Holding the Samsung Galaxy S24+ reminds me of when I was reviewing its predecessor, the Galaxy S23+, last year. I was in Meghalaya, road-tripping with one of my closest friends, and there was no dearth of scenic beauty to capture.
The fact that it was a pleasant 20 degrees Celsius is also something I sorely miss as I sit in a sweltering summer in Chennai this year while writing this review. Thankfully, that’s where the unpleasant ends.
Design
I love me some purple. And as luck would have it I’m holding the Cobalt Violet colour option in hand. It reminds me of candy somehow. And, of BTS, my absolute favourite boyband!
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ sports a sizeable 6.7-inch AMOLED display that offers Quad HR resolution and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 shield. The under-the-display fingerprint scanner was snappy and reliable throughout the period of my review.
There are refresh rates of up to 120 Hz, which I can manually tweak in the settings. I can choose the adaptive mode to have the device automatically switch between different modes and go up to 120 Hz. With HDR10+’s ability to enhance the colours and contrast of compatible media on Netflix and Amazon Prime, the visuals truly come to life. The smartphone also supports Dolby Atmos with presets such as movies, music and voice, amping up what I’d like to prioritise.
The Galaxy S24+ has stereo speakers, which are loud and clear, with decent bass in general, and minimal distortion at higher volumes. Although, I never really needed to tweak the volume past the midway point.
Camera
The rear panel is minimally designed with a subtle logo at the bottom, and the signature three camera lenses lie in the left corner. The primary camera setup includes a 50 MP main camera, a 10 MP telephoto lens, and a 12 MP ultrawide lens. As expected of a Samsung flagship, the cameras do not disappoint. The photos taken in daylight are crisp, and unlike older Samsung flagships, this one doesn’t ver-saturate the colour tones. The dynamic range is also well-balanced with the details in the shadows not entirely lost. Colours are vibrant, without being blown up too much.
The front camera is 12 MP with a 1/3.2-inch sensor, which takes some really pleasing selfies! It can also shoot 2160p video at 60 frames per second.
Tech Specs
The Galaxy S24+ is powered in the Indian market by an Exynos 2400 processor. Thankfully, there are no variants in RAM with the Galaxy S24+. It’s a powerful 12 GB RAM across the board. You get to choose the storage - either 256 GB or 512 GB. The smartphone features Samsung’s proprietary One UI 6.1 on top of Google’s latest Android 14. The customisations continue to go deep with Samsung, with additions such as the Always On display now displaying the lock screen wallpaper and widgets. Of course, all the new much-touted AI features that I wrote about in my review of the Samsung Galaxy 24 Ultra also feature on the S24+. There’s Circle to Search, which I honestly find handy. There are also writing assistant features one can enable which help with chat translation, checking your spelling and grammar and making suggestions for your writing style.
What is truly stupendous is Samsung’s promise of massive seven years of OS updates, One UI updates and security patches. Practically unheard of!
Battery
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ is powered by a 4,900 mAh battery. In my mixed usage of minimal calls, lots of photography, casual gaming, and catching up on OTT content, the smartphone would still have 30-40 per cent charge left at the end of the day. The smartphone supports 45W fast wired charging and is compatible with wireless chargers too. Of course, it ships without a charger. I used a 45W charger, and it took about a full charge to get fully charged from zero.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ ticks off a lot of boxes on the flagship smartphone checklist. An elegant, minimal design, sharp display, decent set of cameras, satisfactory battery life, and meaningful AI features — if that holds appeal for you. The drawback is that in terms of cameras and even battery life, it’s not a huge upgrade from last year’s S23+. But in the overall scheme of things, as a flagship, the Galaxy S24+ continues to shine up top as one of the nicest, most capable Android premium smartphones. I also love the fact that there are a ton of colour options to choose from: the usual Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow. Plus, if you’re shopping online, the official website also offers exclusive Sapphire Blue, Jade Green, and Sandstone Orange shades.
Price: ₹99,999 onwards
Pros: 7-year updates, AI features, smooth performance, good battery life
Cons: Design due an upgrade, some graininess in low-light shots, no 1 TB storage option