It has a larger battery and screen compared to the Galaxy S24.

Samsung’s Plus is the most overlooked mid-range model in the Galaxy S lineup. For most people, the Galaxy S24+ is simply a Galaxy S24 with a bigger display and battery. Most people will spend more and opt for the better Galaxy S24 Ultra. But the Galaxy S24+ is so much more. Sure, it has almost the same specs as the Galaxy S24, but bigger is better, and that’s what I realized after using the Galaxy S24+ for about a week.

Should you consider the Galaxy S24+ instead of the Galaxy S24 or Galaxy S24 Ultra? Find out below.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Price in India

The Galaxy S24+ is pricey! It is available in two versions in India – the 12GB + 256GB option priced at Rs 99,999 and the 12GB + 512GB version at Rs 1,09,999 .

The Galaxy S24+ supports 45W fast charging, but no charger is included.

In terms of colour options, the Galaxy S24+ is available in Cobalt Violet and Onyx Black, while online buyers can also get the phone in exclusive finishes like Sapphire Blue and Jade Green. We received the Cobalt Violet option with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage.

Inside the box you’ll find the phone, documentation, a SIM eject tool, and a USB Type-C to Type-C cable.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ 5G Review: Design

Design-wise, it’s basically a larger version of the Galaxy S24, or the Galaxy S23/Galaxy S22. The design hasn’t changed in years, but the materials are better and stronger. Compared to the Galaxy S23+, the new Galaxy S24+ has a stronger Armor 2 aluminum frame. Despite the larger footprint compared to the standard Galaxy S24, if you have larger hands, this phone can be held comfortably in one hand. It weighs 197 grams, but is 7.7mm thick, almost the same as the Galaxy S24. The phone feels premium and can withstand impacts (not tested).

The Galaxy S24+ features an Armor 2 aluminum frame.

The front features slim display bezels that are uniform throughout, even slimmer than last year’s. At the top are slits for the speaker/earpiece and an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. The Galaxy S24+ has the same Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection and IP68 rating as its smaller sibling. At the back, there’s the familiar triple-camera system, with each camera housed in a separate metal ring. The LED flash is next to the three vertically-aligned sensors, but is positioned lower than on the Galaxy S23+.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Specs and Software

In terms of specifications, the only difference between the Galaxy S24+ and the Galaxy S24 is the larger battery. It’s powered by a 4nm Exynos 2400 SoC with an Xclipse 940 GPU, up to 12GB of RAM (up from 8GB on the Galaxy S23+), and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. There’s no expandable storage on the phone. For communications, you get tri-band Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 LE, a USB Type-C 3.2 port, and the usual GPS satellite support.

Samsung’s ultrasonic fingerprint reader is also reliable, and I honestly think more smartphone brands should adopt this technology instead of optical sensors. It’s faster and more accurate, and I’ve never had any issues with it.

Samsung has promised to provide software updates for the Galaxy S24+ for seven years.

The Galaxy S24+ comes with a 4,900mAh battery, much larger than the 4,000mAh cell in the Galaxy S24 and slightly larger than the 4,700mAh unit in the older Galaxy S23+, but the phone still only supports 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging, which is the same as last year.

What’s different this year is the promised software support. Samsung now offers seven years of Android OS and security updates. The Galaxy S24+ runs Android 14-based One UI 6.1 out of the box. It also gets the new Galaxy AI suite of features, which you can read more about in our Galaxy S24 review.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Performance

Talking about performance, the Exynos 2400 SoC in the Galaxy S24+ offers flagship performance in all scenarios. Looking at the benchmark numbers, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the Galaxy SoC is better, but you won’t notice the difference in everyday use or gaming. We ran some tests on the Galaxy S24+ and its scores were almost the same as the Galaxy S24. In AnTuTu, the phone scored 1,457,608 points, and in Geekbench, it had a single-core score of 1987 and a multi-core score of 6137. The AnTuTu score was slightly lower than that of the Galaxy S24, but the Geekbench score was higher. This is probably due to the larger area for cooling in the Plus model. The results were similar in GFXbench as well.

The Galaxy S24+ display has a peak brightness of 2,600 nits.

Now, let’s talk about the display, where you’ll find the changes. The Galaxy S24+ comes with a 6.7-inch display, which is slightly larger compared to last year’s Galaxy S23+ (6.6 inches). The display also has slimmer bezels and is now a brighter LTPO AMOLED 2x panel with 2,600 nits peak brightness and QHD+ resolution. It still offers a 120Hz refresh rate. The display is bright enough and easy to read even outdoors.

The phone comes with a hybrid dual speaker setup that delivers loud volume and decent bass, and the call quality is also excellent.

Gaming on the Galaxy S24+ is a similar experience to gaming on the smaller S24. All games run at maximum settings and there is no noticeable lag. What you do notice is heat. During extended gaming sessions, the phone gets a little warm. We also noticed that the phone heats up quickly when running benchmark tests.

My phone gets hot while charging or playing games.

Talking about the battery performance, the phone lasted for 19 hours and 17 minutes in the HD loop test with the screen resolution set to QHD+. High resolution screens drain the battery, but you can extend the battery life by lowering the resolution. With normal usage, the phone easily lasted more than a day. But with heavy usage, it needed to be charged at the end of the day. With a 45W+ charger and a higher rated cable, the phone takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes to charge. The phone comes with a 3A rated cable that only supports 25W fast charging. We used a 125W charger for the charging tests.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ features the same camera setup as the smaller Galaxy S24 we’ve already reviewed: a 50-megapixel main rear camera with OIS, a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle unit with a 120-degree FoV. For selfies, it has a 12-megapixel sensor with autofocus support.

The Galaxy S24+ can take great photos even in daylight.

To be honest, there is no difference in the photo and video performance of these two smartphones. However, compared to last year’s Galaxy S23+, there is slightly less saturation and more contrast. Ultra-wide shots are good, but the lack of autofocus results in blurry shots, especially in low light. Night shots from the main camera are good in low light. Below are some sample shots to gauge the camera performance.

Samsung Galaxy S24+ Review: Verdict

Before making a final decision, let’s talk about the alternatives. The OnePlus 12 (Review) is a great choice with a larger screen, slightly better camera, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, a bigger battery, and faster charging. It’s also cheaper than the Galaxy S24+. The Google Pixel 8 Pro (Review) offers better stills camera performance, added AI features, and an equal or better software experience. Again, the Pixel 8 Pro is also cheaper and has a better telephoto camera. You could also switch to the iPhone 15 Plus . It doesn’t have a telephoto camera, but it has better battery life and performance. Finally, you could try the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It has better performance, a similar display size, S Pen support, a bigger battery, and a better camera. You could probably get the phone for about the same price as the Galaxy S24+.

As mentioned at the beginning, the Galaxy Plus is often ignored by consumers because it only has a larger screen and battery compared to the smaller S. That may have been the case for the past few years, but the Galaxy S24+ changes things. It offers a better and brighter display, improved build quality, 12GB RAM as standard, and 7 years of software updates. It’s closer to the Galaxy S24 Ultra in terms of specifications, so it’s the better buy if you’re looking to save money, aren’t particularly interested in the better camera that the Ultra offers, and want a bigger display and battery.

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