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When I reviewed the iPhone 15 Plus last year, I found it was placed in a difficult position. Spec-wise it was too similar to the iPhone 15, but price-wise it overlapped with the much better 15 Pro.
I expected a similar challenge with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, but it’s not quite the same. Samsung has managed to differentiate the Plus and the standard Galaxy S24 enough that the S24 Plus warrants its place in the lineup.
Thanks to a better display and more RAM, it’s actually a technical step up on the S24, which helps on the performance front.
Yet, it’s priced far enough below the S24 Ultra that it makes sense for anyone looking for a larger device, but don’t want to pay the Ultra’s premium price tag.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Design
The S24 Plus is remarkably similar in design to the S24, just slightly bigger. At least it seems that way on the outside.
The main display comes in at 6.7-inch for the full rectangle equivalent, though like its smaller sibling, it’s a bit smaller thanks to its rounded corners.
The bezel is similarly tiny around the outside of the Dynamic AMOLED 2X display.
However, within that extra half an inch of screen real estate (on the diagonal) compared to the S24 is a bucketload of extra pixels. The S24 Plus boasts a Quad HD+ resolution of 3120 × 1440.
The smaller phone’s FHD+ screen – which is still very nice, by the way – is only 2340 × 1080.
If I’m honest, the difference is pretty tough to tell. I popped on a 4K video on YouTube on both screens and watched them side by side, and couldn’t notice any clear advantage to either screen.
But they both looked fantastic.
The S24 Plus itself measures in at 158.5 × 75.9 × 7.7 and weighs 196 grams, and you can definitely feel that extra weight.
There are two other key differences to the S24 Plus on the specs front. Firstly, the Plus comes with 12 GB RAM over the S24’s 8 GB. The second is the battery capacity, which comes in at 4,900 mAh vs the S24’s 4,000 mAh.
Other than those features, and the screen, the phones offer the same camera array and software.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Performance
Like the S24, the S24 Plus unit Samsung sent me to review was “not final”, which meant that I wasn’t able to benchmark the device as part of this review.
Benchmarks are a means to an end, so I’m fine with describing the performance based on my usage over a couple of weeks.
But it is important to note here that the Exynos processor running the show isn’t the same one in the Galaxy S24 Ultra that blew us away. It’s a definite shame we couldn’t put numbers against the Exynos’s performance for consistency, but we can say that the S24 Plus always felt like the premium smartphone it is.
Scrolling through apps, browsing the web, and descending into the madness that is social media was always quick and responsive.
But those things aren’t really testing the processor. I downloaded Call of Duty Mobile and tested it across the S24 and S24 Plus, and the reality is that the extra 4 GB RAM does seem to play a bit of a part in helping the Plus run more smoothly.
There were a few instances when the S24 struggled to maintain the frame rate while playing, but the S24 Plus kept things running smoothly.
The game looked great on both displays, but it definitely felt better on the bigger device.
Camera performance
The cameras on the S24 and the S24 are effectively the same, which means you’ll get similarly impressive shots on the S24 Ultra to the S24.
The S24 Ultra does have a better main camera, but for most situations you’ll be hard-pressed to notice any real differences. In good light, the S24 Plus takes fantastic photographs with its triple lens array.
I’ll also mention again that Samsung’s image processing algorithms seem to have toned down the over saturation of photos found in previous generations. Images are still vibrant and colourful, but look slightly more natural than they did on previous models.
I did notice that the S24 Plus seemed not to focus as well on moving subjects as I expected. It typically looks fine on the device, but once you move it to a larger screen, you can see the subject of some images not as crisp as you might expect.
Then again, maybe I just took some crappy photos. I didn’t notice this on the S24, so it could be user error this time around.
Samsung has been delivering best in class camera phones for years now, so it would be a surprise to see the S24 Plus disappoint on this front.
Here are some example pictures.
Battery performance
Given even entry-level phones like the OPPO A18 come with 5,000 mAh batteries, it’s a bit of a shock to see the S24 Plus only packing 4,900 mAh.
But just like with the Exynos processor rather than the SnapDragon 8 Gen 3, you won’t even notice the difference.
Using the S24 Plus a reasonable amount over the past couple of weeks, I could get through a day and then some. Obviously intense gaming or non-stop video streaming had a bigger impact on the battery life, but I could always see the workday through.
Some days when I didn’t really use the phone, I could push it to two days between charge as well.
All things AI
I need to spend a bit of time discussing the AI functionality Samsung’s marketing makes such a big deal of.
Functionally speaking, you get the same AI features as you get on the S24 and the S24 Ultra.
But like those devices, a lot of the functionality is buried in menus, or doesn’t quite fulfil its promise.
Circle to Search is the highlight, as it does what it says it will do on the tin. In day to day situations, I have used it exactly 0 times. But I’ve shown it off as something cool on multiple occasions.
Editing photos with AI is pretty good too, depending on what it’s doing. I find the Remaster function quite reliable, but anything that asks to remove something ends up looking like a bad photoshop.
Then there are features like summarising a webpage, which has missed most of the content on the pages I’ve tried to use it on.
I guess my big takeaway here is that AI functionality still has a long way to go. But it’s also entirely optional to use, so I haven’t actually factored it in to my performance scoring.
If you can see benefit for you using these functions, then the phone itself is up to the task. Whether the software can do the job is TBC, depending on your needs.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Verdict
And so the middle child of the S24 family rests in an awkward position. It’s not the cheapest, grabbing the value buyer, and it’s not the best, grabbing the discerning shopper.
But unlike Apple’s iPhone 15 Plus, I feel Samsung has boosted the S24 Plus enough to make it a better device than the S24 overall. The better resolution, larger battery, and extra RAM give it an edge on the performance front.
Sure, if you want a smaller or cheaper device then the S24 is the way to go. But if you have ruled out the Ultra and are weighing up between the two, I’d lean slightly more towards the Plus as the better device.
Buy the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus online
Samsung supplied the product for the review.
