The Galaxy S24 Ultrais here, marking Samsung’s fifth attempt at making an Ultra version of its legendary S series. Since taking over for the Note series, these phones have become the definition of kitchen sink engineering, packing in every tech spec you can imagine. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, so as we welcome the next Ultra phone from Samsung, let’s look back at what came before.
Galaxy S20 Ultra — A rocky start
TheS20 Ultratried to live up to its moniker but never quite managed. Starting with the design, it fell short of what we’d come to expect from Samsung. The Galaxy S6, through to the Galaxy S10, looked sleek and stylish, but there was no hint of those design principles when we saw the S20 Ultra. It only came in two bland colors, black and gray, and both were fingerprint magnets. Colors aside, the camera bump looked like an afterthought, and the 100x space zoom advertising printed on it made it look tacky.
The cameras inside that bump didn’t live up to expectations, either. The 108MP camera sensor made its debut here, but the removal of laser autofocus meant that it was almost impossible to get a photo in focus, and this was only made worse by the notorious shutter lag. Samsung has done much to improve that last issue on the subsequent models, but it was as bad as ever on this phone. The famed zoom didn’t live up to the hype either. The 48MP 4x periscope lens took OK photos at 4X, but everything about the marketing on this phone pushed you to punch in further, yet going beyond 8X would yield disappointing results.
The display didn’t disappoint, moving the punch hole to the middle and adding 120Hz for the first time on a Samsung flagship. It wasn’t adaptive; it was locked at either 120Hz or 60Hz no matter what you did, but that was normal at the time. The performance didn’t hold up to the smooth display, at least in international markets. Outside of the US, the S20 Ultra used an Exynos 990 with notorious thermal issues. Mine once got so hot on a video call that it cooked its motherboard and swelled the battery, leading to a two-week wait while Samsung swapped out its guts.
These flaws, combined with the extremely high starting price of $1,400, resulted in a poor first attempt from Samsung.
Galaxy S21 Ultra — Now we’re talking
This is the best-looking phone Samsung has ever made. The S21 Ultra fixed almost every issue its predecessor had. The camera bump became a part of the frame, wrapping into the phone’s sides. The colors were better, too, especially if you got Phantom Silver. It looked silver most of the time, but get it at the right angle, and pinks, purples, reds, and teals would reflect from the surface.
The cameras didn’t just look pretty; they performed. The 48MP 4X zoom camera was replaced with dual 10MP sensors, one at 3X and the other at 10X. This gave the S21 Ultra the optical flexibility expected from these phones, and that 10X lens was invaluable at concerts. The primary sensor was still 108MP, but now it is aided by laser autofocus, so you can take sharp photos.
The display and performance saw improvements, too. The Exynos 2100 wasn’t as fast or efficient as the Snapdragon 888 used in the US, but the difference was small, and the phone could perform any task without any thermal issues. The display gained adaptive refresh rate support, dynamically adjusting between 10Hz and 120Hz based on what was happening on the screen to save power where possible. The only downside is that the phone gained S Pen support without adding a slot to store it. These improvements, combined with the price drop to a more reasonable $1,200, made the smartphone a certified hit.
Galaxy S22 Ultra — Mistakes were made
TheS22 Ultracertainly distinguished itself from its predecessor. The rounded corners and camera bump were removed in favor of the Galaxy Note’s design language. It was a shame to lose the integrated camera bump that made the S21 Ultra stand out, but gaining a fully integrated S Pen was worth it.
The cameras remained essentially the same as the year before, but the rest of the phone changed for the worse. The Exynos 2200 was almost as and as the 990 found in the S20 Ultra, and even the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 version struggled with thermal issues, albeit not as flawed as the Exynos model. These issues tainted whatever good the phone had for many people, which was a shame. The cameras were mostly the same, but the processing had improved, and the integration of the S Pen was welcome. The main upside of this year was the commitment to four Android updates with a fifth year of security patches, which was retroactively brought to the S21 Ultra as well.
Galaxy S23 Ultra — The best phone Samsung has ever made
Up until this point, theS23 Ultrahas been the best smartphone Samsung ever made and, in my opinion,the best phone of 2023. You’re probably sick and tired of hearing me gush over this phone for almost a year, but it’s great. The design is almost identical to the S22 Ultra, but this phone is about what’s on the inside.
Samsung didn’t make an Exynos version of the S23 Ultra. Every one of them uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 regardless of region, and that was the best move Samsung could’ve made. The S23 Ultra stays cool no matter how hard you push it, and the battery life is better than any of its predecessors. The primary camera got bumped up to 200MP while the other sensors stayed the same, and despite the higher resolution, Samsung was able to decrease the shutter lag once again. It’s still there, but most of the time, you can work around it, and changing the post-processing settings in the camera app can remove it almost entirely, at the expense of some visual quality.
The S23 Ultra was the phone we needed, a by-the-numbers upgrade that focused on important things like stability and performance over gimmicky software features.
What to expect from the S24 Ultra
The S24 Ultra is a more significant refresh than the S23 Ultra was, but not by much. The company is finally flattening the display, and the frame is made of titanium rather than armor aluminum. The 3X telephoto has remained the same, and the 10MP 10X lens has changed to a 50MP 5X sensor, which is more in line with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro.
These minor year-over-year upgrades might make things boring, but if they lead to a better overall product, maybe that’s not bad.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked
Are you interested in the Galaxy S24 Ultra or anything else that will be announced at unpacked? you may take $50 off your next phone when you reserve one with no charge and no commitment, so even if you’re still on the fence, it’s worth signing up.
