Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Biggest Upgrades to Expect

It's never too early to make Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Galaxy S23 Ultra comparisons, especially with rumors indicating that Samsung's latest flagships will be available sooner than usual. Rumors point to a Galaxy S24 launch in January 2024, which means we won't have to wait long to get our hands on the Ultra model, which is expected to be the premium handset in the new lineup.

 

Early Galaxy S24 Ultra speculations indicate that the phone will have significant camera enhancements, as well as a new system-on-chip. The Galaxy S24 Ultra could possibly take a lesson from the iPhone 15 Pro versions and use a new material. We're also expecting a phone with a brighter display and possibly a higher refresh rate than previously.

 

To compete with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, our vote for the greatest phone for most of this year, Samsung will need to make some significant modifications. However, it has since been overtaken by the iPhone 15 Pro Max, providing Samsung with even more motivation to make significant modifications to its Ultra phone.

This Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Galaxy S23 Ultra comparison examines current reports about the future phone, as well as how this year's model may differ from the current Ultra. So far, here's what we know.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA VS GALAXY S23 ULTRA: PRICE

While there have been numerous Galaxy S24 Ultra speculations in recent weeks, nearly none have addressed the next phone's price. That's to be expected, given pricing leaks rarely appear until just before a phone's release.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1,199, which is the same as the pricing of the phone's predecessor. We don't know if Samsung intends to hold the line on pricing for this year's model, but with Apple boosting the price of the iPhone 15 Pro to match what Samsung charges for an Ultra phone, we'd expect Samsung would want to avoid a price increase of its own if at all possible.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA VS GALAXY S23 ULTRA: DESIGN AND DISPLAY

According to leaked Galaxy S24 Ultra CAD designs and other mockups, the new phone will look similar to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, albeit there have been rumors of a less rounded shape. Another report suggests bigger bezels surrounding the main display, while further leaks indicate that the Ultra model's design remains unchanged.

 

The most significant distinction may be the material from which Samsung constructs the phone. According to rumors, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be made of titanium, just as Apple's iPhone 15 Pro range. This resulted in lighter iPhones than previously, a change that the S24 Ultra might greatly benefit from. Furthermore, speculations say that the conversion to titanium will not be limited to the Ultra, but will also affect the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus.

 

The Galaxy S24 Ultra appears to retain the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 6.8-inch display, but the panel could vary in other ways. With Google and Apple adopting brighter displays on some of their phones, Samsung may feel pressure to do the same with its premium phone.

According to one report, the Galaxy S24 Ultra display would have a peak brightness of 2,500 nits, up from 1,750 nits on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. That would outperform the Pixel 8 Pro's 2,400 nits.

 

Samsung's Galaxy S phones were among the first mainstream flagship phones to offer a faster 120Hz refresh rate, a step that others have since followed (except the regular iPhone 15). The Galaxy S24 Ultra could take things a step further by increasing the S23 Ultra's 120Hz adaptive refresh rate to 144Hz.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA VS GALAXY S23 ULTRA: CAMERAS

It's difficult to top the addition of a 200MP camera, which the Galaxy S23 Ultra provided. With that smartphone still holding the top spot in our best camera phone rankings, Samsung has its work cut out for it if it wants the Galaxy S24 Ultra to make a huge impression.

 

However, Samsung may aim to do just that, emphasizing the "big" aspect of that sentence. The megapixel count is unlikely to go beyond the Ultra's current 200MP, but the new phone is said to include a larger 1-inch sensor for collecting more light in low-light situations.

 

The telephoto lens will most likely be the most significant improvement to the Galaxy S24 Ultra's camera technology. Mock-ups of the future phone reveal dual telephoto lenses, similar to those found on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. However, one of those cameras may have its megapixel rating increased to 50MP.

The S23 Ultra's zooming capabilities are provided by a pair of 10MP lenses, with one camera allowing 3x optical zoom and the other supporting 10x zoom. The speculated 50MP lens would have a 5x zoom capability, while the other lens on the Galaxy S24 Ultra would still have a 3x zoom capability.

 

In terms of zooming, Samsung has already demonstrated a Zoom Anywhere function in which AI helps a 200MP camera capture sharper zoom shots. Furthermore, Samsung has announced a shift to parallel image processing to reduce latency and data loss during image capture. Neither feature has been confirmed for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but it appears they are on the way for Samsung's premium phone.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA VS GALAXY S23 ULTRA: PERFORMANCE

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was undoubtedly the best feature of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, not only providing faster performance — particularly with graphics rendering — but also assisting in more efficient power management. While Galaxy S24 rumors suggest that Samsung may return to a combination of Qualcomm and Exynos chipsets for some models, it's commonly anticipated that the S24 Ultra will solely use a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.

 

Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which will be used in phones such as the Xiaomi 14. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 boasts a 30% increase in CPU speed and a 25% increase in graphics rendering, in addition to increased machine learning capabilities and a faster image processor. Qualcomm claims that the CPU and GPU will have greater power efficiency.

 

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA VS GALAXY S23 ULTRA: BATTERY

The Galaxy S23 Ultra remains on our list of the top phone batteries for handsets that lasted more than 12 hours in our battery test. Even with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor promising even greater power management advantages, that will be a difficult bar for the Galaxy S24 Ultra to clear.

So far, the only important rumor we've heard is that Samsung is considering switching to a stacked battery design, which would give the S24 Ultra a denser power pack that takes up the same amount of space as the S23 Ultra's 5,000 mAh cell. A changeover of this magnitude would necessitate a rethink of the cooling system, which may also be in the works for the S4 Ultra.

 

Initially, speculations suggested that the stacked battery strategy would allow Samsung to raise the cable charging speed from 45W on the S23 Ultra to 65W on the S24. However, current reports say that charging speeds for the Galaxy S24 phones aren't changing.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S24 ULTRA VS GALAXY S23 ULTRA: OUTLOOK

The Galaxy S24 Ultra may appear to be a long way off, but 2024 will be here before you know it. The rest of the year should bring more reports regarding Samsung's smartphone intentions, which we anticipate will create a clearer picture of how the S4 Ultra will vary from its S23 predecessor.