u/Dear_Ebb_5782

Hey everyone, just wanted to put down some thoughts on how the S24 Ultra is holding up today—especially now that we’ve got the One UI 8.5 update. Honestly, if you have this phone, there is absolutely zero reason to upgrade anytime soon.

Samsung absolutely killed it with this generation, and the fact that they brought nearly all the major 8.5 software features down to the S24 Ultra makes it feel like a brand-new device anyway. Everyday usability is just next level. The Call Screen feature is an absolute lifesaver for weeding out spam, and on-device voicemail is so incredibly handy I don't know how I lived without it. Plus, the new "text to edit" feature in the gallery makes quick, seamless photo corrections stupidly easy.

It really highlights how far ahead Samsung’s AI feature set is compared to Apple. While Apple is still trying to figure out the absolute basics of on-device intelligence, Samsung is out here giving us actual, integrated, practical productivity tools that just work out of the box.

Honestly, looking at what came after, the S24 Ultra is straight-up better than the newer S25 Ultra and S26 Ultra models for a few key reasons:

1. The Industrial Box Design: The sharp, blocky box design of the S24U looks incredibly business-like, premium, and sophisticated. The rounded-off corners on the S25 and S26 models completely lost that presence and just look generic.
2. The Best Colors: The color options on this generation were unmatched. I have the Titanium Violet, and it is easily my favorite colorway Samsung has ever produced.
3. The Bluetooth S-Pen: Having a fully integrated, remote-capable BT S-Pen is the main reason I will likely never upgrade for the foreseeable future. Samsung quietly stripped the Bluetooth module out of the stylus on the newer ones to save space, turning it into a basic inductive plastic pointer. No remote shutter button, no air gestures—major downgrade for power users.
4. Premium Titanium Frame vs. S26 Aluminum Reversion: Samsung completely walked back the premium materials on the S26 Ultra, ditching Titanium entirely and quietly reverting to Armor Aluminum. Taking away the high-end luxury feel while charging top-tier flagship pricing is a massive step backward.
5. Display Comfort and PWM Sensitivity: For anyone sensitive to screen flickering (PWM), the S24 Ultra panel remains much friendlier on the eyes. The newer models still stick to a choppy 480Hz PWM rate, and between that and changes to the glass layers, a lot of people have been noting bad eye strain and headaches during low-light browsing. The S24 Ultra feels significantly cleaner and more comfortable for long-term daily use.

On top of that, the hardware is built to last. I just verified my battery health via ADB, and after over 2 full years of heavy daily use, it is still sitting at a wild 92% health. What makes this even crazier is looking at the S26 Ultra's internal "shrinkflation"—Samsung's official EU labels show they downgraded the battery lifespan rating from 2,000 charge cycles down to just 1,200 cycles before hitting 80% health. The battery cell in the S24U is fundamentally more robust for the long haul. Because this phone is so perfect, my plan is literally just to do a simple battery replacement in another 2 years and keep rocking it.

Performance-wise, it’s still an absolute monster. PhoneBuff just dropped a massive lab-tested speed test gauntlet video comparing the last six generations of Galaxy Ultras (S21U all the way up to the new S26U) using robots for precision. https://youtu.be/YvGea7b3snY?si=3V7RLlfptKNsG2Z5

The data basically proves that upgrading from the S24U for speed makes zero sense. While the older S23 Ultra and below took massive performance hits and slowed down heavily under sustained loads, the S24 Ultra held its ground flawlessly. In fact, in their multi-lap gauntlet test, the S24 Ultra finished only a mere 9 seconds behind the S25 Ultra and was right on the heels of the S26 Ultra. As the video notes, the S24 generation was when Samsung virtually doubled the size of the cooling system, which is exactly why it barely feels any slower than a brand-new flagship under heavy use. Paying a massive premium for an incremental single-digit second gain is just pointless.

And don't get me started on the cameras—it still takes absolutely amazing photos. Now, this is my personal bias and opinion coming from shooting with a limited sample size, but I actually think the S24 Ultra takes better pictures than the S25 and S26 Ultra.

On paper, Samsung didn’t technically downgrade the physical main sensors, but they absolutely messed with the internal specs and tuning philosophy:

• The Exposure and Color Science Shift: With the S25 and S26 Ultra generations, Samsung shifted their tuning to target much higher exposures. They try to forcefully brighten up the shadows and the overall scene. In practice, it frequently over-brightens everything, clips the highlights, and makes the photos look flat or washed out. The S24 Ultra has a much more matured, cinematic balance with rich contrast and deep saturation that handles exposure naturally without blowing out the frame.
• The 3x Telephoto Shrinkage: On the S26 Ultra, the physical sensor size of the 3x telephoto camera was actually shrunk down to a smaller 1/3.94" effective crop size. They're relying heavily on software reconstruction to hit 12MP rather than native, large-pixel optical physics.
• Diminishing Returns on Optimization: Because the core hardware is fundamentally the same, the S24 Ultra has the ultimate advantage of over two years of aggressive software optimization. Samsung has spent years tweaking, patching, and perfecting the image processing pipeline specifically for the S24 Ultra hardware, whereas the S25 and S26 are still working through those artificial-looking growing pains.

Whether it's capturing crisp 5x and 10x zoom details, getting perfect portrait separation, or shooting low-light shots that preserve actual atmosphere instead of looking unnaturally brightened, the photography on the S24 Ultra is just phenomenal.

If you're still rocking an S24 Ultra, hold onto it. With One UI 8.5, elite battery longevity, and hardware that still goes toe-to-toe with the newest flagships, this thing is a keeper.