Samsung Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus review: Does Samsung's own Exynos 2400 processor let it down?

Pros:
- Phenomenal display, despite the S24’s specs. S24 Plus’ display best-in-class
- Exynos 2400 is almost as snappy and quick as the SDG 8 Gen 3
- Great camera array with a ton of potential
- Complete access to Galaxy AI suite
- Seven years of OS updates
- Standard S24 stands out as the only viable compact flagship Android phone
- Both come with tons of Samsung’s productivity features

Cons:
- 45W wired charging for S24 Plus, 25W for S24
- AI features need fine-tuning
- Heating issues neuter the Exynos 2400 SoC’s potential

Rating:
S24 Plus: 4.5/5
S24: 4.25/5

Price:
S24 starts at Rs 79,999 for the 8GB+256GB variant
S24 Plus starts at Rs 99,999 for the 12GB+256GB variant

On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and the Galaxy S24 are just a little toned-down version of the premiere device of the Galaxy S series the the S24 Ultra. The non-Ultra devices would have fewer cameras, and slightly smaller displays and batteries, but otherwise, be exactly the same as the king of the hill, S24 Ultra. Although that is the case for customers in the US, users in other countries, haven’t been so lucky.

Things are a little complicated this time. With the S24 series, Samsung has gone back to its old ways. In the S23 series all three devices, the S23, S23 Plus and the S23 Ultra, had the same specially tuned Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. With the S24 series, only the Ultra getw the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The non-Ultra devices, “make do” with Samsung’s Exynos 2400 SoC.

Does that mean the non-Ultra devices have been neutered in any way?

What isn’t complicated though is that both the S24 and the S24 Plus are pretty solid options, for those looking to get on the Galaxy AI bandwagon, and who want Samsung’s latest and greatest but don’t want to carry around a phone that is as bulky or as expensive as the S2 Ultra. The standard S24 especially stands out for me. I have always had a soft corner for small form factor phones and honestly, the S24 is the only viable option that we have in Android.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Review: The design
In terms of design, the S24 and the S24 Plus have everything that you expect from a premium Samsung smartphone — a solidly built phone that is made using premium materials that feels great to look and hold in the hand.

With both the S24 and the S24 Plus, you get a design that is almost identical to Samsung’s offerings from last year. However, there are some minute changes here and there.

The sides on the devices are flatter this year. Despite that, holding the device tightly doesn’t cut into your hands — both devices are pretty comfortable to hold. Samsung is still using recycled aluminium for the frame, instead of titanium as we see in the S24 Ultra. As opposed to the S23 series, this time, we get matte-finished frames, instead of glossy ones.

Dimension-wise, the S24 Plus comes in at 158.5 x 75.9 x 7.7mm and weighs 197gm, while the S24 measures 147.00 x 70.60 x 7.60mm and weighs about 168gm. As for colours, both the devices come in Amber Yellow, Onyx Black and Cobalt Violet. You also get a few more, special options if you buy your devices from Samsung’s website. These include Sapphire Blue, Jade Green, and Sandstone Orange

Both the devices are using Gorilla Glass Victus 2, unlike the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s Gorilla Armor. And even though Victus 2 isn’t as scratch-resistant as Gorilla Armor, the S24 and the S24 Plus held up to our regular usage pretty well.

Over a period of two months, the devices had no scratches whatsoever, but we do take pretty good care of our devices. If you’re more inclined to use your devices, roughly, we suggest you invest in a good screen protector or tempered glass.

The placement of the button, ports and SIM tray are the same as last year. The physical buttons in both the devices feel tactile and sharp as last year.

All in all, even though you don’t get some of the more premium elements from the Galaxy S24 Ultra like the titanium frame and Gorilla Armor in its two siblings, the S24 Plus and the S24 look and feel just as premium as other devices at their respective price points, if not more.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Review: The display
The S24 and S24 Plus have pretty similar display, barring the size, and therefore, the resolution. While the standard Galaxy S24 gets a 6.2-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED display that has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels for 416 pixels per inch ppi, the S24 Plus steps up with a larger 6.7-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED display boasting 1440x3120 resolution and 513 ppi.

Essentially, unlike last year, where the S23 Plus had basically the same resolution as the standard S23, this year, the S24 has the same resolution as the S24 Ultra. In this regard, while the standard S24 too could have been given a QHD+ resolution, it would have been overkill for a 6.2-inch panel display.

In every other sense though, both the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus have the exact same qualities when it comes to the display. Both of them have an increased peak brightness of 2,600 nits as compared to last year’s 1750 nits. Outdoor visibility has also improved considerably, thanks to Samsung’s Vision Booster. Both of them have upgraded and better refresh rates which now range from 1 to 120Hz, a notable improvement from the previous 48 to 120Hz.

You also get support for the Dolby Vision format. Furthermore, you get great experience in HDR10+ content. Overall, the colour and contrast of the display is top-notch, visuals look great and texts looks sharp as a tack. Furthermore, you get all the benefits of a superb AMOLED display like vivid colours, great battery life, inky blacks and a wide viewing angle.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Review: The camera
When it comes to the camera setup, the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are practically the same for all intents and purposes. Both of the devices feature a 50MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture lens and optical image stabilisation (OIS). Both of them also get a 12MP ultrawide camera with an f/2.2 aperture lens and a 10MP telephoto camera with an f/2.4 aperture lens with 3x optical zoom range. At the front, we see a 12MP selfie camera 12MPwith an f/2.2 aperture lens.

We were mightily impressed with the images from both these smartphones. In daylight, and with non-moving subjects, images turn out stunning. We get vibrant colours with tack-sharp details. What’s surprising is that with the S24 series, we don’t get that typical Samsung oversaturation that we have come to expect from Samsung’s previous offerings. Instead, we get images that have a more natural appearance, and more nuance. They are still contrasty but are not over-saturated.

Although the autofocus during our initial tests would miss a beat every now and then when clicking fast-moving subjects, a few updates later, this issue was practically gone.

For close-up shots, the 3x optical zoom on the S24 and S24 Plus delivers great results, with natural-looking, creamy bokeh, as long as you have a decent separation between the subject and the background. As for the zooming capabilities, we do have the option to go up to 30x, but the images you get at that zoom are barely usable. They are best used as binoculars of sorts at that much zoom.

Notably, both devices also support the new Ultra HDR image format that we saw with the S24 Ultra. The new Ultra HDR image format ensures greater colour reproduction even in high-contrast scenes. Moreover, Samsung has worked with Instagram to let users post these HDR images on Instagram, with HDR data. This makes the S24 and the S24 Plus great choices for social media creators and Instagrammers who want to share really good photos, but don’t want to splurge on something as expensive as the S24 Ultra just for this feature.

Even in low light conditions, the images are pretty solid. There’s very little grain in the images, and the colours still look good.

Click here for some unedited images from the Galaxy S24 Plus.

And here for some samples from the standard Galaxy S24.

Then there are Galaxy AI’s imaging and editing features that we see in the S24 Ultra. We see the same plethora of AI-related features and tools, which include a suite of new editing tools.

We get features like Edit Suggestion which uses Galaxy AI to propose suitable photo adjustments, while Magic Editor enables resizing, repositioning or altogether removing objects within photos.

Moreover, users can erase backgrounds entirely and replace them with new ones. We also get Instant Slow-mo in videos, which generates additional frames to turn regular videos into slow-mo ones, after they have been shot. We also see features Super HDR which provide lifelike previews before the shutter is even pressed. In practice, these AI enhancements are surprisingly practical. For instance, removing unwanted elements and glares from photos or adding more background blur in a natural-looking way makes the cameras very interesting.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Review: The performance, software experience and UI
This is where things get really interesting with one question over everyone’s mind — is the Exynos 2400 any good? This year, Samsung for some reason has decided to go back to its old practice of segregating SoCs in its Galaxy S series in India and some other countries.

The S24 and the S24 Plus get the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC as the S24 Ultra in countries like the US, Canada, Hong Kong, China, and South Korea. For the rest of the world, we have the Exynos 2400 SoC, a 10-core SoC clocked at 3.2 GHz as opposed to the SDG 8 Gen 3’s 3.39 GHz. Both the S24 and the S24 Plus come with up to 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

Coming to the performance, the Exynos 2400 is no slouch, let’s get that out of the way. It can trade blows with the S24 Ultra’s SDG 8 Gen 3 one after the other, benchmark after benchmark.

In certain tests, it actually managed to outscore the S24 Ultra, while in others, it lagged only slightly behind.

Similarly, in day-to-day regular tasks, the Exynos 2400-equipped S24 and S24 Plus did just as well as the SDG-equipped S24 Ultra. Even in localised, on-device AI workloads, the performance was almost similar. Clearly, the Exynos 2400 is solid a performer.

However, when it comes to gaming and other resource-heavy tasks like rendering videos, or shooting 4K or 8K videos, tasks that demand a lot from the SoC, the Exynos 2400 starts showing some cracks. The SoC heats up to the extent that even thermal throttles at times, and not just during synthetic benchmarks.

We saw this especially when playing BGMI for extended hours. Even though Samsung has equipped the Galaxy S24 Plus with a vapour chamber that is 1.7 times larger than the previous gen (and about 1.5 times bigger for the S24), it simply can’t keep up. A few updates in, things did get a little better, but not by much. Things are especially problematic with the S24, mainly because of its compact size.

Another aspect of the S24 and the S24 Plus that seems to have been compromised by the Exynos SoC might be the fact that the Galaxy S24 Ultra supports WiFi 7, whereas the S24 Plus and the S24 support WiFi 6e.

Regardless though, in regular usage, like scrolling through Instagram, checking up on your emails, reading, watching Netflix or YouTube, things are pretty normal.

Coming to the software side of things, Galaxy AI is the name of the game. Generative AI, especially localised or on-device generative AI is going to be how smartphone makers will be marketing their smartphones, and not just in the flagship category. Samsung has given the S24 and the S24 Plus the same AI feature sets that we saw in the S24 Ultra. And like the S24 Ultra, Samsung will be providing these AI features for free until 2025, after which, there will be a fee involved.

As for Android updates, you start with Android 14, One UI 6.1, and will get seven years of Android and security updates for both devices.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Review: The battery life
Battery life is where we get to see the biggest difference between the S24 and the S24 Plus. Of course, neither of them holds a candle to the S24 Ultra. The S24 comes with a 4000mAh battery, whereas the S24 Plus gets a 4900 mAh.

Interestingly enough, although the S24 Ultra has just 100 more mAh than the S24 Plus, it has a far better battery life. The reason I believe, would be the Exynos 2400 SoC in the S24 Plus. And do keep in mind that the S24 Ultra has an S Pen to deal with, along with a slightly larger display.

In daily practical usage, the S24 Ultra’s battery life was solid. The S24 Plus would be good enough, but the S24 would be average at best. On average, I would get just about 6 hours of screen on time from the S24 Plus with about 15 per cent to spare, whereas, with the S24, I would get about 6 hours of screen on time with about 5-10 per cent to spare.

Benchmarks actually show just how different the battery is across the S24 series. In PC Mark, the S24 Ultra would get us about 17 hours, the S24 Plus about 14 hours and the S24 about 13 hours.

When it comes to charging, the S24 Plus supports a pretty solid, although not great 45W wired charging with PowerDelivery 3.0, which will take the battery from 0 to 50 in about 60 minutes or so. We also get 15W wireless charging and support for reverse wireless charging.

With the S24 though, you only get 25W of wired charging, which, for a flagship series, is borderline atrocious. The good news is that because it has a smaller battery, it charges at just about the same speed as its elder siblings. The S24 also supports 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Review: The verdict
Are the Galaxy S24 Plus and the Galaxy S24 what Samsung is touting them to be, i.e. slightly watered-down versions of the Galaxy S24 Ultra?

Well, yes and no.

No, because although it has the capability to perform just as well as the big bad wolf of the series, the S24 Ultra, the S24 Plus and the S24 are let down by throttling issues in resource-hungry tasks, and in the case of the S24 specifically, battery life as well. Even though the Exynos 2400 SoC can go toe to toe with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Samsung has its work cut out to make it just as efficient and resource-friendly.

Also Samsung, can we please ditch 25W charging standard for your premium lineups? The fact that the standard S24 is limited to 25W of fast charging is sad, even though, the charging time might be roughly the same.

In every other criterion though, the S24 and the S24 Plus are indeed almost as good as the S24. They have a pretty solid build that is only trumped by the S24 Ultra’s Corning Armor glass and the titanium frame. They have a design that screams premium just like their elder brother, Galaxy AI is practically the same, and in day-to-day performance, the non-Ultra devices are just as capable as the Ultra.

Even if we assume that the Galaxy S24 Ultra did not exist, the S24 and the S24 Plus still make good sense, especially for someone who is looking for a premium handset and wants to get on the Galaxy AI bandwagon. They both have possibly the best displays in their class, along with a pretty solid camera array, and a design and build quality that is top-notch. You also get seven years of OS and security updates, something that is basically unheard of among Android smartphones.

If you’re looking for a solid, flagship-level compact Android phone, the Galaxy S24 is practically the only solid option you have. As for the S24 Plus, it truly strikes the perfect balance between the beast that the S24 Ultra is and the standard S24 — it truly is the best of the S24 series, if you don’t want to spend S24 Ultra money, but want most of what is offering, minus the 200MP camera and that stylus.