Galaxy S24 Plus vs Galaxy S23 Plus: The era of AI is upon us
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Intro
The Galaxy S24 premiere is already behind us! The Korean chaebol announced the trinity of models we're all used to by now: the Galaxy S24, the bigger Galaxy S24 Plus, and the top dog, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, with refinements and AI magic baked in.
Today we're going to focus on the Galaxy S24 Plus, the middle child in the family and often a neglected one. It's a great option for those of you who love bigger phones but aren't prepared to pay the Ultra price. But how would this new model stack up against the old Galaxy S23 Plus? Do you need to upgrade if you already own the previous model? Which one should you choose if you're just planning a phone upgrade? We're going to try and answer these questions in today's article.
Galaxy S24 Plus vs Galaxy S23 Plus differences in a nutshell:
| Galaxy S24 Plus | Galaxy S23 Plus |
|---|---|
| New design, flatter sides | More rounded corners, compared to the successor |
| Slightly larger 6.7-inch display with 2,600 nits of brightness | 6.6-inch screen, 1,750 nits peak brightness |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip in the US Exynos in some other markets | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip in the US Exynos in some other markets |
| 12/256GB base memory, 12/512GB top variant | 8/256GB base memory option, 8/512 top variant |
| The same camera system as the predecessor, supported by new AI algorithms | 50 MP main camera sensor |
| Bigger, 4,900 mAh battery with the potential to last longer | 4,700 mAh battery |
| 45W fast wired charging, 10W wireless | 45W wired charge, 10W wireless |
| Starting price is the same as last year $999 | $999 starting price for the base 8/256GB configuration |
| Android 14, OneUI 6.1, Seven years of OS updates | Four years of OS updates, five years of security updates |
Design and Display Quality
Bigger is better, right?
Samsung says that it was able to shrink the bezels of the Galaxy S24 Plus and this is the primary reason for the larger display. The S24 Plus comes with a 6.7-inch screen, while the predecessor, the Galaxy S23 Plus sports a 6.6-inch panel. Even though the bezels might account for a millimeter or two, the truth is that the S24 Plus is slightly larger than its predecessor.
How much larger you may ask? The S24 Plus comes at 158.5 x 75.9 x 7.7 mm and 196 grams, while the previous model is more compact at 157.8 x76.2 x 7.6mm and again 196 grams. As you may tell, the difference isn't huge, in reality it's almost imperceivable. This isn't the only design difference, however.
The new model sports flatter sides, and a new armor aluminum frame, which curves ever so slightly toward the back glass. We're talking slightly different experience holding the phones here, with the advantage toward the S23 Plus as it's more compact and easier to use.
As far as colors are concerned, we're getting the following picture:
Galaxy S23 Plus available colors:
- Cream
- Lavender
- Green
- Phantom Black
Galaxy S24 Plus expected colors:
- Cobalt violet
- Amber yellow
- Marble gray
- Onyx black
- Jade Green (Samsung.com exclusive)
- Sapphire Blue (Samsung.com exclusive)
- Sandstone Orange (Samsung.com exclusive)
Now let's talk a bit about the displays. They are different, not only in size but in technology as well. The Galaxy S23 Plus features an old LTPO tech that allows the display to switch dynamically between 48 and 120Hz, while the new model can go down to 1Hz, which makes it more power efficient.
The Galaxy S24 Plus' display is also substantially brighter, according to Samsung it can go up to 2,600 nits peak brightness. These peak brightness levels are not what you should expect from the whole display, though. When phone manufacturers state the peak brightness they are referring to a very miniscule area on the display that was able to reach the statet nits, but not the whole display.
Usually, when we do our display lab tests, we tend to get much lower brightness levels. We use specialized software and a professional light meter to determine just how bright the display is, and even though we did not see 2,600 nits on the S24 Plus, it still managed to beat the S23 Plus by about 170 nits more or less.
To sum it all up, if you opt for the Galaxy S23+, you get a tad more compact device but not by much. On the other hand, if you decided to buy the newest model, you get more screen estate, better dynamic refresh rate and a brighter display.
Performance and Software
A typical generation leap
The Galaxy S24 Plus comes with the latest Qualcomm chipset onboard, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (or an Exynos 2400), while the last year's Galaxy S23 Plus features the previous version of that chipset, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The synthetic benchmark scores show the usual generation leap between flagship Qualcomm silicon. That being said, no night and day difference in terms of real-life performance, as usual.
The RAM situation is in favor of the Galaxy S24 Plus as the base model comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while the older Galaxy S23 Plus starts at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard memory. Neither of these phones feature a microSD card expansion slot.
As you can see, the S24+ performed marginally better in all of the benchmark tests we put boht phones through. We perform these benchmarks at room temperature to simulate a typical environment that most buyers would use the phones in. We didn't ntoice any throttling while the benchmark tests were being held.
When it comes to software features, the new model comes with on-device AI, which seems to be the latest trend in the industry. Galaxy AI can do a lot of interesting things, such as translate your phone calls and messages in real time, transcribe notes and memos, help create chat messages, and more. It's unclear whether or not these features will drip down to the Galaxy S23 Plus in the future, but given that some of them are baked in the hardware of the Galaxy S24 Plus, the latter has an advantage.
Samsung offers four years of major software updates with one additional year of security patches for the S23 Plus, but the Galaxy S24 Plus extends the support to a total of seven years. That's right, seven years of major OS updates, just like the Pixel 8. The phone launched with Android 14 onboard with OneUI 6.1 on top, and it will outlive the S23 Plus by four year, regarding major OS updates.
Camera
Same but with AI on top
The camera situation hasn't changed much, when it comes to pure hardware. The Galaxy S24 Plus retains the same configuration as its predecessor. Here the full rundown of the camera systems on both phones:
- 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera F2.2, FOV 120˚
- 50MP Wide Camera OIS F1.8, FOV 85˚
- 10MP Telephoto Camera 3x Optical Zoom, F2.4, FOV 36˚
- 12MP Front Camera F2.2, FOV 80˚
What's interesting is that Samsung has fine-tuned the color correction algorithms and now the Galaxy S24 Plus should produce more natural photos. There are other software enhancements, such as a more precise image stabilization algorithm, resulting in better night shots and videos, a slew of professional photo editing tools, generative editing (AI does it for you), and more.
Main Camera
In normal daylight conditions there is a difference between the two phones, even though the camera hardware is the same. The Galaxy S24 Plus produces warmer pictures, and they also look a bit brighter due to the camera having a brighter black point. On the other hand, the S23 Plus sample looks colder and the focal length is also a bit different. All in all, not huge difference in quality.
In the dark the Galaxy S24 Plus outputs a much brighter pictures, to the point they don't look real, and it also overexposes a bit. We're not sure if it's the AI doing something in the background.
Zoom Quality
The zoom situation is pretty interesting, on the one hand, the Galaxy S23 Plus seems to have bigger magnification, not by much, but still it makes it easier for signs to be read. On the other hand, the S23 telephoto samples look very noisy, while the S24 Plus does a better job at keeping the noise levels down, while preserving enough details.
Ultra-wide
We do like the S24 Plus ultrawide samples better. The difference again isn't huge but the new model tends to represent colors better, with an overall warmer tone, and slightly better dynamic range.
Strangely enough, in low light, the ultrawide camera on the S23 Plus now tends to produce brighter images and the S24 Plus samples are closer to what our eyes see in this conditions.
Selfies
When it comes to selfies, things are again surprisingly different. While the Galaxy S23 Plus seems to over sharpen the image, the S24 Plus produces much more natural shots, even though they might be perceived as soft, when compared to the selfies from the S23.
Video Quality
And this is what video quality looks like on both.
Audio Quality and Haptics
There's no major change when it comes to audio and haptics; hence, the Galaxy S24 Plus and its predecessor share the same speakers and haptic motors. The sound is great on both phones, as is the haptic feedback. No difference here.
Battery Life and Charging
With a bigger body comes a bigger battery!
The Galaxy S23 Plus comes with a 4,700 mAh battery and supports 45W wired charging speeds. Тhe Galaxy S24 Plus, on the other hand, upgrades the capacity to 4,900 mAh and retains the charging speeds of the previous model.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
The browsing test, however, yielded a 4-hour difference in favor of the Galaxy S24 Plus, probably due to the newer LTPO panel, being able to drop to 1Hz when displaying static images.
If a phone supports 120Hz we always test it at that refresh rate when doing our browsing battery test, even if the default is set to something else. It is only for the video streaming and gaming battery tests that we set the phones to 60Hz.
Now let's look at some charging tests.
Despite both phones support the same charging speeds bot for wired and wireless charging, there are some minor differences here as you can see. We perform our charging tests starting from 0% battery, and the S24+ took about 10 minutes more to charge via a cable and 10 minutes less via a wireless charger.
Check out our quick comparison below:
Well, which one should you get, then? The answer is, once again, "it depends." If you already rock a Galaxy S23 Plus, the incremental upgrades in screen brightness and silicon power are not enough for a switch. The AI magic could arrive with a potential software update on the Galaxy S23 Plus, as well, so you just need to wait it out.
If you're coming from an older Galaxy or other Android phone, things might be a bit more difficult. Samsung offers some very aggressive trade-in deals, especially at launch, so it might be a great opportunity to get a new phone, and why not get the newest one, right? The Galaxy S24 Plus offers a big and bright screen, the latest Snapdragon and some software AI goodies onboard.
Specs Comparison
Check out our quick comparison below:
| Galaxy S24 Plus | Galaxy S23 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 162.3 x 79 x 8.6 mm 233 grams | 157.8 x 76.2 x 7.6 mm 196 grams |
| Screen | 6.7" OLED 1-120Hz 2,600 nits peak brightness | 6.6" OLED 10-120Hz 1,750 nits peak brightness |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in US 4nm | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy in the US 4nm |
| RAM, Storage | 12/128GB 12/256GB 12/512GB LPDDR 5X | 8/128GB 8/256GB LPDDR 5X |
| Cameras | 50MP main 12MP ultra 12MP 3X zoom 12MP front | 50MP main 12MP ultra 12MP 3X zoom 12MP front |
| Battery | 4,900 mAh | 4,700 mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 45W wired 10W wireless | USB-C 45W wired 10W wireless |
Summary and Final Verdict
Well, which one should you get, then? The answer is, once again, "it depends." If you already rock a Galaxy S23 Plus, the incremental upgrades in screen brightness and silicon power are not enough for a switch. The AI magic could arrive with a potential software update on the Galaxy S23 Plus, as well, so you just need to wait it out.
If you're coming from an older Galaxy or other Android phone, things might be a bit more difficult. Samsung offers some very aggressive trade-in deals, especially at launch, so it might be a great opportunity to get a new phone, and why not get the newest one, right? The Galaxy S24 Plus offers a big and bright screen, the latest Snapdragon and some software AI goodies onboard.
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