The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a great camera smartphone, and an outstanding smartphone altogether.
Choosing the very best camera smartphone is never easy. Our pick sure does differ from the option our readers went with, though. Our readers opted for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra as the best camera smartphone of 2024. Over half of the votes went to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, while we gave people four phones to choose from. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is not only Samsung’s best camera smartphone this year but also the company’s best smartphone in general, many would say. It’s between that, and the company’s flagship foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 6. In any case, let’s see what makes the Galaxy S24 Ultra special.
Powerful quad camera setup
Considering the cameras are what we’re focusing on here, let’s talk about them first. There are four cameras included on the back of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and one on the front. Samsung went with a 200-megapixel main camera here, as the company used its own 1/1.3-inch camera sensor here. That camera is quite capable and does provide pixel-binned shots by default. The images do turn out quite vivid and detailed, with great dynamic range. They’re usually well-balanced, and the low-light performance is also quite good.
In order to be truly versatile, however, other cameras are needed too. This smartphone also includes a 12–12-megapixel ultrawide camera with a 120-degree FoV, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto shooter with 5x optical zoom. This quartet of cameras covers everything from ultrawide shots to objects that are far away. The best telephoto shots will be at 3x and 5x, but even if you need to go above and beyond that, Samsung’s software does a great job of optimizing shots. We’ve managed to capture some nice 10x and 20x shots with this camera system. Even if you want to shoot the moon at night, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has you covered.
It has plenty more to offer
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is not just a camera smartphone, it’s so much more than that. This handset is extremely powerful, and it has a gorgeous 6.8-inch display on the front. That display is not only vivid, sharp, and very bright, but it also comes with the Gorilla Armor protection which not only protects the display but it fights off reflections brilliantly. This is still one of our favorite displays to use, if not the favorite one. If you throw the S Pen on top of everything, that panel becomes even more appealing. Yes, the S Pen is included, it’s always docked inside the phone if you need it.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which was, most of this year, the most powerful chip Samsung could get its hands on. This processor fuels every single Galaxy S24 Ultra model on the planet. Samsung also included capable stereo speakers here, which are tuned by AKG, while a 5,000mAh battery is also a part of the package. 45W wired and 15W wireless charging is supported, as is 4.5W reverse wireless charging. All in all, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a well-rounded smartphone package.