Samsung Galaxy S24+ review: Bigger is better

Samsung’s Plus variant is the middle child in the Galaxy S lineup that will most likely be overlooked. The Galaxy S24+ for most people is just a Galaxy S24 with a bigger display and battery. Most people will pay more and go for the superior Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, that’s not all for the Galaxy S24+. Yes, it has mostly the same specs as the Galaxy S24, but bigger is better, which I realized after using the Galaxy S24+ for about a week.

Should you consider the Galaxy S24+ over the Galaxy S24 or even the Galaxy S24 Ultra? Find out below.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Price in India

Galaxy S24+ is expensive! It is available in two variants in India: the 12GB + 256GB option which costs Rs. 99,999 and the 12GB + 512GB variant which costs Rs. 1,09,999.

The Galaxy S24+ supports 45W fast charging, but does not include a charger

As for color options, the Galaxy S24+ comes in Cobalt Violet and Onyx Black, but you can also get the phone in exclusive finishes like Sapphire Blue and Jade Green when you buy online. We got the Cobalt Violent option with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The box contains the phone, some documents, a SIM eject tool and a USB Type-C to Type-C cable.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ 5G Review: Design

In terms of design, it’s basically a bigger Galaxy S24 or Galaxy S23/Galaxy S22. The design hasn’t changed in the last few years, but you get better and stronger materials. Compared to the Galaxy S23+, the new Galaxy S24+ comes with a stronger Armor 2 aluminum frame. Despite the larger footprint compared to the standard Galaxy S24, the phone is still comfortable to hold in one hand if you have large hands. It weighs 197 grams, but is almost the same thickness as the Galaxy S24 at 7.7mm. The phone feels premium and can take a beating (I haven’t tried).

The Galaxy S24+ features an Armor 2 aluminum frame

You get thin display bezels on the front that are the same across the board, which are now thinner than last year. There’s a notch at the top for the speaker/earpiece and an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. The Galaxy S24+ features the same Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection and IP68 rating as its smaller sibling. On the back is the familiar triple-camera system, with each camera housed in a separate metal ring. The LED flash is next to the three vertically positioned sensors, but is positioned lower than the Galaxy S23+.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Specs and Software

The only difference between the Galaxy S24+ and the Galaxy S24 when it comes to specifications is the larger battery. It’s equipped with a 4nm Exynos 2400 SoC paired with the Xclipse 940 GPU, up to 12GB of RAM (up from 8GB on the Galaxy S23+) and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. There is no expandable storage in the phone. For communication, you get tri-band Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 LE, a USB Type-C 3.2 port and the usual array of GPS satellite support.

Samsung’s ultrasonic fingerprint reader is also reliable and I honestly think more smartphone brands should use this technology instead of the optical sensor. It’s faster and more accurate and I’ve never had any problems with it.

Samsung has promised seven years of software updates on the Galaxy S24+

The Galaxy S24+ has a 4900mAh battery, much larger than the Galaxy S24’s 4000mAh cell and slightly larger than the older Galaxy S23+’s 4700mAh. However, the phone still only offers support for 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging, which is the same as last year.

What isn’t the same this year is the promised software support, with Samsung now offering 7 years of Android OS and security updates. The Galaxy S24+ runs One UI 6.1 based on Android 14. You also get the new Galaxy AI feature set, which you can read all about in our Galaxy S24 review.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Performance

Moving on to performance, the Galaxy S24+’s Exynos 2400 SoC offers class-leading performance in all scenarios. If you look at the benchmark numbers, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy SoC will be better, but you won’t notice any difference in daily use or gaming. I ran some tests on the Galaxy S24+ and its results were similar to the Galaxy S24. On AnTuTu, the phone scored 1,457,608 points, and on Geekbench it managed a single-core score of 1987 and a multi-core score of 6137. The AnTuTu score was slightly lower than the Galaxy S24’s score, but the Geekbench score was higher. This is probably because the Plus model offers a larger area for cooling. Results were similar to GFXbench.

The Galaxy S24+ display offers a peak brightness of 2600 nits

Now let’s talk about the display, where you’ll find the changes. The Galaxy S24+ comes with a slightly larger 6.7-inch display compared to last year’s Galaxy S23+ (6.6-inch). The display also gets thinner bezels and is a brighter LTPO AMOLED 2x panel with 2600 nits peak brightness and QHD+ resolution. It continues to offer a 120Hz refresh rate. The display is quite bright and easy to read outdoors.

The phone features a dual-speaker hybrid setup that’s loud and offers decent bass. Call quality is also excellent.

Gaming on the Galaxy S24+ is a similar gaming experience to the smaller S24. All games run at their highest settings and you won’t notice any lag. What you may notice is the heat. The phone heats up a bit during long hours of gaming. I also found the phone to heat up quickly when running benchmarks.

The phone was getting hot while charging and playing games

Moving on to battery performance, the phone managed 19 hours and 17 minutes in our HD cycle test with the screen resolution set to QHD+. A higher resolution screen is a battery stealer, but you can get better battery life if you lower the resolution. With regular use, the phone lasts more than a day with ease. However, with heavy use, the phone needed charging at the end of the day. Charging the phone takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes if you use a 45W+ charger and a higher-rated cable. The phone comes with a 3A rated cable that only supports 25W fast charging. I used a 125W charger for the charging test.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ review: cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ offers the same camera setup as the smaller Galaxy S24 we already reviewed. It has a 50-megapixel primary rear camera with OIS, a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view. For selfies, there is a 12-megapixel sensor with autofocus support.

The Galaxy S24+ takes excellent photos in daylight

Honestly, there is no difference in photo and video performance between the two phones. However, compared to last year’s Galaxy S23+, you’ll see slightly less saturation and more contrast. Ultra-wide shots are good, but you still don’t get autofocus, which results in some blurry shots, especially in low light. Speaking of low light, night shots are good from the main camera. Below are some sample photos to evaluate the performance of the camera.

Primary rear camera samples: Top – Daylight; Bottom – low light (tap to expand)

Examples of ultrawide cameras: Top – Daylight photo. Lower part – low light

3x telephoto samples: top – daylight. Bottom – low light (tap to expand)

You can also head over to our Galaxy S24 review for more camera examples.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Verdict

Before I give my final verdict, let’s talk about the alternatives. The OnePlus 12 (review) is an excellent option with a bigger screen, slightly better cameras, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, a bigger battery and faster charging. It’s also cheaper than the Galaxy S24+. The Google Pixel 8 Pro (review) will offer better camera performance for photos, added AI features, and a similar or better software experience. Again, the Pixel 8 Pro is also cheaper and has a better telephoto camera. You can also upgrade to the iPhone 15 Plus, which, while lacking a telephoto camera, will offer battery life and performance. Finally, you can also try the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It will deliver better performance, a similar-sized display, S-Pen support, a bigger battery, and better cameras. You can probably get the phone for about the same price as the Galaxy S24+.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Galaxy Plus variant is usually overlooked by users as it only offers a bigger screen and battery compared to the smaller S variant. While that may have been the case for the past few years, the Galaxy S24+ changes things. You now get a better, brighter display, improved build quality, 12GB of RAM as standard and seven years of software updates. It’s now closer to the Galaxy S24 Ultra in terms of specs, and therefore a better buy if you’re looking to save some money and don’t really care about the better cameras offered by the Ultra, but want a bigger display and battery .