If you're looking for a top-of-the-line smartphone and are willing to pay a premium price, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra might be the right choice for you. It offers significantly better camera quality, especially in low light and dynamic range. Alongside, it provides a larger screen with a higher resolution, longer battery life, and more RAM which enhances performance. If these features are crucial for you and justify the higher cost, then the S24 Ultra is the way to go. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S23 offers very good camera quality and performance at a less expensive upper midrange price, and it's a suitable option if you prefer to save money while still obtaining a high-quality device. Both phones have glass backs, OLED displays with similar refresh rates, and support 5G, but the S24 Ultra also has unique features like an integrated stylus and a more advanced processor. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Samsung Galaxy S23
The Samsung Galaxy S23 has no clear advantages over the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Advantages of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Best in class for taking photos
Very good for recording videos
Excellent battery life
Best in class display quality
Best in class performance
Key differences
Overall Camera Quality
8.3/10
9.3/10
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has excellent overall camera quality, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 has very good overall camera quality.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 outperforms the S24 Ultra in selfie quality, which is highly important, while they both offer a very good experience in other photo and video aspects. Even though the S24 Ultra has an excellent video dynamic range, its overall camera performance is not on par with the S23 due to its lower selfie camera quality.
Photo Quality
8.3/10
9.7/10
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra takes best in class photos, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 takes very good photos.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 takes excellent photos partly due to its high selfie quality, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra takes poorer photos which could be attributed to its relatively lower selfie quality despite having other strong camera features.
Battery
8.0 Hours
10.4 Hours
The Samsung Galaxy S23 has 8 hours of battery life. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has 10.4 hours of battery life.
Screen Size
The Samsung Galaxy S23 has a screen size of 6.1 inches and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is 6.8 inches.
Cost
$700
$1,300
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
The Samsung Galaxy S23 has a price of $700 and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra costs $1,300.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to have very good videos, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 takes good videos.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 takes excellent videos due to higher ratings in video stabilization and low light performance, combined with very good video software experience and microphone quality. In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra scores lower in these areas, particularly in video stabilization and low light performance, resulting in poorer video quality despite its potential with high video resolution and frame rate.
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How the Samsung Galaxy S23 and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra compare to other phones
"The 6.1-inch S23 is the best reasonably sized Android phone on the market in the US, partly because almost every other Android phone sold here is gigantic. But it’s also a really good device, with a battery that gets through a full day more comfortably than its predecessor. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset responsible for some of that battery performance improvement is slightly different — and slightly faster — than the 8 Gen 2 in other Android flagships."
Get a great deal on the Samsung Galaxy S23 or the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
About Samsung
Samsung is one of the most recognizable names in the smartphone industry, standing as the undisputed best-selling brand of Android smartphones in the United States for many years now. Samsung is known for offering a variety of smartphones in all available price points, as well as for implementing cutting-edge technology and innovative features in their flagship devices, ones that often shape the market going forward. The company offers its own unique spin on Android, called One UI, which focuses on offering a multitude of features and is heavily customizable, according to user preference.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec phones team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest phone information and makes it digestible for you.
By the numbers
68
Phones evaluated
7,820
Phones stats compiled
8
Proprietary Phones ratings developed
121,500
Recommendations made
68,850
Consumer hours saved
About the phone team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Phones Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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Efthimis Kotanidis
Phones Expert
Efthimis is a Greece-based product expert focusing on smartphones. He has been recommending phones for 4 years and his recommendations on Reddit have earned him over 35k karma.