.
The S Pen is mightier
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung’s newest premium flagship, providing a brand new 200MP digital camera system, a brighter show, quicker chipset, and a number of recent AI options. There’s a lot to like about the S24 Ultra, and it is positively one you ought to think about making your subsequent cellphone.