Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra specs: an in-depth breakdown of the new phone
We're testing the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and the final specs detail one of the most popular Android phones you can own
The new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is one of the most powerful Android phone you can own, according to the official specs list, and we’ve confirmed that it’s a true powerhouse in real-life scenarios through our comprehensive testing.
Yes, our full Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review dives into the specs, like the 200MP camera, 50MP telephoto camera, WiFi 7 and 2,600 nit peak brightness of the display. But if you want the quick and dirty specs list, look no further. This top Android phone has powerful internal specifications that don’t hold back on performance.
It’s one of the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones available in the US and harnesses AI through on-device machine-learning as well as off-device cloud-processing to do the heavy lifting of certain tasks: real-time translation, searching objects in images and video, and generative photo edits.
Some of these features were possible before on other smartphones, but the S24 phone series specs make all of these ideas more seamless and faster to pull off.
Here are the full Galaxy S24 Ultra specs you need to know about:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra specs
📆 Release date: January 31, 2024
💰 Price: $1,299 (check launch day deals)
📺 Screen size: 6.8-inch
🏃♂️ Refresh rate: 120Hz adaptive
💡 Brightness: 2,600 nits
📸 Main camera: 200MP
📸 Ultrawide camera: 12MP
📸 Telephoto cameras: 50MP (5x) / 10MP (3x)
🤳 Front camera: 12MP
⚙️ Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
🐏 RAM: 12GB
🗄️ Storage: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
🔈 Speakers: stereo (and no headphone jack)
🔋 Battery: 5,000mAh
🔌 Wired Charging: 45W (adapter not included)
⚡ Wireless Charging: Yes
📶 Connectivity: 5G sub6 and mmWave, WiFi 7
👇 Fingerprint sensor: Yes (under glass)
📐 Dimensions: 6.40 x 3.11 x 0.34 in
⚖️ Weight: 233g (8.22oz)
🌈 Colors: Violet, Yellow, Gray, Black and Samsung Store-exclusive colors: Green, Blue, Orange
🤖 OS: Android 14, OneUI 6.1
🪨 Durability: Titanium frame, Corning Gorilla Armor
💦 Waterproof: IP68
What’s new among the Samsung S24 Ultra specs?
The Samsung Galaxy S24 specs include Qualcomm’s latest chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and 12GB of RAM, up from the 8GB found on the base S23 Ultra. Storage sizes include 256GB, 512GB and 1TB, although during Samsung’s pre-order phase, you can buy the 512GB version for the price of the 256GB edition.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset goes head-to-head with Apple’s latest chip we tested in our iPhone 15 Pro Max review, with both chips capable of being powerful enough to play games with ray-tracing graphics. That’s been something reserved for the PS5, Xbox Series X and PC gaming. Now it’s come to high-end mobile phones.
Samsung first offered this perk in last year’s S phone, but promises smoother game performance in the S24 Ultra. We’re still testing the new phone to see if it can rival Apple’s “console-quality” games – like Resident Evil and Death Stranding – on its iPhone 15 Pro series. Even without these games, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has better gaming performance than the Google Pixel 8 Pro and its Tensor G3 chip.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at 12GB of RAM
One of the things that we noticed right away on the S24 Ultra specs list is that it has 12GB of RAM. You could get 12GB of RAM in last year’s S23 Ultra, too, but the base model for that phone started at 8GB of RAM at 256GB before moving on to higher-tiered models at 12GB. So, for the price, the S24 Ultra specs top the base S23 Ultra.
You’ll find that the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro doubles these specs at the highest tier with 24GB of RAM, the maximum amount supported by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. However, most people, even gamers, won’t need this much memory in 2024. You should be fine for the foreseeable future with 12GB of RAM.
How Samsung S24 Ultra specs affect battery life
In our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs S23 Ultra comparison, we’ve noticed that the newer phone gets superior battery life to its last-generation counterpart by a few hours. This is despite the fact that they both have a 5,000mAh battery capacity (every Samsung S Ultra phone has had a 5,000mAh battery since the S20 Ultra).
Why the battery life difference maker? You can chalk a lot of that up to the more power efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, that’s saves 20% more power than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 found in last year’s Samsung flagship. Sure, it’s a speedier chip at the heart of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and that’s a benefit, but it also drains the battery less, according to our comprehensive testing of the new device.
The only battery charging-related letdown is that wireless charging on the S24 Ultra doesn’t include Qi2 or come with any magnetic charging back. That’s something that Apple has included in its iPhones since 2020, and with launch of Qi2 (which has magnetic alignment at the core of the new standard), this is a miss by Samsung.
How do the S24 Ultra camera specs compare?
The S24 Ultra has a 200MP main camera and maxes out with the same 100x ‘Space Zoom,’ but Samsung is putting more emphasis on the 5x optical zoom (last year’s phone had a 10x optical zoom that went underutilized, according to Samsung’s data). While that may seem like a spec downgrade, the S24 Ultra has a 50MP telephoto lens (up from 10MP), so zooming to 10x should produce similar if not better photo results.
The 200MP main S24 Ultra camera also saw an upgrade by capturing 1.6x larger pixels than before. Samsung’s 2x wider optical image stabilization (OIS) is also going to help you capture moving subjects and make up for any of your own camera shake better than most camera phone on sale without this feature.
Will the S24 Ultra get seven years of updates?
Samsung is promising seven years of operating system and security updates with the S24 phone series. It’s a lofty goal, but makes up for one of the biggest downsides to owning Android phones in the past: they would get two or three versions of Android and then stop getting updating after that.
This means that the S24 Ultra software should stay up-to-date through the year 2031. That’s another reason to own the Ultra tier of Samsung’s phone, as the best specs will travel further when new, more advanced software comes out.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra gets WiFi 7 speeds
Samsung upgraded its new phone to feature WiFi 7, a step up from the WiFi 6e spec found in last year’s S23 Ultra. In theory, the WiFi speeds on the S24 Ultra can be up to 2.4x faster than the speeds (up to of a WiFi 6 or WiFi 6e device, but there are two things to know about this fact.
First, that’s “up to” in optimal conditions, and, second, very few people down a WiFi 7 router. WiFi 6 and WiFi 6e routers just now replacing WiFi 5 routers as top sellers among store in the US. As mentioned, Samsung is promising seven years of Android updates, so this particular S24 Ultra spec may matter more down the line. Think of it as Samsung future-proofing its smartphone.
Is the S24 Ultra made of titanium?
The big design upgrade of the S24 series is that Samsung is using a titanium frame on it’s latest smartphones. This matches Apple’s titanium iPhone material.
However, there’s one key difference in the specs between the two companies. Apple went from using heavy stainless steel to using titanium, and that move resulted in a stronger, more lightweight smartphone vs the iPhone 14 Pro series.
Samsung used the already-lightweight aluminum in its phones for years and titanium is a bit heavier than aluminum. So while Samsung’s titanium frame is stronger, it’s not exactly any lighter due to the change. It’s also not heavier because, according to Samsung reps who talked to The Shortcut, the company was able to offset any additional weight increase of titanium by making other design changes.
Because titanium is heavier than aluminum, we may see the Galaxy Z Fold 6 stick an aluminum frame simply because Samsung wants to keep the weight down as much as possible. As we noted in our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review, it’s current-generation foldable phone is already heavy enough.
Seven new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra colors
There are seven Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra colors, with four at all US retailers and carrier stores, and three exclusive to the Samsung Store online. You’ll find the range includes Titanium Black, Titanium Yellow, Titanium Gray, Titanium Violet, Titanium Green, Titanium Blue and Titanium Orange.
All of the polished, titanium-themed matte colors of the S24 Ultra surpass the duller tones that Apple has offered on the titanium iPhone where there’s not even an option for bright colors available. Samsung’s specs get a nice win here in the name of variety.
How the S24 Ultra display specs changed
The S24 Ultra display is flat, unlike last year’s phone. It’s a small, but noticeable spec change. Gone are the curved screen edges that Samsung loved to include on its flagship devices in recent years. Now we’re getting a more boxy shape.
Even more significant, the display brightness has increased considerably in a year’s time. The S24 Ultra now maxes out at 2,600 nits when you needed the screen to be as bight as possible outdoors. Samsung’s previous peak brightness was 1,750 nits, and Apple’s top iPhone maxes out at 2,000 nits in direct sunlight.
Samsung also equipped the S24 Ultra with an impressive anti-reflective screen, meaning you won’t be distracted by your own gaze when the display brightness is dim (or it’s sunny out). By comparison, other phones look like a mirror.