Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Get a different phone instead

Samsung's Galaxy S24 series this year is trying to sell you almost entirely on new software features. And while the phones' generative AI features are genuinely useful — I use circle to search a dozen times a day, and on-device interpreter mode has saved me from a couple of miscommunications during taxi rides during travels — none of these features are actually exclusive to the S24 series, or even Samsung devices for that matter.

The top dog of the series, the S24 Ultra, brings just enough meaningful hardware upgrades — a new titanium frame and 5X Periscope zoom lens — and has enough unique features like a built-in stylus to keep the phone special, and so I gave it a glowing recommendation in my review. But the S24 Plus, which I'm reviewing now? There are really just two meaningful hardware upgrades: the battery is larger, and the Snapdragon chip got the annual refresh. That's it. The camera hardware is exactly the same, the screen sizes differ by 0.1-inches, and the new phone has flatter sides.

I do think the S24 Plus makes sense for a casual user who's upgrading from an older Android device. By casual user, I mean someone who isn't actively reading up on phone reviews, someone who just upgrades their phones every 2-3 years via their carrier. Otherwise, if you're a phone enthusiast, I think the S24 Plus doesn't do enough to warrant much excitement.

About this review: Samsung sent us an S24 Plus for review. The company did not have input in this article.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus: Pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus is the middle child of three phones in the S24 series. All three phones are available for purchase now around the world at practically every electronic store or carrier. In the US, the phones can be ordered via Amazon, Best Buy, Samsung's online store, or at any major carrier. The S24 Plus starts at $999 for 12GB, 256GB storage, and jumps to $1,119 for 512GB of storage. For reference, the smaller S24 starts at $799 (for 128GB storage) and S24 Ultra starts at $1,300. In the US, there are a lot of carrier discounts and deals that knock significant dollars off the price tag.

Hardware and software overview

Bigger battery, new SoC, new software

The Galaxy S24 Plus offers a slightly larger 6.7-inch OLED screen compared to the 6.6-inch of previous years. But because Samsung slimmed the bezels slightly, the new phone's height and width are very similar to the S23 Plus. The weight is identical at 196g (6.9oz). Like the S24 Ultra, the S24 Plus does have flatter sides. Thankfully, the S24 Plus does not have the hard corners of the Ultra, which makes the Plus more comfortable to hold for me. The camera layout and design remains unchanged from last year, sitting directly on the glass back without a camera module. It's a very clean and minimal look that has grown on me.

The screen is very good, with a refresh rate between 1Hz to 120Hz, and gets up to 2,600 nits of brightness. The resolution is higher than the S23 Plus' but I don't think anyone will be able to spot the difference in real-world use. The PWM (pulse-width modulation) is relatively low compared to other Chinese Android flagships, meaning the S24 Plus screen is more susceptible to show flickering when looked at through a camera (or in rare cases, human eyes).

Inside, the phone got the expected silicon bump to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and the battery size is larger at 4,900 mAh compared to 4,700 mAh of last year. The larger battery along with a more efficient Snapdragon chip means noticeably better battery life. The S23 Plus' battery life is already very good, the S24 Plus' battery life is great. Everything else, from the type of memory to haptics to speakers, remains mostly unchanged from last year.

The software running here is OneUI 6.1 based on Android 14. OneUI 6.1 brings the new Galaxy AI features that are the main selling point of this phone. I have written about the AI features extensively during my S24 series hands-on and S24 Ultra review, so please check those articles for the full rundown. I'll talk about these AI features a bit more in the next section.

What I like

The AI stuff really does make life easier

Before I actually got hands on the S24 phones about three weeks ago, I was more than ready to roll my eyes at the gratuitous AI branding, the way I rolled my eyes in 2020 when every phone slapped "5G" into their product names to hype a service that even today in 2024 has made little meaningful improvement to my life. But to my pleasant surprise, the Galaxy AI stuff really works. A quick summary:

• The S24 phones can do real-time two-way translation and interpretation on-device (meaning without needing the internet). This works with words spoken or typed into the phone.
• The S24 phones can immediately conduct a Google image search of anything currently displayed on your phone screen with just a quick gesture (this is the so-called "circle to search").
• The S24 phones can do generative AI photo editing, meaning you can remove or move objects around in an image, and AI will generate original pixels to fill in the missing parts.
• The S24 phones can turn most videos you've shot with the phone into a slow motion video by using AI to create extra frames. This also works with some videos not shot on the phone, even those you grab off Instagram.

The two-way interpretation has come in handy for me during taxi rides in Thailand, I was able to quickly tell the driver he missed my stop and needed to make a U-turn. The fact it's done on-device means I can use this feature anywhere, even in places with bad reception.

I love circle to search and use it at least a dozen times a day. Often I'll see someone wearing an item of clothing I like on Instagram, and to be able to pull off a Google image search of it within a second, without needing to grab a screenshot or open another app, is so useful. But it's worth mentioning this feature is hardly exclusive to Samsung phones. It's available on the Pixel 8 series now and should be available on other Android phones running full GMS later this year.

I also have a lot of fun playing with the generative AI editing, both for goofing around (doctoring a photo to make my friend's body bigger or smaller) and for genuine use (moving my dad closer to me in a selfie shot). The results can be hit and miss, but when it hits, the result can look incredibly realistic.

The instant slow motion feature is also very fun to play with, particularly for someone like me who lives in a bustling city and loves to document daily life things.

These features all actively make the phone usage experience better, and more fun. But almost all will be available on the older S23 phones, as well as Google Pixel series very soon. So, while I am praising these features, I'm not exactly praising the S24 Plus, am I?

Battery life is great

Elsewhere, I like OneUI's multitasking system, which lets me open apps in a floating window. Samsung DeX can also come in handy when I'm on the road and need to quickly read or draft a long Word document on an external monitor or TV. The S24 Plus' software is polished and overall easy to use. Battery life is also very good. This is a phone that will not give you battery anxiety on all but the most extreme days.

The cameras are fine. The main camera, a 50MP shooter, produces clean shots with natural colors and good dynamic range.

But the other lenses though, are below par for a $1,000 phone, which leads to the next section...

What I don't like

For $1,000 I'm gonna need a Periscope zoom

The S24 Plus' triple-lens main camera system remains unchanged from not just last year's S23 Plus, but also the S22 Plus. While the 50MP main camera is still quite good in 2024, the 12MP ultra-wide and 10MP 3X telephoto are in need of an upgrade, especially if I compare them against the global competition. In chunks of Asia, you can get a $400-ish Realme phone with a proper Periscope zoom lens that outperforms the S24 Plus' telephoto camera.

But okay, those Chinese brands do not sell in North America, so even if we focus on just the North American scene, there's the $700 OnePlus 12 with a proper 3X Periscope zoom lens, or the similarly-priced Pixel 8 Pro which has a 5X Periscope lens. The OnePlus 12's ultra-wide is also noticeably better than the S24 Plus' too, with sharper details at the edges. As much as Google has made everyone think software processing is all that matters in mobile photography, camera sensor size still matters. The lenses in the S24 Plus are in need of an upgrade.

And while I have no major complaints about the phone other than the underwhelming secondary cameras, I do think that it doesn't really bring much performance boost over the S23 Plus other than better battery life. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a newer chip, but the superior performance is mostly in the efficiency, you are not going to notice any performance boost when scrolling through Instagram, sending emails or texting friends. This means once the AI features make it to the S23 phones, you are not going to see much difference in performance.

You should buy the Galaxy S24 Plus if:

• You are a casual user upgrading from an older phone, and you just want a new Android that's powerful, but you don't need the extra bells and whistles of the S24 Ultra
• You are a Samsung Galaxy fan and want the newest phone while saving some money

You should not buy the Galaxy S24 Plus if:

• You are fine paying a bit more for the Ultra
• You are buying the S24 Plus outright at full price (the OnePlus 12 and Google Pixel 8 Pro cost much less)
• You already own the S23 Plus

I don't think the S24 Plus is bad phone at all. It's a good phone in a vacuum. But it's in this really weird spot where I find it very hard to justify its $1,000 price tag. The S24 Plus sits in the shadow of the clearly superior S24 Ultra, and then there's the OnePlus 12 that's $300 cheaper with better specs. Then there's the S23 Plus which will get all the S24 Plus' fancy new features soon. So ... who's this phone for?

I know there's a $300 price gap between the S24 Ultra and the Plus, but if we US reviewers constantly use "carrier subsidies, trade-in discounts, and installment plans" to shrug off price differences between Apple/Samsung devices and OnePlus phones, then we should do the same between phone models of the same series. Once you factor in carrier subsidies and monthly installment plans, is the price between the Ultra and that Plus that big? If you're going to get a new S24 phone, get the Ultra instead. If you want to stick with Samsung and don't want the Ultra, there's the S23 Plus, which can be had for less money than the S24 Plus.