Back within the day, yearly cellphone upgrades had been fairly widespread. Nowadays, nevertheless, telephones could be prohibitively costly if you cannot discover the correct deal, and it is simply flat-out unreasonable to pay full worth most often.So, is the brand new $1,300 Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra a cellphone price upgrading to? The reply completely is dependent upon what you are upgrading from. Galaxy S23 Ultra customers ought to persist with what they have until there’s an issue. All the brand new AI options of the Galaxy S24 Ultra are coming to the Galaxy S23 Ultra within the One UI 6.1 replace, and it is not going the digicam modifications on the S24 Ultra can be price your time.But, if you happen to’re coming from an older Samsung Galaxy cellphone, there are a ton of fantastic Galaxy S24 offers and trade-in provides that can get you upgraded to essentially the most premium cellphone Samsung makes. On prime of that, Samsung’s new seven-year software program replace assure means the Galaxy S24 Ultra will appear and feel new for a really very long time, together with new software program options and different upgrades that occur alongside the way in which.While I’m nonetheless testing the S24 Ultra in preparation for a full evaluation, there are little question a few of you who’re already questioning if it is price upgrading to the system. Hopefully, this could assist if you happen to’re contemplating hitting that preorder button.Why it’s best to improve to the Galaxy S24 UltraWhy you’ll be able to belief Android Central
Our professional reviewers spend hours testing and evaluating services so you’ll be able to select the perfect for you. Find out extra about how we take a look at.(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)If you have by no means used certainly one of Samsung’s Galaxy S Ultra telephones, you are in for a deal with. Samsung mixed its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note strains a number of years again and now packs an S Pen into the physique of the Galaxy S24 Ultra for straightforward note-taking skills.To make that even higher, the show on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is flat for the primary time since Samsung mixed these cellphone strains. Previously, Samsung curved the glass on the left and proper edges, which made the cellphone look fancy, nevertheless it made note-taking on the sides harder than it wanted to be.The curved glass additionally meant that discovering a superb display protector was robust. My personal Galaxy S23 Ultra bought a damaged display as a result of it fell and landed proper on the sting between the place the display protector and case might preserve the glass secure. That should not occur with the S24 Ultra, thank heaven.(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)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 much extra correct than a finger, and it makes enhancing textual content considerably simpler.Aside from the S Pen, you are going to love the brand new digicam array on the again of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Samsung modified issues up this 12 months and is together with a brand new 50MP 5x zoom digicam instead of the previous 10MP 10x zoom digicam. While this seems like a downgrade at first, Samsung mentioned most of its customers by no means zoomed past 10x within the first place.By making this alteration, Samsung has ensured “optical quality” from any picture taken between 1x and 10x zoom. We’ve nonetheless bought to check this new digicam for ourselves, however on paper, the change makes lots of sense for any consumer who does not care about zooming past 10x.(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)If your cellphone is greater than two years previous, it makes lots of sense to commerce it in for the Galaxy S24 Ultra and get a extremely strong improve. Companies like AT&T and Verizon will provide you with $1,000 off the S24 Ultra if you commerce in any previous 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 improve to the Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)As I mentioned earlier than, there’s just about no purpose a Galaxy S23 Ultra proprietor ought to trouble spending the cash to improve this 12 months. There merely aren’t sufficient modifications to warrant the additional cash — particularly for the reason that Ultra technically has a $100 worth improve this 12 months, as the most cost effective mannequin now prices $1,300.All Galaxy S23 homeowners will obtain all the brand new Galaxy AI options within the S24 sequence with the One UI 6.1 replace, so there isn’t any new software program characteristic to really improve for.The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor contained in the S24 sequence is nice and provides a 25% efficiency improve over the processor within the Galaxy S23 sequence, nevertheless it’s not going to impress anybody coming from these telephones.Sure, video games like War Thunder Mobile and Arena Breakout help fancy new ray-tracing options, however they are not price spending plenty of cash on. You’d be significantly better off spending the money on a PS5 with ray-tracing capabilities, as an alternative.(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)And whereas that processor is technically barely extra battery environment friendly — 5%, to be precise — 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 help on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so wi-fi charging can be the identical expertise.Samsung has improved the technical elements of all of the Galaxy S24 shows, however the firm remains to be avoiding making any modifications to its flicker frequency for PWM-sensitive people. Meanwhile, firms like OnePlus, Motorola, Honor, and others have been making large strides in introducing new eye well being options to maintain customers feeling good for the lengthy haul.In brief, Galaxy S23 homeowners ought to maintain on for no less than one other 12 months earlier than making the improve. Meanwhile, everybody else simply wants to think about if the worth is sensible, particularly given the rise.If you wish to be taught much more, try my Samsung Galaxy S24 hands-on, and be looking out for my upcoming evaluation.
Today’s finest Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offers
The S Pen is mightier
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung’s newest premium flagship, providing a brand new 200MP digicam system, a brighter show, sooner chipset, and a number of recent AI options. There’s loads to love concerning the S24 Ultra, and it is positively one it’s best to think about making your subsequent cellphone.