Which phone is considered the shining star of the Galaxy S series? A survey last week showed that it's still the Ultra model, but the Plus model is gaining more ground — especially when it comes to people looking to upgrade from an older model.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a moderate upgrade over the S23 Ultra, which in itself isn't a huge improvement over the S22 Ultra. So, when it comes to the S24 Ultra (and the vanilla S24, which we'll look at in a minute), about 15% are sticking with their current Galaxy S phones. Many people look for other flagships instead.
Why? One of the main reasons not to get the S24 Ultra is how expensive it is – the base model costs more than the 2023 version in almost all markets and this model was already expensive.
Samsung did get some things right, like the flat screen. The new Gorilla Glass Armor has also been well received. Perhaps sticking to just Snapdragon would have been a good idea, although the Exynos looks set to impress this year.
The price of the Samsung Galaxy S24+ has increased in some regions as well, so the cost is still a concern for many. Although the savings in using Plus instead of Ultra is very noticeable. Other than the cameras and S Pen, this is closer to the Ultra than any S Plus model since the S20 generation. Some won't be convinced until they see the reviews – that the Exynos 2400 is of particular interest. However, those with older S+ models find this to be a great upgrade path.
As mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy S24 isn't seen as a worthwhile upgrade from the older vanilla S phone. Sure, seven years of support and an LTPO screen is nice, but at this point you might as well stick with it and get an S25 or S26. The vanilla model has dropped in price in most places, but the base 8/128GB configuration really feels like Samsung is nickel and nickel – how are seven years of updates, apps and files supposed to fit into 128GB? Although the plus device did get an upgrade to 12GB of RAM, this didn't happen, again hurting its longevity.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is already a hot commodity in South Korea and India (and perhaps other markets, but we'll have to wait to see those stats). One Korean carrier confirmed that 60% of pre-orders were for the S24 Ultra, so the Plus won't usurp the throne just yet.
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