Samsung Galaxy S24 vs. Samsung Galaxy S24+

The Galaxy S24 family is here, and if you ask us, each device of the trio has its own spot under the sun. Traditionally, the Plus model tends to get the least attention from buyers, and honestly, we don’t expect things to be any different this year. However, as we’ve already said on a few occasions this year, the S24+ is arguably closer to the Ultra than even in terms of features. A large QHD display and an almost identical-size 4,900 mAh battery sound pretty enticing. All the while, the S24+ is still quite a bit cheaper than the S24 Ultra, while the upsell from a vanilla S24 to an S24+ isn’t quite as bad.

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Still, the Galaxy S24 maintains its clear advantage if you are after a compact flagship device. And even if you don’t mind a bigger device, the S24 is still the cheapest way to get into the shiny new S24 family with its Galaxy AI and seven years of software updates. Let’s do a bit of a comparison for anyone out there wondering between the Galaxy S24 and the S24+.

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the text further down below.

Size comparison

Samsung didn’t substantially change the footprint of either the S24 or the S24+ compared to last year. The Korean giant managed to fit slightly larger displays (6.2-inch and 6.7-inch, respectively), mostly thanks to the space savings afforded by LTPO tech.

The difference in size between the pair is pretty substantial. The Vanilla Galaxy S24 remains one of the few compact modern flagships on the market. All the while, the S24+ has a display almost the size of that of the S24 Ultra. The S24 is both thinner and shorter than the S24+. They are about the same in terms of thickness, and the difference in weight between the two is about 30 grams. Speaking of which, it is perhaps interesting to note that the S24 Ultra weighs a whopping 232 grams, which is a good 36 grams more than the S24+, making the S24+ a good option for a large-display Samsung flagship that saves on both weight and size.

The styling is identical between the vanilla S24 and the S24+. Other than the size difference, the two are externally identical. They even have the same color options: Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet, Amber Yellow, Jade Green, Sandstone Orange and Sapphire Blue. Some of these are only available straight from Samsung’s store.

This year’s new design detail, shared between the S24 and S24+, is the matte finish. It is particularly visible on the middle frame of the phone.

Speaking of the middle frame, its material has been upgraded from the S23 generation and is now Armor aluminum 2. It is supposed to improve both drop and scratch resistance. Besides that, you still get the excellent Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protective glass on both the phones’ front and back. The new Gorilla Glass Armor remains exclusive to the S24 Ultra this year. Both phones also enjoy a full IP68 ingress protection rating.

Display comparison

Both the S24 and S24+ have excellent Samsung-made, Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels. Both are from the same generation and advertise a whopping 2,600 nits of maximum brightness.

In our standardized testing, the S24 managed 785 nits on the slider and 1,401 nits in auto mode, while the S24+ did 781 nits on the slider and 1,452 nits in auto mode. Once we started to shrink the white patch, the brightness went north of 2,000 nits, so we have no doubt the advertised values are achievable.

Both phones also get LTPO tech this year, which not only helped Samsung fit slightly larger panels in what is basically the same footprint as the S23 and S23+ but also means better dynamic refresh rate control. Samsung’s LTPO tech is excellent, and so is the company’s refresh rate switching logic, even going as far as to match video playback framerate with the display refresh rate.

The only blemish on the otherwise excellent display record seems to be the fact that the S24 and S24+ still rely on 8-bit panels while many competitors have moved on to 10 or even 12-bit panels. But that’s honestly very hard to notice in practice.

Battery life

The Galaxy S24 and S24+ both have bigger batteries compared to the S23 generation. The vanilla S24 has a slight bump of 100 mAh, and its battery is now a nice round 4,000 mAh. The S24+ has added 200 mAh over its predecessor, and its battery pack is now 4,900 mAh. That’s almost as much as the 5,000 mAh of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Samsung didn’t really increase battery capacity this year to achieve better battery endurance, though, but rather to combat the seemingly higher power draw of the new generation of Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips.

Still, compared to the older S23, the vanilla S24 saw a slight bump in its Active Use Score. 12:06 hours out of such a compact phone is good.

As for the S24+, it only managed a slightly higher Active Use Score than the S24, clocking in at 12:30 hours. That might seem odd on the surface, but it starts to make sense once you consider the added strain of driving QHD resolution on a much bigger display.

Charging speed

Like previous generations, the vanilla S24 only gets Samsung’s 25W Super Fast Charging standard. The S24+ is rated for 45W Super Fast Charging, just like the S24 Ultra. In reality, the difference in charging speed between the two, while still notable, is not that dramatic.

In our testing the S24 unit got from zero to 29% in 15 minutes, then 59% in 30 minutes with a full charge taking 1:15 hours. All the while, we managed to charge our S24+ to 41% in 15 minutes, 74% in 30 minutes, and a full charge took 0:58 hours. Using a 25W power adapter with the S24+ will add 10-15 more minutes to the time needed for a full charge, and 30 minutes of charging will net you 60% of charge instead of 74%.

It is worth noting that while the Galaxy S24+ supports the faster 45W charging standard, the cable that comes with the phone is only rated for 3A and is not capable of such speeds. Then again, Samsung seems to sell all of its 45W chargers with an included 5A cable.

Also worth noting is that neither phone comes with a charger in the box, so unless you got one on some sort of promo from your retailer or carrier, you might have to go out and get one. Samsung’s Super Fast Charging is PD-based, so any good PD charger should work, but we would still recommend getting a Samsung one to ensure it has the correct PPS profiles.

Beyond wired charging, both the S24 and S24+ support 15W Qi/PMA wireless charging and 4.5W reverse charging.

Speaker test

Both the Galaxy S24 and S24+ have a hybrid stereo speaker setup with a dedicated bottom-firing speaker on one end and an amplified earpiece acting as the second speaker. Both phones managed a Very Good mark in our testing, which is notably better than the previous S23 generation.

Despite their difference in size, the S24 and S24+ have practically identical audio systems both in terms of loudness and actual sound quality.

You can compare how the two phones sound in controlled acoustic conditions with the samples below. Just make sure you have your headphones on and the volume is at max level.

Performance

After offering the S23 generation only with Qualcomm chips for better or worse, Samsung is now back to its two-chip solution for the S24 and S24+. The S24 Ultra still only gets a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But, depending on where you live, you might either end up with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or an Exynos 2400 inside your S24 or S24+. The latter is far more likely since just the USA, Canada and China get the Qualcomm variant.

At least you get a flagship chipset in both phones, which is arguably a lot more alluring in the smaller S24 since proper flagships in a compact form factor are so hard to come by. Our initial testing batch was done on European S24 and S24+ units running the Exynos 2400 chipset. For reference, our S24 review unit is the 8GB/256GB version, while our S24+ unit is rocking a 12GB/512GB configuration. We would advise you to avoid the base 128GB S24 since that uses slower UFS 3.1 storage.

We are yet to test the Snapdragon version of the S24 and S24+, but preliminary results do show that tis year, Samsung’s chipset seems to be very close in overall performance to Qualcomm’s flagship. Thermals might still be different across the chips, however. Samsung did say that it is upgrading its vapor chamber cooling solutions across the S24 lineup – possibly to account for the increased heat production by the new chipsets.

While the thermal-throttling behavior of the Exynos-equipped S24 and S24+ isn’t terrible by any means, we kind of expected a bit better on average. That being said, the surface of neither phone gets too hot to hold under load and out of the two, the bigger S24+ expectedly seems to handle heat slightly better. Not by a lot, though.

In terms of performance scores, the S24+ and S24 manage almost identical numbers, though the bigger S24+ does post slightly higher results on average. It doesn’t hurt that all Galaxy S24+ units come with 12GB of RAM, whereas the regular S24 is still stuck at 8GB (sans for a particular version in China).

Camera comparison

The Galaxy S24 and S24+ come with what appears to be unchanged camera hardware compared to last year’s models. That includes a somewhat pedestrian but still full-featured triple setup on the back, joined by a better-than-most selfie unit.

• Wide (main): 50MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)GN3, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, f/1.8, 24mm, PDAF, OIS; 4320p@30fps, 2160p@60fps
• Telephoto: 10MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)3K1, 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, f/2.4,67mm, PDAF, OIS; 2160p@60fps
• Ultrawide: 12MP, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, f/2.2, 13mm, fixed focus; 2160p@60fps
• Front camera: 12MP, 1/3.2″, 1.12µm, f/2.2, 26mm, PDAF; 2160p@60fps

It is worth pointing out that, yet again, Samsung refused to upgrade the ultrawide to an autofocusing unit that can double as a macro shooter. That remains an S24 Ultra feature.

Samsung galaxy S24 daylight samples: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x

Samsung galaxy S24+ daylight samples: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x

The S24 and S24+ expectedly capture pretty much identical photos across the board. Photos in broad daylight are hard to fault. They offer great detail, contrast and dynamic range. Colors are on the vibrant side but not off the charts – Samsung’s been done with that overly saturated look for a while now.

Compared to last year’s S23 generation, we would say that the S24 generation introduces a bit more contrasty images, but it’s not a huge difference.

Sharpening has been toned down from the previous generation, and detail has a more natural rendition. The more restrained processing this year has resulted in a bit of a grainier texture. We don’t mind a bit of that luminance noise when it means finer textures and a more organic presentation.

Samsung galaxy S24 low-light samples: 0.6x • 1x • Night mode • 3x

Samsung galaxy S24+ low-light samples: 0.6x • 1x • Night mode • 3x

Expectedly, the S24 and S24+ capture very good low-light images as well. Exposures are well judged, and the dynamic range is nicely wide – there’s no pronounced brightening of shadows or aggressive highlight preservation, but it’s not like there are large swaths of darkness or excessively blown-out highlights. We’d call it a balanced approach.

The grain we saw during the day is present at night as well, though the level of retained detail once again makes us appreciate the trade-off that Samsung’s gone with.

Verdict

The choice between a Galaxy S24 and an S24+ is kind of an odd one. In our experience, most users tend to have a size preference for their phones and the S24 duo is clearly meant to satisfy a different crowd in that regard. Chances are that if you make the wrong choice, you will either end up with a device that is way too small or way too big for you.

So, the only way to end up in a conundrum between the S24 and S2+ seems to require absolutely no size concerns. Also, arriving at this particular choice likely means that you have also considered and rejected getting an older S23 generation device of any size since, at current pricing, you should be able to even pick up an S23 Ultra for as much as a vanilla Galaxy S24. If the S23 generation hasn’t crossed your mind, you should probably consider it first for a better value deal.

With all that out of the way, you may still want to get a Galaxy S24 of some sort. Perhaps the seven years of software support have you excited? Or the new, brighter LTPO displays? Or you can’t wait to experience Galaxy AI? Regardless of the reason, let’s look at your options.

The base 8/128GB Galaxy S24 will set you back about $800/€900/£800/. However, you probably don’t want to be stuck with the slower UFS 3.1 storage, so you might consider the 8/256GB one at $860/€960/£860.

At the same time, the base 12/256GB S24+ will set you back about $1,000/€1,150/£1,000. We are still talking about a serious difference of around 200 bucks.

If you can spare the extra cash, you might as well go for the arguably more futureproof S24+ with 12GB RAM and QHD display.

If saving some money is more important, then the S24 is the way to go. But again, you should probably consider the S23 generation first as it may provide a better value.