The Galaxy S24+ is the unsung hero of Samsung’s 2024 lineup

Summary

• The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and S24+ have similar features and performance, making the S24+ a better value option at the same price as the previous generation.
• The S24 Ultra offers additional upgrades such as more advanced cameras, a larger display, and a built-in stylus, but comes with a $100 price increase compared to the previous model.
• The standard Galaxy S24 did not see many improvements from the previous generation and may not be as compelling of a choice compared to the S24+ with its upgraded display and RAM.

It seems like generational improvements in smartphones are getting smaller each year, and that trend’s been obvious in Samsung’s flagships: the S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra, and S24 Ultra are all basically the same device with minor improvements each year. This year, though, Samsung’s top-shelf phone got a $100 price increase: after three generations of $1,200 Ultras, the S24 Ultra costs $1,300.

Compared to the S23 Ultra, that extra $100 gets you standard generational upgrades — more RAM, a brighter screen, a new telephoto camera, and a trendy materials upgrade in the S24 Ultra’s titanium frame. But the Galaxy S24+ got a lot of updates, too: a bigger, higher-resolution panel than the S23+ had, a bigger battery, and an upgrade to 12 gigs of RAM, all for the same $1,000. It might not be made of titanium, but the S24+ is quietly the best value in Samsung’s S-series today.

No price hike for the Plus

Staying the course

Price aside, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a better phone than the Galaxy S24+. The Ultra has more (and better) cameras, a larger display, and a built-in stylus. But while the newest Ultra is $100 more expensive than the last one was, the S24+ is the same price the S23+ was at launch. Don’t get me wrong — at $1,000, the S24+ is still very expensive. But Samsung’s Plus phones have provided a very similar experience to its Ultra ones for a long time, and with its upgraded display (larger than last year’s, and now the same 1440p as the Ultra), the S24+ is closer than ever to the best Samsung has to offer — minus that fancy Gorilla Armor glass, of course.

With the functionality gap shrinking and the price gap growing, it’s harder to make a case for the S24 Ultra over the S24+ than it was in previous generations. They’re both enormous, they both have 1440p displays, they both have the newest Snapdragon processor (in the US, anyway) and more RAM than they need — your additional $300 gets you a squarer display, better cameras, a stylus, and titanium.

I’m sure Samsung’s got the data to prove this value equation still works for Ultra diehards: about this time last year, Samsung was saying that 60 percent of people who pre-ordered an S23 phone opted for the Ultra model. We don’t have data for this generation yet, but I imagine it’s similar. That’s a shame, and as its flagship offerings get more and more similar, I wonder about the future of Samsung’s Plus phones.

What about the regular S24?

The Galaxy S24+ is making both its siblings look bad

As much as I love small phones, the standard Galaxy S24 didn’t see as many generational improvements from last year. In the US, it’s got the same Snapdragon processor as the bigger S24s, but it’s stuck with the 1080p display, eight gigs of RAM, and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage from last year’s S23. Samsung’s smallest flagship didn’t see a price increase either — it’s still $800 — but given the S24+’s improvements in display quality and 12GB of RAM, the base model, too, looks like a worse deal.

I’ll keep saying it until people stop listening: if you’re buying a Galaxy S24 phone, you should think long and hard about the Galaxy S24+. The improvements over the $800 entry-level S24 are worth the extra $200, and for most people, the extra stuff you get in the Ultra probably won’t be worth another $300.