The Nubia brand might not be overly familiar here in the West, but this ZTE offshoot has quietly been carving out a niche in recent years with its surprisingly affordable Red Magic gaming phones.
However, the Nubia Z60 Ultra represents something slightly different. It takes many of the Red Magic 9 Pro’s hardware features and seeks to apply them to a more mainstream flagship phone. The result is a super-sized handset with impressive performance, a huge battery, and a surprisingly fully featured camera system, for less than $600/£700. That said, the mainstream smartphone space is a much more hotly contested market, with customers who have come to expect finesse and balance from the best phones out there.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the Nubia Z60 Ultra’s brash looks will put many off. Not to mention, it’s big and unusually heavy, while its industrial design language feels somewhat clumsy.
The phone’s large 6.8-inch AMOLED is of decent quality, and there’s some appeal to the combination of minimal bezels and no notch. Nubia has achieved this by cramming the phone’s front camera behind its display, which unfortunately means that selfie quality is awful. Again, this is something that’s less forgivable in a ‘regular’ smartphone.
Thankfully, the rest of the cameras are pretty decent for the money. The main Sony IMX800 sensor picks out bright, detailed shots in a variety of conditions, while the 64MP 3.3x periscope camera is a rare provision in the sub-$600/£700 market.
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
General performance is unimpeachable, with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 tackling intensive tasks such as games with consummate ease. A strong cooling provision means that the Z60 Ultra can sustain its performance over extended periods, too.
Perhaps the Nubia Z60 Ultra’s defining feature is its huge 6,000mAh battery. True, it’s what gives the phone its unusual weight, but it also ensures full two-day usage potential. While 80W charging is pretty decent, however, it’s a shame that there’s no wireless charging.
Another slight drawback is Nubia’s take in an Android user experience: myOS. It’s functional and slightly less cluttered than its Red Magic cousin, but it lacks the finesse of rival UIs, and is only set to receive three years of updates, where Apple and Samsung offer double or more.
All in all, the Nubia Z60 Ultra feels slightly less than the sum of its parts. It offers a very strong package on paper, with a number of ultra-flagship specs for around half the price. However, it doesn’t quite feel like an entirely cohesive or complete product.
Qualities that made for an excellent value smartphone in the Red Magic 9 Pro don’t quite translate to a convincing ‘normal’ phone. With a little more refinement, however, Nubia could be onto something with the Z60 Ultra’s successors.
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Price and availability
From $599 / £679 / €679 (no official AU$ price, Australian buyers will have to buy through Nubia's global online store in US$)
Shipping from December 29, 2023
Three models available globally
The Nubia Z60 Ultra began shipping on December 29, 2023. Prices officially start from $599 / £679 / €679 for the 8GB RAM / 256GB storage model, while the 12GB RAM / 256GB model costs $649 / £749 / €749, and the 16GB RAM / 512GB range-topper costs $779 / £899 / €899 (that's a range of approximately AU$910 to AU$1,180, when converting from USD directly).
In some markets, including the UK, only the top two models are available to purchase from the Nubia website at the time of writing. However, US buyers can snap up that baseline 8GB RAM variant right now too, for less.
It’s difficult to find a comparable phone in terms of supersized flagship(ish) specs at around the same price. The OnePlus 12R is perhaps its closest contemporary, sporting a broadly similar display, albeit packing 2023 chip technology and omitting the telephoto camera.
Google’s Pixel 8 starts from $699 / £699 / AU$1,199, and doesn’t give you the same supersized display or telephoto camera, nor does it give you the same level of performance. It does have wireless charging, though.
Value score: 4 / 5
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Specs
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Design
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Flat-edged and very heavy
Slightly convoluted pro-camera aesthetic
Mappable shortcut slider
IP68 rated against dust and water
You have to hand it to Nubia – it’s certainly gone big and bold with the Z60 Ultra’s design. This is a chunky beast of a phone, with an aesthetic approach you could possibly call ‘industrial’, if you were being polite.
It’s incredibly heavy, even relative to other larger flagships. At 246g, it’s closer to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 (253g) than the Galaxy S24 Ultra (232g).
The phone’s 8.8mm thick, blocky, flat-edged approach clearly shares some DNA with Nubia’s Red Magic gaming phone sub brand. That’s fine in a phone that by its nature prioritizes cooling and a comfortable handheld gaming experience, but it feels less defensible here.
Even the physical sliding switch from the Red Magic 9 Pro makes the transition, here repurposed as a mappable context-sensitive shortcut button. It’s a nice thing to have to hand, but I’m not keen on the binary nature of the switch, which simply changes to the opposite state when flipped. Similar switches from Apple and OnePlus will attribute a sound profile function to a specific position.
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Weight aside, I suspect that the back of the phone will prove the most divisive element here. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but to my eyes the Z60 Ultra’s camera module is flat-out ugly.
The whole triple array sits on a square slab that’s slightly raised above the body of the phone. Only the ultra-wide camera lays flush with this element, however, with the circular wide camera gaining further height and a red surround. The periscope camera gets its own rectangular slab of a module. It’s all a bit of a mish mash.
With the camera module’s ‘Neo Vision’ red dot branding and choice of black or silver finishes, it’s almost as if Nubia is attempting to emulate Leica’s pro camera look. It doesn’t quite work.
The front of the Z60 Ultra is much more subtle. Nubia has gone with a similar all-screen approach to the Red Magic 9 Pro, with minimal bezels and a fractionally thicker chin.
Despite shooting for such a competitive price point, it’s good to see that Nubia has included IP68-certified dust and water ingress protection. It’s far from a given, even at this price.
Design score: 3 / 5
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Display
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
6.8-inch AMOLED
2480 x 1116 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
Under-display selfie camera
Nubia appears to have brought its 6.8-inch AMOLED display across from the Red Magic 9 Pro too. It’s another 2480 x 1116 resolution, 120Hz panel, with a stated peak brightness of 1,500nits.
That’s well short of some of the 2024 flagship crowd (the Galaxy S24 range hits 2,600nits, for example), but it still gets plenty bright enough in daily use. PWM Dimming at 2160Hz, meanwhile, is hard to measure but is designed to be easier on your eyes.
You’ll notice the same lack of a front camera notch as on the brand's Red Magic phones. Nubia is one of the few that likes to go with an under-display solution, which results in gloriously unobstructed landscape video and gaming content at the expense of even halfway decent selfies (more on which later).
Like the aforementioned Red Magic 9 Pro, Nubia has used BOE’s Q9+ luminescent material for a punchier color output. Sure enough, the color output is nice and natural, at least on the Normal setting. Nubia supplies reasonably flexible system for tweaking the tone to your liking, too.
Display score: 4 / 5
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Camera
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
50MP ‘35mm’ main with OIS (optical image stabilization)
64MP ‘85mm’ periscope telephoto
50MP ‘18mm’ ultra-wide
Awful 12MP under-display selfie camera
One of the most impressive things about the Nubia Z60 Ultra – given its aggressive pricing – is the provision of a comprehensive triple camera system. Nubia uses the 35mm, 85mm, and 18mm focal length names for these, which is classic photography terminology, and there’s OIS backup for each.
This system is led by a 50MP Sony IMX800 main sensor, which is the same 1/1.49-inch component that you’ll find in the likes of the Xiaomi 13, Honor 70, and the Honor Magic Vs. It’s not a cutting edge component, but it lends a certain flagship flavour to many of its images.
Day time shots pack a suitable amount of detail and dynamic range, with vibrant (but not too unnatural) colors. Snaps taken in lesser indoors lighting remain nice and sharp, with solid subject lock-on via laser autofocus and OIS assistance, and natural bokeh thanks to a wide open f/1.6 aperture.
Night shots can be reasonably crisp, too, when they come out properly. I found that a couple of shots failed to lock on or steady the image sufficiently, producing blurry, unfocused results. When they work, however, they look decent, with less of that over-brightening effect that can lend a somewhat uncanny impression in such lower-tier cameras.
Nubia Z60 Ultra camera samples
Image 1 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 2 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 3 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 4 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 5 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 6 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 7 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 8 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 9 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 10 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 11 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 12 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 13 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 14 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 15 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 16 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 17 of 17
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
This main sensor provides a competitive shooting experience for the price, which only the Pixel 8 really shows up. Unlike the Pixel 8 – and pretty much any other phone around this price for that matter – the Z60 Ultra also adds a 64MP periscope telephoto into the mix. You’ll want to feed it with plenty of light, but when you do it largely maintains the tone of the main sensor, with a meaningful 3.3x OIS-assisted optical zoom, that works for portrait shots, as well as subject in the distance.
There’s also a 50MP ultra-wide, which marks a more notable divergence in color tone and a spot of overexposure compared to the other two. While it’s not flagship-standard, however, the results are reasonably sharp and certainly usable.
One thing that barely deserves the ‘usable’ tag is the Z60 Ultra’s 12MP selfie camera. As has been the case with every under-display camera to date, the images it produces are awful; with a level of softness and murk that makes every shot look like it's been passed through a third rate Instagram filter.
As you can see from the sample images, you’ll need to contend with an irritating watermark straight out of the box. This can be deactivated in the camera settings menu, but it really shouldn’t even be there.
Camera score: 4 / 5
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Performance
Game Space is loaded with useful tools for gamers. (Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Top of the line Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
8GB, 12GB or 16GB of RAM (varies by market)
Strong sustained gaming performance
While some phones pitching for the price point compromise on power, the Nubia Z60 Ultra most certainly hasn’t. It pairs the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with (on the UK Nubia store at least) either 12 or 16GB of RAM.
This is a spec fit to compete with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – a phone that costs about double the money. The Geekbench 6 benchmark scores are certainly competitive with such a lofty performer.
GPU benchmarks are similarly up there near the top, reflecting the phone’s top-level gaming performance. The likes of Genshin Impact and Wreckfest will run at a super-smooth 60fps, with the graphics cranked up to the max, though that was also largely true of last year’s flagship phones.
Without the Red Magic 9 Pro’s physical fan onboard, the Z60 Ultra ran extremely hot when subjected to the 20-minute Solar Bay Stress Test. But then, that’s a benchmark custom made to make even the most capable of phones puff and pant.
More importantly, the Nubia Z60 Ultra aced said test, which runs 20 minute-long intensive GPU workouts, simulating the effects of sustained high-end gameplay. The way it tends to work is that a smartphone will offer speedy performance for the first few minutes, but will then throttle back when things heat up.
A score of 92.7% suggests a phone that has its cooling game in order, matching the mighty Asus ROG Phone 8 gaming phone for consistency. This means you’ll be able to game and run other intensive tasks for extended periods, without a discernible drop off in performance.
Performance score: 4.5 / 5
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Software
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 2 of 3
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 3 of 3
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
MyOS 14 atop Android 14
Not too much bloatware
Up to three years of software updates
Nubia has packed its latest custom UI – MyOS 14, on top of Android 14. This custom UI is closer to Oppo’s ColorOS or Xiaomi’s HyperOS/MIUI than it is to more stock offerings, from the likes of Motorola, Sony, or OnePlus. It’s all there in the toggle-filled notification pane and in Settings menus that lack a cohesive visual style.
Unsurprisingly, it’s not at all dissimilar to Red Magic OS 9.0 on the Red Magic 9 Pro from the same manufacturer. You have the same basic home screen and menu layout, albeit with round icons and a little less bloatware.
There’s also the same ugly browser-meets-news-feed app that you’ll instantly want to swap with Chrome or your browser of choice, but at least there’s no Booking.com app this time around. As before, Nubia has preinstalled Google Keep, which will always gain props from me.
Despite this not being one of Nubia’s gaming phones, the Game Space UI is here to help you fine-tune your gaming experience. You can even have that physical slider activate it, as is the case with the Red Magic phones.
One other negative is that Nubia is only promising up to three years of software updates, which falls well short of the best.
Software score: 3 / 5
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Battery
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Huge 6,000mAh battery
Genuine two-day potential
80W wired charger in the box
No wireless charging
While a notchless display and a periscope camera certainly stand out at this price, there’s one component that really dominates the Nubia Z60 Ultra package: it has an absolutely huge battery.
The phone’s 6,000mAh cell is another holdover from Nubia’s work in the gaming phone space. It’s actually a little smaller than the Red Magic 9 Pro’s 6,500mAh cell, but then that phone has to drive a physical cooling fan.
This is a very big battery any way you cut it, and is likely a leading contributor to the Z60 Ultra’s extreme weight. Thankfully, it partly balances this out with strong stamina.
I found that the phone could get through a full day of moderate usage (four hours of screen on time) with just over 60 percent left to play with. The mathematicians among you will hopefully have figured out that this makes the Z60 Ultra a phone with the scope to go two days in between charges.
For the power users and media-fiends out there, you’ll be able to go through a whole day of intensive usage without sweating over those final few percentage points. Alongside the OnePlus 12R, which manages to wring similarly epic stamina from a slightly smaller battery, this positions the Nubia Z60 Ultra right near the front of the pack.
Elsewhere you can count on rapid 80W wired charging. And yes, said charger is bundled into the box, unlike big-hitting rivals from Samsung, Apple, and Google. It’ll still take around 45 minutes to fill up a complete charge, in my experience, doubtless owing to the sheer size of that cell. But that’s still not bad going.
Sadly, Nubia has opted to omit wireless charging from the Z60 Ultra. This isn’t a totally unusual decision within the ‘almost-flagship’ space, as we saw with the OnePlus 12R, but it’s still a negative point that needs to be acknowledged.
Battery score: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the Nubia Z60 Ultra?
Buy it if...
You want a complete photographic bundle for less than your average flagship There aren’t many phones at this price point that give you a solid 3.3x periscope telephoto camera.
You’re after an all-screen phone The Nubia Z60 Ultra gives you small bezels and an under-display notch, meaning its front is all-screen.
You want two-day battery life With an unusually large battery, the Z60 Ultra can last two full days of moderate usage.
Don't buy it if...
You like your phones light This is one of the heaviest non-foldable phones on the market, making it a bit of a bind to carry around.
You prefer your Android stock Nubia’s custom UI isn’t terrible, but it’s a fair way from Google’s stock ideal.
You take a lot of selfies The Nubia Z60 Ultra’s 12MP front camera takes some of the worst selfies around.
Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Also consider
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro Nubia’s keenly-priced gaming phone is a close cousin of the Z60 Ultra, with a similarly shaped body, an even bigger battery, dedicated gaming controls, and improved performance thanks to a physical cooling fan. However, its camera is inferior, its design is even less appealing, and its software is even busier.
OnePlus 12R The OnePlus 12R offers a broadly flagship-level experience for a similar price to the Nubia Z60 Ultra. Its design is much more appealing and it packs a superior display, though its performance is inferior and its camera less flexible.
Google Pixel 8 The Pixel 8 is another almost-flagship selling for a similar price. It’s much smaller than the Z60 Ultra, however, and its performance isn’t as good. While it lacks a telephoto camera, its main camera is superior, and the Pixel 8 also gives you wireless charging and a much more refined design.
How I tested the Nubia Z60 Ultra
Review test period = 2 weeks
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, bundled Nubia 80W power adapter
I was sent the top 16GB RAM / 512GB storage model of the Nubia Z60 Ultra by a PR representative, at which point I started using the phone on a daily basis over a two-week period.
For at least a week of that time, the Z60 Ultra was my everyday phone. For the rest of the time, I swapped in another active SIM and continued to use the phone for benchmark tests, photos, and general browsing.
I’m a freelance journalist who got his start writing about mobile games in the pre-smartphone era. I was around to cover the arrival of the iPhone and the App Store, as well as Android, and their seismic effect on the games industry. I now write about consumer tech, games, and culture for a number of top websites.
OnePlus is kicking off 2024 with a pair of new phones, its latest flagship OnePlus 12 and the intriguing OnePlus 12R; which marks the first time an R-series device has launched internationally and not just in India.
While we've seen T-series entries on the global stage before, the R more closely delivers on the promises of the company's full-fat flagship phones and this year's 12R is no exception; running on familiar hardware for those who knew last year's OnePlus 11, while also serving up some company and industry firsts all its own.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
At a glance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the 12R for both the OnePlus 11 and the OnePlus 12, as all three phones sport a familiar aesthetic, with rounded edges and the distinct 'Starlight Dial' circular camera surround that we were first introduced to on 2023's OnePlus flagship.
The iconic physical alert slider may have swapped sides (OnePlus says this improves antenna performance), and the phone may lack wireless charging and full IP68 dust and water resistance, but it's otherwise a beautifully crafted and premium-feeling phone with plenty of power and battery longevity to boot.
If it weren't for the lesser secondary cameras, the 12R amounts to a revamped OnePlus 11, with the same flagship-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 found in 2023's finest, up to 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and the biggest battery ever seen in a OnePlus phone, which translates to the best longevity we've ever gotten from a OnePlus phone – battery life that matches the likes of the mighty Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
OnePlus has also included its latest OxygenOS 14 user experience out of the box, which comes with a heap of branded technologies; most importantly the 'Trinity Engine': an umbrella term for a number of features that ensure the 12R's performance doesn't degrade over time, focusing on CPU, RAM, and ROM management.
A killer 1.5K LTPO 4.0 AMOLED display fronts the phone, with a more advanced adaptive refresh rate, touch response rate and peak brightness (4,500nits) than even the OnePlus 11.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
If there's one area where the 12R does fall short of its otherwise flagship standing, it's with camera versatility. The main 50MP Sony sensor delivers a similar experience to that of last year's flagship – running on the same sensor and with a fast shutter not to mention a year's worth of refinement from OnePlus. However the 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro cameras don't keep step with regards to quality and consistency.
For the price, there's little that matches the 12R directly, however, alternatives like the OnePlus 11, Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and iPhone 14 come close; provided you're willing to trade away the phone's excellent display tech and battery prowess. One of the best OnePlus phones yet? Quite possibly, even without being a fully-fledged flagship in its own right.
The OnePlus 12R serves as the global variant of the OnePlus Ace 3, which launched in China at the very start of 2024. The 12R made its debut as part of the OnePlus 12's global launch event in India on January 23, with a staggered on-sale date that sees the phone released first in India (on February 6), before arriving in markets including the US, UK and Europe on February 13.
US customers get the choice of two storage configurations, starting at $499.99 with 128GB of space, while UK and European customers only have access to the single higher-capacity 256GB model, which sells for $599.99 in the US and £649 / €699 in those two other markets, respectively.
Pricing means it undercuts other newcomers, like the Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 8 and baseline iPhone 15 by quite a margin, and in truth, there's little worth considering around the 12R's launch price, save for more expensive but older phones that have had time to drop in price, including the company's own OnePlus 11.
The company's 2024 flagship – the OnePlus 12 – comfortably sits around $300 / £200 more expensive for the same amount of storage, but for the extra cash you're getting a sharper screen, better cameras, longer-term software support, and Qualcomm's latest and greatest flagship silicon in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
Note though that there's no current Australian availability for the OnePlus 12R or the standard OnePlus 12.
Value score: 4 / 5
OnePlus 12R review: Specs
OnePlus 12R review: Design
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Elegant, premium curved glass and metal aesthetics
Physical alert slider on left side
IP64-certified against dust and water
The OnePlus 12R presents itself as a premium handset, with a level of fit and finish on par with any of the latest top-tier phones out there, not least because it shares in the 'Starlight Dial' design language of this year's and last year's OnePlus flagships.
The Iron Gray model (pictured) has a matte glass back that's superb at repelling fingerprints (and other marks) but has an almost Teflon-like low friction coefficient, meaning it's a little slippery in the hand. The Cool Blue alternative, meanwhile, is the more head-turning option, that's better at catching the light (and fingerprints), if you're in the market for a little more flare. It's worth noting that colorway availability varies by region and storage variant too.
If you're not a fan of the straight-sided iPhones or Galaxy phones (or the rumored design of the forthcoming Pixel 9 series) leading the market, the 12R is the perfect remedy. The front and back glass curve elegantly into the thin metal frame, which makes it a touch trickier to hold by comparison but nicer in the hand and on the eye.
Image 1 of 6
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Image 2 of 6
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Image 3 of 6
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Image 4 of 6
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Image 5 of 6
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Image 6 of 6
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
A trait that's slipped in since OnePlus more closely buddied up to sister company Oppo is the adoption of a flat top and bottom to some of its phones' frames, and that's the case with the 12R. A USB-C port, SIM tray and speaker grille reside along the bottom, while microphones and – perhaps most intriguingly of all – an IR blaster can be found on the phone's top edge. This is a novel addition that's seldom seen on phones nowadays, but gives the 12R universal remote functionality which you won't readily find on the competition; great for controlling your TV, aircon, projector, and even some smart lights, all from the one device.
OnePlus' iconic alert slider (oddly absent from previous performance flagships like the OnePlus 10T) is reassuringly present on the 12R, although perhaps not as 'correct' as long-time OnePlus users might expect, as across both entries in the series, this knurled three-stage switch is now found on the opposing side to where it usually sits (the right side). OnePlus claims this helps with antenna performance – especially when gaming in landscape – and in practice, the learning curve of adjusting to a swapped alert slider and volume rocker is negligible.
While the 12R is notably thinner (and a touch lighter) than the standard OnePlus 12, that's partly down to the lack of wireless charging, while that finely-crafted bodywork also falls short of the industry-standard dust and water resistance, with only IP64 certification (most flagships boast IP68 protection against water ingress).
Look past the marketing spiel (which there's a lot of) and the 12R's display is spec'd as one of the market's best right now. Beyond the fundamentals as a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, the ProXDR screen on the 12R boasts the same peak brightness as the OnePlus 12, at a whopping 4,500nits (with an HBM or high brightness mode peak of 1,600nits).
For comparison, the iPhone 15 series tops out at 2,000nits, while the S24 series reaches 2,600nits. Although that peak isn't an increment you'll likely hit in day to day use, the additional headroom over screens of the most prominent players in the industry means everything from outdoor legibility to HDR content consumption (it's also Dolby Vision, HDR Vivid and HDR10+ compliant for good measure) is comparatively better. Speaking of HDR content, being able to view HDR imagery shot on device, natively in both the OnePlus Photos app and the Google Photos app – similarly to the likes of the latest Pixel 8 Pro – is a nice flex.
The LTPO 4.0 tech at work also means improved power efficiency (relative to LTPO 3.0, as on the OnePlus 11), as this new panel is able to switch between more frequency increments through its 1Hz to 120Hz range, depending on the situation (lower frequencies equal less power drain, higher frequencies offer more fluid visuals).
As for gamers, an impressive 1,000Hz touch response rate (branded 'HyperTouch') is on-hand to ensure accurate touch input at any pace (that's faster than any of the best gaming phones currently out there), while 'HyperRender' is responsible for backlight calibration when gaming; accounting for the environment you're playing in and optimizing contrast and brightness dynamically.
There's also the presence of Aqua Touch: an algorithm that helps the 12R discern between water droplets and true touch inputs on a wet display; making use in rain or similarly wet conditions far more reliable than you'd experience with a conventional touchscreen and in practice, it's a huge win for convenience, especially if, like me, you're a Londoner all too familiar with the Great British weather's habits.
Throw in 2160Hz PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) dimming for reduced eye strain in low light (backed by independent certification from TÜV Rheinland), and an overall A+ rating from DisplayMate, and OnePlus has receipts to back up its claims surrounding the 12R's screen tech.
Sure, these aren't all headline features worth buying the phone for explicitly but they're 'nice to haves' that elevate the 12R's viewing experience beyond both expectation and more prominent competitors.
Display score: 5 / 5
OnePlus 12R review: Software
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
OxygenOS 14 atop Android 14 out of the box
Customizable user experience without feeling overwhelming
3 years of OS + 4 years of security updates
If you're a long-time OnePlus user, you'll know OxygenOS has lost a little of its individuality since OnePlus and Oppo more closely collaborated on their respective mobile user experiences (we lost the 1+ calculator easter egg with OxygenOS 13), however, OxygenOS 14 (running atop the latest Android 14) still delivers on the core values of OnePlus' software from previous generations; packed with sparks of software design so good that you'd wish other brands would crib from it.
While delivering a relatively clean aesthetic and user experience, OxygenOS has supported user generated wallpapers long before Samsung and Asus called upon AI smarts to offer similar results with their latest-generation phones, Zen Space is a one-stop destination for mindfulness that supports Android's native Digital Wellbeing toolset, gestures and floating windows add a heap of flexibility to the base OS's multitasking experience, and being able to quick-launch apps from the fingerprint sensor is a nice trick too.
The Shelf on OxygenOS 14 (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
The Shelf is an interesting inclusion that OnePlus has struggled to find a consistent home for within OxygenOS and I'm not convinced its current location – accessed by swiping down on the home screen, replacing quick access to notifications and quick settings – should be its final destination. Nevertheless, as a dedicated home for widgets – akin to Today View on iPadOS – it's a nice way to keep glanceable information all in one place.
OxygenOS manages to walk the line between simplicity and functionality where other brands' user experiences tend to err on the side of 'more features equals better', even if that's at the expense of intuitive navigation and interaction.
The 12R's standing below that of the company's true current flagship does mean that its software support isn't quite as extensive – at three years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates – but that does at least keep it in step with the similarly-spec'd OnePlus 11, meaning both phones won't fall out of favor until Android 18 (and presumably OxygenOS 18).
Software score: 4 / 5
OnePlus 12R review: Cameras
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Robust 50MP Sony IMX890 lead sensor, as on OnePlus 11
Same RAW HDR algorithm, as on the OnePlus 12
Ineffectual macro camera
While at a glance the OnePlus 12R's rear camera setup may resemble the OnePlus 11's and 12's, it's likely the biggest departure from both phones and one of the biggest cost-saving aspects of the 12R's spec sheet. You still get the same 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensor that leads the OnePlus 11's camera setup, complete with a year's worth of software refinement, plus improved speed from mode switching to shutter lag, but beyond its main snapper, the 12R's photographic capabilities are more pedestrian.
The 8MP Sony IMX355 ultra-wide serves up consistent colors with the main camera in good lighting, but detail is noticeably lacking when comparing similar shots taken between the two, while the 2MP macro camera lacks the pixels, dynamic range and color depth to be anything other than novel.
OnePlus 12R camera samples
Image 1 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Image 2 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Portrait mode
Image 3 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Ultra wide camera
Image 4 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
1x zoom
Image 5 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
2x zoom
Image 6 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
5x zoom
Image 7 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
20x zoom
Image 8 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Main camera
Image 9 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Macro camera
Image 10 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Main camera
Image 11 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Macro camera
Image 12 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Ultra wide camera
Image 13 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Macro camera
Image 14 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Low light
Image 15 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Night mode
Image 16 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Low light w/ maximum ISO and shutter speed
Image 17 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Front
Image 18 of 18
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Front camera w/ Portrait mode
If you're serious about shooting on the 12R, all your photos should really come from the OIS-supported (optical image stabilization) main 50MP sensor. It offers enough versatility in its own right to satiate the average mobile photographer, and while there's no Hasselblad tuning to speak of – as on the brand's other premium phones – image quality is generally great; with a particular talent for HDR shooting, exemplified by the 'ProXDR' toggle in the phone's native gallery app that shows this trait off most clearly.
Along with excellent colors, detail, and dynamic range when snapping standard 12.6MP jpeg stills, you have the choice of capturing full-sensor 50MP images, as well as HDR shots in RAW, with the 12R benefitting from the same RAW HDR algorithm as found on the OnePlus 12.
One growing trend from the current era of smartphone photography that isn't as prevalent on the OnePlus 12R is AI-supported shooting, especially when it comes to editing tools. Features like generative fill are being popularized by the likes of the latest Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones, and is one such AI feature you won't find here.
Camera score: 3.5 / 5
OnePlus 12R review: Performance
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC
Trinity Engine for CPU, RAM and ROM optimization
Dual vapor chamber cooling design
If you thought the branding for the various technologies in the display section of this review was a bit much, OnePlus kicks things into overdrive when it comes to talking about the phone's performance. Practically every performance-centric hardware and software optimization comes with a catchy name attached, with the 'Trinity Engine' being the umbrella brand under which they all sit.
Building on memory optimization features the company first introduced with the OnePlus 11, the Trinity Engine consists of three key parts: CPU-Vita, RAM-Vita and ROM-Vita, which collectively work to keep the 12R feeling fast and fluid long into your time with it. This is primarily achieved by throttling for heat management and battery longevity, prioritizing memory allocation for more frequently used apps, and on-the-fly defragmentation of storage to keep files accessible; all in the pursuit of peace of mind for users looking for a worthwhile long-term smartphone purchase.
Running on the same chipset as the OnePlus 11 – paired with the latest UFS 4.0 storage (on the 256GB model, at least) and LPDDR5X RAM for greater speed and power efficiency – you'd expect comparable flagship performance, and in artificial benchmarking tests, you'd be right. In fact, the OnePlus 12R feels as fast and as fluid to use as any current flagship, including more cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered phones. The performance shortfall likely won't be felt for at least a year or two, which is to say this phone is comfortable with whatever you throw at it, right now.
Gaming on Genshin Impact with default (medium) graphical settings and a bump up to a 60fps frame rate cap proved zero issue for the 12R for extended periods and seldom were frames dropped. The caveat to that is that despite a new 'Cryo-Velocity' dual vapor chamber cooling system – offering a reported three-times-larger vapor chamber area compared to the OnePlus 11 – heat build-up was more noticeable during intensive tasks than expected; never to a concerning degree, but still.
There are some great user-accessible performance tools worth digging into too. Live Lock is perfect for pinning apps that you want the system to leave resources available for – ideal for downloading system updates for Genshin while doing other things. Gaming Tools let you customize graphical settings, manage notifications and performance allowances, and even toggle improved HDR visuals.
There's also the fact that OnePlus (and Oppo and Realme) phones don't run in a high performance state out of the box. While the 12R feels perfectly tightly wound for responsive everyday use, dive into the phone's power menu and you'll find a toggle for 'high performance mode.' It's a little bonus that you'll likely never need, but additional grunt on tap is never to be sniffed at.
Performance score: 4 / 5
OnePlus 12R review: Battery
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Largest capacity battery in a OnePlus phone ever
Up to 100W SuperVOOC wired charging
Rated for only 20% capacity degradation after 1,600 cycles
Along with the screen, the battery is arguably one of the OnePlus 12R's greatest strengths. Around the same physical size as the OnePlus 11's battery, the company has managed to up the capacity to a whopping 5,500mAh – making this the largest power cell in a OnePlus phone ever.
Even without the latest-generation Qualcomm chipset, that larger capacity helps deliver the best battery life we've tested in a OnePlus phone, clocking in at around eight hours of screen-on time per charge, equivalent to two days of light to average use on a single charge. It's not quite iPhone 15 series longevity, but matches some of the best Android phones on the market, beating out mainstream rivals like the Pixel 8 series, handily.
Not only that, in most markets save for the US (where it peaks at 80W), the OnePlus 12R comes with rapid 100W fast charging, which OnePlus claims means you can hit 100% charge after only 26 minutes, In testing, the review sample used here reached 92% in the same time, fully charging at the 30-minute mark exactly; making this one of the faster-charging phones out there right now.
Being built for long-term use seems to be a key theme of the OnePlus 12R, with the company promising a four-year or 1,600-cycle on the battery, after which they claim longevity will equate to around 80% of the out-of-box performance. For comparison, Apple officially states that its iPhones reach this same 80% capacity threshold after just 500 cycles.
The only real fly in the ointment here is the reduced peak 80W charging speed in the US (a trait found on other OnePlus phones too) and the absence of any form of wireless charging.
Battery score: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the OnePlus 12R?
Buy it if...
You like media and gaming The combination of display, performance, and battery life make this a superb phone for high-fidelity gaming or enjoying HDR content for hours on end.
You like curved-edge smartphones The latest iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones and, as it currently looks like, the next batch of Pixels have all adopted straight sided designs with flat screens. The OnePlus 12R shirks this design trend and places elegant curves first.
You want an Android phone with great battery performance One of the longest-lasting Android phones on the market also packs in a battery that's built to charge quickly and last years upon years of recharge cycles with minimal degradation. Great for travelers, gamers, and power users.
Don't buy it if...
You want a killer camera That main 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor is a real joy to use and highlights the strides OnePlus has made in its camera tuning over the years, but as the 12R packs three cameras on the back, you have to consider the whole packages and those other sensors don't pull their weight.
You need the best water resistance or wireless charging Most flagships come packing IP68-certified dust and water ingress protection, the 12R falls short of the mark when it comes to withstanding the wet stuff by comparison, and that slim body may look good but leaves no room for wireless charging.
OnePlus 12R review: Also consider
Even though it's a great device, there are issues with the OnePlus 12R, so you might want to consider one of the following alternatives.
OnePlus 11 Similar specs and the same software update expiration date, but the previous year's OnePlus 11 boasts a superior camera with Hasselblad tuning to boot.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE The last of Samsung's Galaxy S23 series is smaller than the 12R and doesn't pack the same degree of grunt, but it offers affordable access to a premium Samsung experience and is one of the few phones that comes to market around the same asking price as the 12R.
How I tested the OnePlus 12R
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Review test period: three weeks
Testing included: everyday use including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Having received both the OnePlus 12 and 12R a week ahead of the OnePlus 12 series' launch, I got straight to using the 12R (check out our OnePlus 12 review if you're curious about the company's new flagship), adding my own Google account and OnePlus account before using the device as my main phone for the duration of the review period.
Usage included streaming video, snapping stills and video with the phone's various cameras, and toying with the ProXDR display's abilities with both compatible content and gaming.
Publicly available, industry standard benchmarking apps were used to meter the CPU, GPU, and AI performance of the OnePlus 12R, and while we don't always publish the results, we keep them on file for comment and comparison with other devices we've tested. Battery life was tested by recording screen-on time each day across a single charge from 100% to 0%, based on normal everyday use, while the in-box charger was used to recharge the phone, with the charge checked at intervals to assess the rate of replenishment.
The cameras were used in a myriad of conditions to test their versatility, with comparisons between sensors and the cameras of other phones as part of the testing process.
Having extensively reviewed numerous smartphones, including a myriad of OnePlus phones during my 12 years of journalistic experience, I felt confident in putting the OnePlus 12R through its paces and evaluating its abilities in a fair and informed manner, based on the market, its target audience, pricing, and the competition.
The OnePlus 12 is cool, there is no doubt about it. It looks gorgeous, and OnePlus has somehow managed to set itself apart from the slew of slabs that clutter store shelves with one of the sweetest color options I’ve ever seen on a phone, along with a design that is uncompromising and polished.
Just like the coolest people, the OnePlus 12 is fun and flashy and hides its weaknesses where you can’t see them. It’s the best player in a scoring position, but it can’t play every role on the field.
The OnePlus 12 tries to play the smartphone game as the so-called ‘flagship killer,’ which is a phone that costs much less than the best Samsung Galaxy or best Apple iPhone, but still gives you the best features of those more popular handsets.
In many respects, it’s victorious, especially when you compare the OnePlus 12 to competitor phones that actually cost the same. If the OnePlus 12 is almost good enough to take on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it’s more than enough to challenge the Galaxy S24, which is a bit more expensive. If the Pixel 8 Pro has a tough new competitor, the Pixel 8, at the same price, is no competition at all for the OnePlus 12.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The OnePlus 12 has amazing performance, good enough to go toe-to-toe with the latest iPhone 15 Pro in games and some productivity tasks. It has cameras that produce excellent images; in some cases these photos are more compelling than the Galaxy S24 Ultra and our other best camera phones.
In other words, if you go for the OnePlus 12 instead of that other phone you were considering, you won’t feel like you’re missing out. You get top-level performance, amazing photography, and battery life that lasts for days. You also get some cool features you can’t find elsewhere, like super-fast charging, and even an IR blaster that can change the channel on your TV.
For the price, the OnePlus 12 is a stellar phone that exceeds expectations. If that makes you a little suspicious, you’re right to raise an eyebrow. What’s missing are some of the same aspects OnePlus has omitted before, but now these features may be more important than ever.
For one thing, the OnePlus 12 isn’t as durable as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the iPhone 15 Pro, not even close. Between the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium frame and the new Gorilla Armor glass on the Galaxy Ultra, OnePlus won’t stand up to abuse like its rivals.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
What’s worse, OnePlus has once again skipped IP68 certification, which would ensure its phones could be submerged underwater. OnePlus says you can use the phone in the rain, and it even built the screen to account for water droplets. It just didn’t go as far as making the phone truly water resistant, which is a shame considering every iPhone, Pixel, and Galaxy S phone can take a dip. It’s hard to recommend any smartphone that doesn’t have this bare minimum level of durability.
The biggest OnePlus omission compared to its rivals won’t be felt for years, but it may be the most important in the long run. Samsung and Google have promised to support the latest Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 families, respectively, for seven years of Android OS and security updates. OnePlus has no advertised promise, and in the past, it has delivered three years or less, which is now far behind the best Android phones.
Then there are more esoteric questions about OnePlus ownership. How will you afford this phone if you can’t pay for it monthly with your carrier contract? OnePlus has great deals and financing, but that may not be enough for some buyers.
Where will you get it fixed when it breaks? You can call OnePlus, but with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone, you can just walk into a store and get your phone fixed on the same day. Hopefully, that never matters, but when it happens to you, you’re going to be unhappy.
I’m happy to root for an underdog, and there’s a lot to love in the new OnePlus 12. If you like these OnePlus priorities, I have no problem recommending this phone to you, but I can’t recommend it to everybody. For that, I’d trade performance for more durability, and maybe get the phone through testing at one US carrier, at least. But OnePlus isn’t trying to go mainstream, and that’s another thing that makes it the coolest smartphone you can buy.
OnePlus 12 review: Price and availability
Costs $799.99 / £849 (around AU$1,215) but nobody will pay that much
OnePlus will offer $100 minimum for any trade for the life of the phone
Not available with any major carrier for a contract deal
The OnePlus 12 will list for $799.99 / £849 (around AU$1,215), but just like it does for the OnePlus Open (my favorite foldable tablet phone), OnePlus will offer a deal for the life of the OnePlus 12 promising at least $100 for any trade-in of any phone. You can trade a broken rotary phone, they don’t care, they just want to knock $100 or more off the price without advertising it that low. It’s weird but take the discount.
In other words, the OnePlus 12 is effectively a $699 phone in the US, which puts it in the same price range as the Pixel 8, the Galaxy S24 (with a similar trade-in offer), and $100 less than the base model iPhone 15.
Comparing the OnePlus 12 to those phones is almost laughable. The OnePlus 12 has a display that is as large as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, except the OnePlus is more sharp and can reach a brighter peak in outdoor light. It has a larger battery than the expensive iPhone 15 Pro Max, a full 35% larger than the Galaxy S24.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Of course, even those cheaper phones all have IP68 water resistance certification, as well as five years (iPhone 15) or seven years (Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24) of software updates, which could make those devices more valuable in two years when you want to sell them and upgrade.
Compared to the big, mighty flagship phones, here in the US, the OnePlus 12 is $600 less than the Galaxy S24 Ultra and $500 less than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Even compared to the top-of-the-line, you still get a bigger, sharper, and brighter display on the OnePlus 12, as well as a larger battery than any competitor. That battery charges much faster, too.
Is it worth saving money and buying a OnePlus 12 instead? Absolutely, if you promise to be very, very careful with your new phone. There won’t be as many cases available as there are for Galaxy and iPhone, but you might want a case anyway, so you don’t crack that silky, smooth finish.
Value score: 5 / 5
OnePlus 12 review: Specs
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The OnePlus 12 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, just like the Samsung Galaxy S24, but it isn’t overclocked like the Samsung “for Galaxy” option. In testing, including benchmark apps, the OnePlus 12 performed very well against the Galaxy phones and the latest iPhone 15 Pro models, even beating the iPhone on some tests. The results were always very close, which means the OnePlus may not be the top-performing phone you can buy, but the differences are more slight than ever before.
Where the OnePlus wins in specs is in charging and battery size. It packs a 5,400 mAh cell, which is actually two 2,700 mAh cells, thanks to OnePlus / Oppo SuperVOOC charging. That means you can charge at an effective 80W (max in the US), or up to 50W wireless with a AirVOOC charger.
OnePlus 12 review: Design
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Unique green color with cool stripes and satin finish
Even the black has a unique, sparkly look
Seriously, maybe the coolest smartphone design ever
At a time when Apple and Samsung seem to be trying to undo smartphone design, OnePlus boldly embraces curves, swoops, and outstanding color options with the OnePlus 12. My review unit is thankfully the Flowy Emerald color I adored at the preview I saw last year, but even the Silky Black has a unique, glittery finish that makes it sparkle unlike any other staid black option I’ve seen on the market.
The Galaxy S24 is a slab of a phone, no matter which you choose. The Samsung Galaxy has lost all of its curves and lines. The OnePlus 12, on the other hand, is gently curved on every edge. The lines are inviting, not just unobtrusive. The camera hump flows gracefully into the edge of the phone, and the touches of color and polished glass are playful and clever.
The OnePlus 12 retains the mute switch, and OnePlus fans would revolt if they lost it. I still find the switch more useful than I find the Action Button on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, but what I really want is a camera shutter button. Especially on a phone with true Hasselblad branding, how about it, OnePlus? Maybe for the lucky number OnePlus 13?
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The OnePlus 12 is a chonky beast and I’m not gonna complain about it. It’s thicker than any current iPhone 15 or Galaxy S24 phone, even the big ones, but it packs a much larger battery inside, and that pays off with longer battery life. I’ve been begging for years for phone makers to just add some thickness so the phone can last longer. OnePlus listened. Thank you! It turns out we were both right, and it’s worth the trade.
With its larger display, the OnePlus 12 is actually less dense than the competition, so it’s lighter than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is close in size. It still feels substantial and thick, though the curved edges make it comfortable to hold.
I still can’t forgive the lack of IP68 support, and to put this into proper context, Samsung has made water resistance a standard feature on every Galaxy S phone (but one) since the Galaxy S5, and we’re up to the Galaxy S24 this year. Shipping a phone without IP68 certification is like selling a car without a backup camera. Maybe you can drive safely without that feature but would you want to? Similarly, most people prefer the peace of mind of knowing that if you drop your phone in the toilet, you haven’t ruined your baby.
Design score: 4.5 / 5
OnePlus 12 review: Display
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Incredibly bright display can reach dangerous levels
More sharp than the iPhone 15 Pro Max
Bigger than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but curved so it looks smaller
I’m not sure what OnePlus did to reach peak brightness levels up to 4,500 nits on the OnePlus 12, but maybe it should stop? OnePlus reps told us that levels over 3,000 nits can be harmful to your eyes over a long period, and the OnePlus 12 can’t actually blast you with that much light all at once for a long period. It’s more likely to simply light up small portions of the screen that need the boost. Still, when we cross the threshold for potential eye damage, maybe we’ve gone too far.
In practice, I couldn’t actually hurt myself with the OnePlus 12, and not for lack of trying. It’s simply been cold and cloudy since I picked up my review unit almost a month ago. Blame Connecticut’s terrible winter weather. In any case, I’ve been very impressed with the speed and responsiveness of the display, especially playing games. This screen is totally lag-free in every way.
The OnePlus 12 display is apparently fractionally larger than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it is technically sharper, but the curve at the edges makes it seem a bit smaller. I prefer the look of the OnePlus 12 curves, but I can’t argue that the amazing new Gorilla Armor glass on the Ultra makes it much better at reflecting glare from my studio lights or bright sun. The OnePlus can push more brightness, but the Ultra doesn’t need to get so bright. It’s a fair trade.
Display score: 5 / 5
OnePlus 12 review: Software
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A light hand with Android, and good organization tools
No junky AI features that nobody asked for
Oxygen OS is still Android, but not as complex as Samsung’s woeful One UI
OnePlus uses Oxygen OS from parent Oppo with Android 14, and it keeps a light touch with Android, as opposed to Samsung’s Galaxy S24, which is loaded with extra features and apps. The OnePlus 12 is still an Android phone, but it keeps some of the great home screen organization tools that Google abandoned a few years back, so it’s a bit easier to use and organize than even a so-called ‘vanilla’ Android Pixel 8.
That doesn’t mean the OnePlus 12 doesn’t fall victim to familiar Android traps. There are multiple “Photo” apps on this phone, including the OnePlus photo gallery and Google Photos. It’s confusing, but you don’t get two web browsers or two App Stores. OnePlus has a OnePlus Store, but it only tried to sell me some new earbuds, not the phone I was already holding in my hand (hi, Samsung).
The big problem with Oxygen OS and OnePlus developing its own system comes down the road when it’s time for an Android update. OnePlus has delivered three years of updates for its best phones, but Samsung and Google are now promising seven years of updates, while Apple has always given its iPhone models five years of new software.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
I don’t see a specific software promise on the OnePlus online store, but even three years won’t be enough anymore. I doubt OnePlus can sustain its own OS development on older models. That takes serious developer commitment that only the biggest companies like Google, Samsung, and Apple can offer. This will remain an ongoing problem for OnePlus, I believe.
The OnePlus 12 conspicuously skips new AI features that are plaguing other Android phones. The Galaxy S24 launched with a mixed bag of AI on board, including very useful translation tools and somewhat useless writing style adaptation tools. New AI features for editing images fall in between. On the OnePlus 12, you’ll find none of these, for better and for worse.
I suspect that Google will bring more AI to Android in general, which will include OnePlus, but it won’t port everything. Samsung got some features that were previously Pixel-exclusive, like Magic Editor in the Samsung Gallery app. The OnePlus 12 did not benefit from Google’s largesse.
For now, it’s almost a relief that the OnePlus 12 is unburdened with AI features that nobody requested. Apple isn’t stuffing AI into the iPhone 15 yet, so it doesn’t feel like OnePlus is behind. That could change quickly, especially if Samsung makes some quick advances with AI and Bixby and gives its phones an entirely AI interface.
Software score: 3 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Cameras
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Quirky camera system takes some practice but delivers results
Excellent selfies and solid portraits
Unique color tuning works when it works
If you want a camera that creates really cool-looking photos, especially photos of people, the OnePlus 12 was made for you. If you’re looking for extreme accuracy in color and detail, look elsewhere. The partnership between OnePlus and Hasselblad continues into its fourth generation, and once again the cameras produce images that are certainly unique, though perhaps not what most people expect or desire from a smartphone camera.
OnePlus says that Hasselblad has tuned its camera processing (ie. it hasn’t helped create the lenses) to imitate classic Hasselblad portrait lenses. I’ve never shot with a Hasselblad camera, but in my shootout against the best camera phones you can buy, including the latest Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the OnePlus held its own, and in selfie photos and portraits, the results were often better from OnePlus.
Image 1 of 5
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 2 of 5
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 3 of 5
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 4 of 5
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 5 of 5
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
This is not a versatile camera setup. The zoom lens works great to add bokeh and dramatic blur to portraits, but this phone cannot shoot long distance like the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It also had more trouble focusing close up, which made for macros that looked blurry and some food shots that needed to be retaken.
If you love street photography or candid snapshots, the OnePlus 12 will be totally satisfying, and it has plenty of shooting modes, Pro settings, and filter options to create great images. This isn’t the top camera on our list, but it deserves respect for a unique look that is often cooler than the laboratory-accurate photos you’ll get from the iPhone and Galaxy.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
OnePlus 12 camera samples
Image 1 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 2 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 3 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 4 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 5 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 6 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 7 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 8 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 9 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 10 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 11 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 12 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 13 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 14 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 15 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 16 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 17 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 18 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 19 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 20 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 21 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 22 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 23 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 24 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 25 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 26 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 27 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 28 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 29 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 30 of 30
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Camera score: 3 / 5
OnePlus 12 review: Performance
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Excellent performance in gaming and productivity
No AI features to bog down the latest Snapdragon
The OnePlus 12 offered superb performance for every task I threw its way. With a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset on board, it almost matches the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which itself beat Apple’s latest iPhone 15 Pro in performance tests. The Galaxy is overclocked slightly, so the OnePlus 12 is technically a bit slower, but you won’t notice the difference unless you only care about benchmark scores. In real-world gaming, photo editing, and navigating the interface, the OnePlus 12 moves as swiftly as I could hope.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra squanders its performance on AI features that lag, because they require more processing or need to talk to a cloud server. Using an S24 Ultra actually feels a bit slower because you’re constantly waiting for the phone to do its new thing. The OnePlus 12 skips those new things. There’s no Circle to Search, or Magic Editor in the Photos app. I don’t miss those features, not yet, so I appreciate the performance benefit.
OnePlus brags a lot about its cooling prowess and its Oxygen OS ability to keep your CPU, your RAM, and your storage running smoothly over a longer period. Frankly, I’m skeptical of any claims from a company that doesn’t know the difference between ROM and storage, as indicated on the OnePlus 12 website. I had no performance issue, but I’m taking OnePlus claims with a hefty grain of salt.
Performance score: 4 / 5
OnePlus 12 review: Battery life
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A larger battery means longer battery life, who knew?
Better battery than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, even
Super fast charging, wired or wireless
The OnePlus 12 has more battery inside than the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the iPhone 15 Pro Max, so it’s no surprise that it also offers more battery life. I had no trouble using the OnePlus 12 for two days of normal usage, without too much camera time. Even with intense use, playing games, and shooting tons of photos, the OnePlus lasted all day and into the night.
There’s technically 5,400 mAh of battery in the OnePlus 12, but that’s divided into two battery cells. This technology lets OnePlus charge both batteries simultaneously, which doubles the charging speed. With the included 80W charger, you can easily charge the OnePlus to 100% full in just under 30 minutes. A Galaxy S24 Ultra can only charge to 70% in that time, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max will top 40% in half an hour of charging.
OnePlus sent me a special 50W wireless charger that works with the OnePlus 12. In only 15 minutes my phone was 27% charged, which is more juice than the iPhone 15 Pro Max can sip on a wired charger in the same time. Wireless charging for the OnePlus 12 is faster than most other wired competitors.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra charges at 45W on a wired charger, but wired charging is more efficient than wireless charging, so it still charges faster when plugged in than the OnePlus 12 charges wirelessly.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the OnePlus 12
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Buy it if...
You want the coolest phone around The OnePlus 12 has what no other flagship smartphone has – coolness. It looks cool, it runs cool, and it isn’t bogged down with uncool software and AI features.
Battery life and fast charging are important
The OnePlus 12 charges faster than any iPhone or Galaxy, whether you use the included (yay!) charger or OnePlus’s fast wireless option. The battery life also beats all competition.
You’ve only got a few bucks and want the most bang The OnePlus 12 competes with the most expensive phones, so compared to any phone in its price range, it's easily the best phone you can buy.
Don't buy it if...
You want a phone that does everything
The OnePlus 12 does a lot of things right, but it skips a lot of features, like new AI tools from Google and the desktop environment, DeX, that Samsung gives you on most Galaxy S phones.
You want a phone that will last a long time
The OnePlus 12 isn’t as durable as the competition, and it isn’t IP68 water resistant. Even worse, OnePlus doesn’t offer as many years of Android updates and security patches.
You need versatile cameras for every situation The OnePlus 12 takes great portrait shots, but if you need a zoom lens to catch your kid on the field or the stage, or you want to take macro close-ups, this camera doesn’t do everything right.
OnePlus 12 review: Also consider
The OnePlus 12 is an amazing phone for the price, but other phones in the same price range might be a better option, depending on what you do with your phone.
Samsung Galaxy S24 The Samsung Galaxy S24 is smaller than the OnePlus 12, with a smaller battery, but it’s even more powerful, with tons more features thanks to Samsung’s One UI and Google AI.
Apple iPhone 15 The iPhone 15 doesn’t have the most powerful iPhone cameras or performance, but it offers Apple’s elegant and fun iOS 17 in a sleek device that will stay up to date for five years to come.
How I tested the OnePlus 12
I tested the OnePlus 12 as my primary device for work and personal use, loading numerous apps and services including my email accounts, Slack and Google Meet accounts, and more. I took photos, played games, and used the OnePlus 12 for navigation and music playback in the car.
I used the OnePlus 12 with a variety of accessories, including Bluetooth earbuds like the Google Pixel Buds Pro and OnePlus Buds Pro 2, as well as the Ray Ban Meta smart glasses. I used the OnePlus 12 with my car stereo, and with an Xbox controller while playing games.
I tested the splash resistance of the OnePlus 12 by spraying it with water from my kitchen sink, but I did not submerge the phone.
For battery and benchmark testing, I worked with Future Labs to coordinate testing. I also tested the device’s charging on my own using a wireless AirVOOC charger supplied by OnePlus.
Last year’s Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate was arguably the best gaming phone on the market, but there was a considerable price to be paid for such gaming excellence. Quite literally, thanks to its hefty price, but also because it wasn’t the easiest phone to live with day to day.
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is still very expensive, and it’s still a superb gaming phone. However, a radical rethink from Asus means that it’s now also an accomplished flagship smartphone in its own right.
Its refreshed design is much more discreet than before, with less of the gamer bling that would embarrass anyone not in thrall to Twitch game streamer culture. Crucially, the ROG Phone 8 Pro has also gained a couple of quality-of-life features that we’ve come to take for granted in similarly priced non-gaming phones, including an IP68 rating and wireless charging.
Another welcome flagship addition is a decent camera system, which is capable of capturing bright, sharp images in a range of scenarios. It’s not a photography front-runner, but it’s plenty good enough for daily snapping, which is arguably a first in a gaming phone.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Slimmer bezels mean you’ll have to put up with a punch-hole selfie cam this time around, and there’s no dual front-facing speaker set-up. Meanwhile, the ROG Phone 8 Pro can’t quite offer the same level of sustained high-end performance as the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro - not without the clip-on AeroActive Cooler X fan, at least, which only ships with the top model.
Even so, this remains a brilliantly balanced gaming phone. Performance is some of the fastest we’ve seen in any handset, while the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s 6.78-inch 165Hz AMOLED display is big, fast, and color-accurate.
You still get those little extras that make for a superior gaming experience, too, including flexible Air Trigger shoulder buttons and a secondary USB-C port along one of the longer edges.
All in all, raw performance aside, it’s difficult to say that Asus has made a flat out better gaming phone in the ROG Phone 8 Pro. What it’s made is a very good gaming phone that won’t let you down when you’re doing non-gaming things, which is arguably a way more valuable advance.
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Price and availability
(Image credit: TechRadar)
From $1,099 / £949 (approximately AU$1,640)
Out now
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is out now, as it started shipping on January 16, 2024.
While the ROG Phone 8 Pro comes in three variants, they’re so fundamentally similar that we’ll be treating them as a single entity for the purposes of this review. Pricing starts at $1,099 / £949 (approximately AU$1,640) for the plain Asus ROG Phone 8, which comes with 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and classic RGB lighting.
Moving up to the ROG Phone 8 Pro gives you 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and switches to subtle LED lighting on the back for a price of $1,199 / £1,099 (around AU$1,790).
The top model – which is the one we’ve been sent, and available exclusively through the Asus official online store – is the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition. This comes with 24GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, LED lighting, and an external AeroActive Cooler X fan bundled into the box at a cost of $1,499 / £1,299 (about AU$2,240).
Value score: 4 / 5
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Specs
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Design
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Brand new less ‘gamery’ design
Air Trigger shoulder buttons
Two USB-C ports
Asus has gone back to the drawing board with the ROG Phone 8 Pro design, having seemingly come to a radical realization: most people don’t actually want a gaming phone in their pocket. Even among those who do, most would rather it didn’t look like a prototype based on an 11-year-old’s sketch.
Simply by looking and feeling relatively normal and understated, the ROG Phone 8 Pro comes as something of a revelation. It’s still large by anyone’s standards, and at 8.9mm thick and 225g it’s precisely as thick as the Red Magic 9 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and scarcely any lighter.
But its subtly rounded edges, sober color tones, and the nice shimmery finish of the Pro model, make it look and feel more like a phone you’d be comfortable whipping out among polite non-gaming company. The cringey ‘Dare to win’ decals are still there on the back, but they’re rendered in small, dark writing this time around.
Choose the Pro model and you won’t even get RGB lighting. In its place comes a small area on the back cover embedded with 341 subtle white LEDs, which Asus calls AniMe Vision. These are turned off by default, and in this state, you wouldn’t even know they were there. When they’re switched on, they offer heads-up information on the phone’s time, charging status, incoming notifications, and a few other things that can be set in the Armoury Crate app.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Another design feature that makes the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro a more appealing mainstream proposition is the inclusion of IP68 certification. Finally, we have a gaming phone that won’t quit if you drop it in a body of water.
In order to hit that rating, Asus has done away with the huge AeroActive Portal from the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, which exposed the internals of the phone when the AeroActive Cooler was attached. You still get an AeroActive Cooler X fan accessory with the top model of the ROG Phone 8 Pro, but it contents itself with drawing heat away from the rear surface. There’s a 2.6x larger cooling area and a slightly faster fan speed to compensate.
What might prove more disappointing to some gamers is the loss of two mappable physical trigger buttons with the AeroActive Cooler X. You now only get two, rather than four.
The other point to note is that, in radically reducing the size of the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro’s bezels, it’s almost 10mm shorter than its predecessor. That’s great for portability, but it does mean that the display is now interrupted by a punch-hole selfie cam.
Personally, I’d rather that than the Red Magic 9 Pro’s woeful in-display selfie cam solution. But if you’re making a gaming phone, there’s an even stronger case to be made for leaving a slight forehead and chin in place.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
That would also facilitate proper front-firing speakers, which are missing here. There’s one in the earpiece, but the other is on the bottom edge of the phone, which can be blocked when you hold it in landscape. These speakers still sound nice and clear, and they get plenty loud, but they’re shown up for separation and clarity by a teeny-tiny iPhone 15 Pro.
Two vital gaming design elements have been retained, however. One is a set of Air Triggers, which are dedicated capacitive buttons on the top edge of the phone. These can be mapped to controls in many games, which comes in very handy in competitive shooters and MOBAs. They can even be split into two for a total of four physical controls.
The other gamer-friendly feature to have been retained is a secondary USB-C port on the longer edge of the phone opposite the Air Triggers. This makes it much more pleasant to plug and play while you’re playing landscape games. And yes, there is still a 3.5mm headphone jack for that vital low-latency personal audio.
Design score: 4.5 / 5
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Display
(Image credit: TechRadar)
6.78-inch LTPO OLED
Super-fast refresh rates up to 165Hz
FHD+ resolution
Asus has fitted the ROG Phone 8 Pro with a new 6.78-inch E6 OLED display. It’s not particularly sharp at 1080 x 2400 (FHD+), especially when compared to other $1,199 / £1,099 Android phones, but I honestly have no complaints.
It gets extremely bright, with a claimed peak of 2,500 nits in HDR scenarios and 1,600 nits in high brightness mode, which will initiate when heading outdoors on a sunny day with auto-brightness on.
With auto-brightness switched off, I measured a maximum brightness of around 775 nits, which is excellent. The Red Magic 9 Pro, by way of comparison, could only hit 445 nits.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
I also found the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s display to be extremely color-accurate and natural-looking, at least once I switched away from the default Optimal setting and flipped it to Normal mode.
This is an LTPO panel, so it can scale from 1 to 120Hz in regular usage depending on the use case, meaning it’s nice and energy efficient when flitting between non-gaming tasks.
Head into gaming mode, however, and it can ramp up even further to 165Hz. There aren’t many games that will step north of 120Hz, of course, but the ROG Phone 8 Pro is ready for any that do.
Display score: 4.5 / 5
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Cameras
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Massively improved 1/1.56-inch main camera with gimbal
13-inch ultra-wide with freeform lens
Finally, a dedicated 32MP 3x telephoto
Giving your gaming phone a chic design is all very well, but if you want the masses to take it seriously as a genuine flagship contender, you’d better get your camera game in shape. Thankfully, Asus has done just that.
It starts with a vastly improved main camera, fitted with the same 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensor as the OnePlus 11. This is then paired with a new generation of the impressive 6-axis Hybrid Gimbal stabilizer found in the Asus Zenfone 10, which keeps things way steadier than your standard optical image stabilization (OIS) system.
This combination of components, together with Asus’s contrasty image science, produces well exposed and detailed shots in a range of lighting conditions. Night shots are particularly crisp here, with that larger sensor and gimbal system holding things steady during the necessary extended shutter times.
It’s not just night shots that the gimbal helps with either, with video footage also kept super-steady. This is illustrated by a neat UI element: so long as you keep the dot within the circle, you can be sure the gimbal is doing its thing.
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro camera samples
Image 1 of 19
A photo taken with the main camera (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 2 of 19
An ultra-wide shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 3 of 19
A 2x zoom shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 4 of 19
A 3x zoom shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 5 of 19
A photo taken with the main camera (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 6 of 19
An ultra-wide shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 7 of 19
A 2x zoom shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 8 of 19
A 3x zoom shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 9 of 19
A photo taken with the main camera (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 10 of 19
An ultra-wide photo (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 11 of 19
A 2x zoom shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 12 of 19
A 3x zoom shot (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 13 of 19
A selfie at 1x zoom (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 14 of 19
A selfie at 0.7x zoom (Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 15 of 19
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 16 of 19
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 17 of 19
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 18 of 19
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Image 19 of 19
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Hyper Steady mode goes even further, cropping in and using electronic image stabilization (EIS) to further even things out during particularly active shoots. You can shoot at up to 8K and 24fps or 4K at 60fps here, though Hyper Steady mode is only available at 1080p/30fps.
The photographic improvements continue with the provision of a 32MP 3x telephoto camera. Previous ROG Phone models haven’t bothered, supplying a pointless macro camera instead. Zoomed shots taken with this dedicated component turned out to be crisp, clear, and tonally similar to the main sensor.
If there’s a weak point it’s the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s 13MP ultra-wide camera, which notably falls off in tone, detail, and dynamic range compared to the other two. Still, Asus has supplied a freeform lens, which reduces distortion towards the edges.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Asus’s AI image processing didn’t always call the scene right in my experience. This is illustrated in one selection of shots of an old train carriage, which the main sensor and the telephoto seemed to overexpose, while the ultra-wide went in the opposite direction.
The 32MP selfie camera, too, lacks a certain degree of subject sharpness, with slightly smudgy skin tones. It does have the distinction of being capable of a wider ‘0.7x’ view in addition to a cropped 1x view, however, so you have some flexibility with group and landscape selfies.
To be clear, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro doesn’t rival the iPhone 15 Pro, Google Pixel 8 Pro, or Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra in the camera department. Which, given its pricing, you might well expect it to do. However, given the calamitous history of gaming phone cameras, this represents a huge step forwards into respectability.
Camera score: 4 / 5
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Packs the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip
12GB, 18GB, or 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage
As smart as the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro looks in its new suit, we’re still all here for the performance. Thankfully, it’s an absolute barnstormer, with only the barest of wrinkles to speak off.
Let’s start with the specs, because they’re all cutting edge. You get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is going to be the go-to chip for 2024.
This is accompanied by up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM in the top Pro Edition, which we’d ordinarily dismiss as overkill. In a pricey gaming phone such as this, though, it seems far more reasonable.
With such components at its disposal, Asus has turned the performance tap on full. My Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark tests reveal a multi-core score of around 7,200, which broadly matched side-by-side test results from the Red Magic 9 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Across the suite of GFXBench GPU-focused benchmarks, the ROG Phone 8 Pro trounced the Red Magic 9 Pro in the on-screen tests, and matches it in off-screen tests. You can likely put that disparity down to the Red Magic 9 Pro’s higher screen resolution.
Where the Red Magic 9 Pro wins back some ground – and it’s not an insignificant victory – is in sustained performance. The 3DMark Solar Bar Stress Test runs 20-minute-long loops of a high-intensity graphical workout, mimicking sustained high-end 3D gameplay. The ROG Phone 8 Pro scored 92.2%, reflecting the fact that its performance remained at a fairly consistent rate from the first loop to the last.
That’s much better than most normal flagship phones, which tend to score in the 70 to 80% region. However, it falls short of the Red Magic 9 Pro, which scored a nigh-on perfect 99.7%. The reason for this is almost certainly the ROG Phone’s lack of an integrated fan cooling system. Sure enough, with the AeroActive Cooler X attached to the back of the ROG, it scored 98.3% in the same test.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
I should also note that the ROG Phone 8 Pro had gotten extremely toasty by the end of this 20-minute GPU workout, to the point where it was uncomfortable to hold. It’s something to bear in mind if you’re someone who plays graphically advanced games for extended periods, though no current games will push a phone quite so hard.
In summary, then, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is one of the very strongest performers on the market. It falls slightly short of the Red Magic 9 Pro when it comes to sustained gaming performance, unless you purchase the top model and fit the AeroActive Cooler X fan, but it’ll still blow through any modern game you can throw at it on the very highest graphical settings with contemptuous ease.
There’s ample space for storing games and media files, too, with a choice of 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage depending on the model.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Software
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Android 14 with ROG UI
Armour Crate app to fine-tune gaming settings
At least two OS updates, four years of security updates
Asus’s custom UI is one of the less tinkered-with on the Android market. Compared to Nubia’s Red Magic OS 9.0, it’s absolute bliss to deal with, and I encountered none of the set-up woes or bugs that we encountered with the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate.
The joy starts right at the outset, where Asus gives you the choice of the stock Android or Asus Optimized quick settings panel and a more Classic (i.e. stock) home screen layout. I dearly wish more (read: all) Android manufacturers did this.
Essentially, ROG UI is the same as Zen UI on the Zenfone 10. There are a few cosmetic tweaks to the Google formula, some ugly ‘gamer’ wallpapers, and some added pre-installed apps like Gallery and the Link to Windows app. There are also a couple of third-party apps pre-installed in Instagram and Facebook, but it’s nothing egregious.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
The main nod to gamers here is the Armoury Crate app, which is where you can go to tweak performance modes, Air Trigger configurations, and to load up shared custom macros on a game-by-game basis.
You can also bring up an Armoury Crate UI over your current game by swiping down from the top corner. This is most useful when you want to map those Air Trigger controls.
Asus promises at least two major OS updates, bringing the ROG Phone 8 Pro up to Android 16, and four years of security updates. It’s not among the leading pack of premium Android phones in this department, which is shame give how future-proof the hardware is.
Software score: 4 / 5
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Battery
(Image credit: TechRadar)
5,500mAh battery is smaller than before
All day usage, but not the strongest gaming phone stamina
65W wired and 15W wireless charging
In order to pull off this sleeker design, Asus has taken the slightly concerning step of downsizing the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s battery. While the ROG Phone 7 had a 6,000mAh battery, the new model only has a 5,500mAh cell.
Improvements to the efficiency of the chip and the display technology obviously go some way to offsetting this, but even Asus has admitted to a slight drop in stamina compared to its previous model. That’s not the ideal direction of travel for a gaming phone, where a ‘higher, further, faster, baby’ motto tends to apply.
It’s also worth pointing out that the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro offers a 6,500mAh battery, which is significantly larger.
Sure enough, I was unable to get quite the same practical battery life out of the ROG Phone 8 Pro as its significantly cheaper rival. In an average full day of moderate usage with about four hours of screen-on time, I would be left with a little shy of 50% left in the tank. That’s not a bad result by any means, but it falls way short of the Red Magic 9 Pro on 65%.
Given the lower capacity of its battery, the 65W charger Asus bundles in yields similar results to the Red Magic 9 Pro. Charging from empty got me to 100% in around 40 minutes.
The ROG Phone 8 Pro also has an ace up its sleeve in the form of 15W wireless charging, which is something that previous gaming phones have omitted. It’s another feature that makes this the most easy gaming phone to live with.
Battery score: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro?
Buy it if...
You want a gaming phone that won’t embarrass you The ROG Phone 8 Pro is an excellent gaming performer, but it’s not too garish or cheap-looking like other gaming phones – both in terms of hardware and software.
You want a gaming phone with all the creature comforts Gaming phones tend to omit wireless charging, a full IP rating, and a telephoto camera. The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is the first one that doesn’t.
You want a flagship phone with excellent sustained performance There are fast flagship phones out there, but none can keep up that performance over a long period like the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro.
Don't buy it if...
You want an affordable gaming phone The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is not cheap, and you can get a broadly competitive gaming phone experience elsewhere for a fraction of the price.
You like your phones slim and light Despite its refined design, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is still a chunky device.
You want a phone for the long haul Asus is only promising two years of major Android updates with the ROG Phone 8 Pro.
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro review: Also consider
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro is a unique gaming phone that will serve you well in everyday life, but it’s not your only option. These phones can tick some of the same boxes, and a few others besides.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro The Red Magic 9 Pro is the ROG Phone 8 Pro’s major gaming phone rival. It tops the ROG Phone on sustained performance and stamina and is around half the price, though its design, software and camera fall way short.
Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate isn’t as fast as the ROG Phone 8 Pro, and it’s much less pleasant to look at and use day to day. However, it’s more gaming-focused, and should now be cheaper too.
iPhone 15 Pro Max For around the same price as the top ROG Phone 8 Pro model, Apple’s super-sized phone offers competitive gaming performance (though not over sustained periods) and a better all-round smartphone experience, as well as access to a new breed of console games.
How I tested the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
Review test period = 1 month
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, bundled Asus 65W power adapter
I was sent the top Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition model by a PR representative, at which point I commenced using the phone on a daily basis over a two-week period, followed by a further two weeks of intermittent usage.
For at least a week of that time, the 8 Pro was my everyday phone. For the rest of the time, I swapped in another active SIM and continued to use the phone for benchmark tests, gaming, photos, and general browsing.
I’m a freelance journalist who got his start writing about mobile games in the pre-smartphone era. I was around to cover the arrival of the iPhone and the App Store, as well as Android, and their seismic effect on the games industry. I now write about consumer tech, games, and culture for a number of top websites.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus was rumored to be the last Plus-branded entry in Samsung’s long-running flagship Galaxy S series, and had a successor – the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus – not been unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked 2024, it would’ve been easy to forgive the company for calling time on its awkwardly-positioned middle-child devices.
Despite offering Galaxy Ultra sizing at a more accessible price, Samsung’s Galaxy Plus phones have seldom, if ever, proven better value for money than its all-singing, all-dancing Ultra devices. This year, though, the Galaxy S24 Plus is a much more enticing proposition: its display is objectively better than the one you'll find on the standard-sized Samsung Galaxy S24, and it doesn’t lose out on the impressive AI features that Samsung is touting as the key selling point of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Specifically, the Galaxy S24 Plus benefits from QHD+ display technology – a feature previously reserved for the Galaxy S23 Ultra – and a bespoke Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset (or Samsung’s own Exynos 2400, depending on your region) that places AI at the forefront of the mobile experience. The former upgrade is far from game-changing – it essentially means the Plus’s 6.7-inch screen is sharper and more detailed than the S24’s FHD+ equivalent – but it’s enough to better differentiate the Plus from its cheaper sibling. The latter, by contrast, brings a parity to the Galaxy S24 range that we haven’t seen, well, ever.
Galaxy AI is the umbrella term for Samsung’s suite of AI-powered features, which range from real-time text and call translation to generative photo editing. I tried out several of these features during my brief hands-on time with the Galaxy S24 Plus, and while their level of real-world utility remains to be seen, their seamless integration into Samsung’s One UI is seriously impressive.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
On the physical upgrade front, the Galaxy S24 Plus sports marginally narrower bezels and a slightly flatter design than its predecessor, though its (supposedly stronger) Armor Aluminum frame is the most noticeable change. The phone’s 4,900mAh battery is a touch larger, too, though this is unlikely to equate to much (if any) real-world battery life improvement.
If you’re after the best camera phone around, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the way to go, but the new Plus model boasts some decent photography hardware nonetheless. The phone retains its predecessor’s 50MP wide lens (f/1.8), 12MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2), 10MP telephoto lens (f/2.4, 3x optical zoom), and 12MP selfie camera (f/2.2), though the aforementioned addition of Galaxy AI has thrown some neat new AI-powered editing capabilities into the mix.
I haven’t spent enough time with the Galaxy S24 Plus to deliver a full verdict on its value-for-money offering yet, but after some brief hands-on time with the device at Galaxy Unpacked 2024, I can safely say that Samsung’s latest second-tier flagship is an objectively better phone than last year’s S23 Plus – and one that might finally make buyers think twice.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Price and availability
Starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699
Preorders are open now
Shipping from January 31
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus was announced at Samsung’s latest Galaxy Unpacked event on January 17, 2024. Samsung Galaxy S24 preorders are live now, and all three new devices will begin shipping on January 31.
Pricing for the Galaxy S24 Plus starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 for the base configuration (8GB RAM / 256GB storage), and rises to £1,099 / AU$1,899 for the model with 8GB RAM / 512GB storage. I’ll be updating this article with US pricing for the latter configuration as soon as I have it.
For comparison, the Galaxy S23 Plus started at $999.99 / £1,049 / $1,649 for the model with 8GB RAM / 256GB storage, so £999 marks a welcome £50 decrease (in the UK, at least).
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Specs
Here's a look at the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' specs and how it compares to its stablemates.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Design
Slightly flatter edges and narrower bezels
New Armor Aluminum frame
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
For the second year running, Samsung’s newest Galaxy Plus model places emphasis on meaningful internal upgrades over a dramatic aesthetic redesign. But that’s not to say the Galaxy S24 Plus looks identical to its predecessor.
Measuring 158.5 x 75.9 x 7.7mm and weighing 196g, this year’s Plus phone has slightly narrower bezels, slightly flatter edges (think the iPhone 15 Pro and Galaxy Z Fold 5) and a more durable Armor Aluminum frame versus the Galaxy S23 Plus.
Personally, I’m all for the changes – the S23 Plus’s mirrored frame was a garish fingerprint magnet – although you’d be hard pressed to distinguish the Galaxy S24 Plus from its predecessor when viewing the two phones at a glance.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Display
QHD+ display for the first time in a Plus model
Enhanced outdoor visibility
New 2,600-nit peak brightness
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
For the first time, the display on Samsung’s latest Galaxy Plus model is objectively superior to the display used by its standard sibling. Specifically, the Galaxy S24 Plus uses a 6.65-inch dynamic AMOLED 2X display, with QHD+ technology that delivers improved sharpness and detail compared to the screen on the smaller Galaxy S24. Previously, QHD+ displays have been reserved for Samsung’s Ultra phones, and although the differences here aren’t all that noticeable, it’s good to see Samsung giving the Galaxy S24 Plus the best screen possible.
The other display upgrades are shared between the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus. Both phones get a new peak brightness of 2,600 nits, as well as improved outdoor visibility thanks to Samsung’s Vision Booster feature. Their refresh rates have also been improved – you’ll now get 1-120Hz instead of 48-120Hz.
All of these features combine to deliver the biggest, boldest and brightest Galaxy S Plus display yet, and although I’ll need to conduct further testing, I was able to use the phone under the bright lights of Samsung’s hands-on testing space without issue.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Cameras
Same triple-lens setup as the Galaxy S23 Plus
Up to 8K video at 30fps
AI features are impressive but potentially problematic
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
If there’s one big disappointment with the Galaxy S24 Plus, it’s the lack of changes in the camera hardware department. The phone retains its predecessor’s 50MP wide lens (f/1.8), 12MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2), 10MP telephoto lens (f/2.4, 3x optical zoom), and 12MP selfie camera (f/2.2). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – I was impressed with the all-round photography capabilities of the Galaxy S23 Plus – but an S23 Ultra-style 200MP main sensor wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Samsung has instead turned to AI for this year’s camera-related Galaxy upgrades, with a suite of new editing tools on hand to help you re-compose and remaster photos. Edit Suggestion, for instance, uses Galaxy AI to suggest suitable photo tweaks, while Generative Edit can fill in parts of an image background with generative AI. Instant Slow-mo can generate additional frames to add more detail (or the illusion of more detail) to videos, while Super HDR reveals lifelike previews before the shutter is ever pressed.
I’ll need to further test these features before passing judgment on their utility, but the demos given by Samsung staff for each were supremely impressive. Generative AI looks particularly mind-blowing, although it does raise some awkward questions about authenticity, beauty standards, and the value of photography in 2024.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Performance
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset in the US, Exynos 2400 elsewhere
Larger vapor chamber and ray tracing support
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Much to the chagrin of Samsung fans the world over, Samsung has again split the chipset offering for its latest Galaxy phones – though rumors suggest that the situation isn’t as bad as it was for the Galaxy S22 line, where the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 outperformed the Exynos 2200 by some margin).
Specifically, the chipset powering your Galaxy S24 Plus depends on the region in which you buy the phone. Those in the US get a bespoke version of Qualcomm’s newly released Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, while those in Europe and other regions get Samsung’s new Exynos 2400 chipset. Luckily, however, early benchmark results promise similar real-world performance from both chipsets, so I don’t expect the differences to be significant this year, although the Snapdragon may prove slightly more efficient than the Exynos in the long run.
In my brief time with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Galaxy S24 Plus, the phone was able to juggle gaming, heavy-duty video recording, and multiple apps with ease.
Speaking of gaming, the Galaxy S24 Plus benefits from a vapor chamber that’s 1.9x larger than its predecessor, which Samsung says will deliver improved heat dissipation. All three Galaxy S24 phones offer ray tracing support, too, so the Galaxy S24 Plus might prove to be one of the best gaming phones of 2024.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Software
Galaxy AI enables several experience-enhancing features
Seven years of OS updates and seven years of security updates
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
The ace(s) in the hole for the Galaxy S24 Plus are its new AI capabilities, which Samsung says are “aimed at enhancing every part of life.” Here’s how the company describes the key features of Galaxy AI:
When you need to communicate defying language barriers, Galaxy S24 makes it easier than ever. Chat with a student or colleague from abroad. Book a reservation while on vacation in another country. It’s all possible with Live Translate, two-way, real-time voice and text translations of phone calls within the native app. No third-party apps are required, and on-device AI keeps conversations completely private.
With Interpreter, live conversations can be instantly translated on a split-screen view so people standing opposite each other can read a text transcription of what the other person has said. It even works without cellular data or Wi-Fi.
For messages and other apps, Chat Assist can help perfect conversational tones to ensure communication sounds as it was intended: like a polite message to a co-worker or a short and catchy phrase for a social media caption.
In the car meanwhile, Android Auto will automatically summarize incoming messages and suggest relevant replies and actions, like sending someone your ETA, so you can stay connected while staying focused on the road.
Organisation also gets a big boost with Note Assist in Samsung Notes, featuring AI-generated summaries, template creation that streamlines notes with pre-made formats, and cover creation to make notes easy to spot with a brief preview.
For voice recordings, even when there are multiple speakers, Transcript Assist uses AI and Speech-to-Text technology to transcribe, summarize and even translate recordings.
Communication isn’t the only way Galaxy S24 takes the fundamental benefits of the phone into the future. Online search has transformed nearly every aspect of life. Galaxy S24 marks a milestone in the history of search as the first phone to debut intuitive, gesture-driven Circle to Search with Google. With a long press on the home button, you can circle, highlight, scribble on, or tap anything on Galaxy S24’s screen to see helpful, high-quality search results.
Naturally, I’ll be taking these AI-powered features for a proper spin as I test the Galaxy S24 Plus for my full review, but the early signs are promising. Circle to Search with Google worked perfectly when I tried to identify a plant, two different watches and even my battered backpack during my hands-on session, while Live Translate worked well, too (though it remains to be seen how effective this feature will be when it comes to interpreting colloquialisms and muffled phrases).
Also on the software front, Samsung is committing to seven years of OS updates and seven years of security updates for the Galaxy S24 Plus and its siblings, which is a welcome improvement on the five years we’ve come to expect from the company (and brings the S24 range in line with the Google Pixel 8 and Apple’s latest iPhones). In other words, you’ll be able to use the Galaxy S24 Plus without fear of being left behind until at least 2031. Yikes.
Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review: Battery
4,900mAh battery is a slight upgrade
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
The Galaxy S24 Plus has a 4,900mAh battery, which is a 200mAh increase over the S23 Plus’s 4,700mAh power pack. That said, I’m not expecting the new phone to offer significantly better real-world battery life than its predecessor. I found that the Galaxy S23 Plus could comfortably last for almost two days when testing that phone, so I’m anticipating something similar from the Galaxy S24 Plus. I’ll confirm as much in my upcoming review of the phone.
If you think the Samsung Galaxy S24 is basic compared to the mighty Galaxy S24 Ultra, think again. The smaller Galaxy S24 is a super-powered marvel, with all the processing power of Samsung’s best phone, packed into a much smaller design that is easier to fit into a fashionable pocket.
What can you do with this much power in such a small phone? You can use the new AI tools from Samsung and Google, including the cool Circle to Search that easily answers the question “hey, what’s that?!” whether you’re looking at a web page, a YouTube video, or even a photo you just took. You also get the Samsung Galaxy AI translation that work like magic, changing your words into a foreign tongue and letting you understand somebody across the language barrier.
You can also play games, obviously, and the Galaxy S24 is a gaming powerhouse, made better by its take-anywhere size. This phone easily beats the iPhone 15 in side-by-side gaming tests, and it approaches Pro power in terms of processing and productivity. It can even run Samsung DeX, the desktop environment that makes your phone work like a real computer when you plug in a keyboard, monitor, and mouse.
While Apple scrimps on the CPU in its iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, giving those phones last year’s processor, Samsung endows every Galaxy S24 phone with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, at least in the US. Elsewhere, this phone and the Galaxy S24 Plus might use the Samsung Semiconductor Exynos 2400 chipset, and we’ll be testing that model shortly, but we expect performance will be similar no matter where you buy the S24 and S24 Plus.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The result is a phone that not only runs fast, but also runs a long time, as we’ve seen great battery performance from phones with the latest Snapdragon on board. In battery life, the Galaxy S24 easily beats competitors at this size and price, lasting hours longer than the iPhone 15 or Pixel 8.
The Galaxy S24 has a display that can crank out terrific brightness, though it isn’t the brightest or the sharpest display you’ll find. I had no complaints, even though I need to wear my reading glasses to read fine print at the highest resolution setting on the Galaxy S24. The display looks brilliant, no matter how bright or dim it was set.
For cameras, the Galaxy S24 can’t compete with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, a phone that costs $500 more in the US, but it has the specs and features to take on the latest Pixel, and iPhone 15 fans should be jealous of the real 3X zoom lens that the Galaxy offers. There’s no optical zoom on the iPhone 15, and once again Samsung wins with versatility, if not pure image quality.
It’s not all good news, though. Samsung’s software lags far behind. It’s a lustrous garden grown wild. Features never seem to die, they just snarl the home screen and make the Settings menu a thicket of thorns.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Samsung needs to prune its features and simplify, especially if it wants to win over iPhone fans some day. The iPhone 15 doesn’t make you dig through three layers of Settings to find the coolest new features. It just works. Samsung needs to just work a lot more on its software, because the Galaxy gets harder to use every year. Soon, it will be too far gone.
If you want more battery life, more versatility, and some seriously powerful productivity features, the Samsung Galaxy S24 is the right choice. If you don’t care about all the extras and just want a phone that nails the basics, there are simpler and more elegant options available from Apple and Google, but Samsung gives you a sense of the possibilities that are coming in the future. You just have to drag the phone out of the past to find it.
Galaxy S24 review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, and Aussies get more storage to start
Nobody pays full price for a Samsung phone
It’s worth spending more for the 256GB of storage (at least)
The Galaxy S24 is priced as expected, and it’s a bit less expensive in the UK than last year’s phone. You still get the same 128GB of storage, except in Australia where Samsung starts this phone at 256GB and offers a higher-capacity 512GB model. The extra storage is worth buying, since the cameras on the S24 are good enough that you could fill it up with photos and videos.
Samsung always seems to have deals available for Galaxy S phones, whether that’s doubling the storage for free or offering a bonus on your trade. In the US, Samsung will give you at least $100 for any phone you trade, which effectively knocks the price to $699 for almost everybody. At that price, the Galaxy S24 is a bit cheaper than Apple’s iPhone 15 (and Apple is NOT generous with trade in values), and closer to the Google Pixel 8 or OnePlus 12, with a similar trade offer.
Unless you are a serious camera hound, or you want a much bigger display, there’s no reason to spring for the Galaxy S24 Ultra instead. It’s a massive price jump that doesn’t equate to a big performance boost. Sure, the Ultra is a bigger phone with a bigger battery inside, so it lasts a bit longer, but otherwise performance is very similar when you are playing games or running intense apps, like Adobe Lightroom for photo editing.
The Galaxy S24 is a great value compared to the competition at this price. It’s far more powerful than the Google Pixel 8, and though both phones come with a promise of seven years of Android updates, it’s easier to envision the Galaxy S24 lasting until 2031, while I can’t imagine a Pixel 8 that’s capable of anything in seven years.
Compared to the iPhone 15, you certainly get a lot more with the Galaxy S24, including a real zoom lens and a much bigger battery, but the experience is entirely different. Apple phones work best when you know more people with Apple phones, so if all of your friends are on iPhone, it may be worth getting a phone with iOS 17 so you can NameDrop and blue-bubble all you like. Apple phones also tend to hold their value better than Android phones, though that gap is closing every year.
Value score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S24 review: Specs
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Galaxy S24 may be the ‘base model’ of the family, but it’s no slouch in terms of specs. It has the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor that makes the Galaxy S24 Ultra blazing fast, and it has more camera options and a bigger battery than a comparable iPhone 15. The display is also better than other phones this size — it’s brighter than even the Pixel 8, with better color accuracy as well.
Galaxy S24 review: Design
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Looks a lot like an iPhone 15
Lots of unique color options at launch
No titanium or Gorilla Armor, that’s Ultra-only
The Samsung pendulum sways back and forth between copying Apple and striking out on its own. This year the Galaxy S24 is much closer to the iPhone 15 design than it has been in many years, while the S24 Ultra looks just a bit more unique. It’s the curve at the corners of the display that really bring home the similarity. The Galaxy S24, like an iPhone, is well-rounded at the corners, while the S24 Ultra is all right angles.
This isn’t a terrible thing, it just isn’t very unique. At least Samsung has some nice colors this year. My review unit came in the Cobalt Violet color, which is very pretty but a little sad, like the stormy purple Apple once used on its iPhone. More vibrant are the Sandstone Orange and Amber Yellow options. I wish they were a bit more saturated and prime, but they do look natural, with a nice matte finish and texture to the back glass.
The glass is unfortunately Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which was the best of the best last year, but now we’ve seen Gorilla Armor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and it’s hard to settle for less. My Galaxy S24 review unit already has a scratch on the back glass, and I don’t have a case for this phone yet. Gorilla Armor is more scratch resistant, and Samsung has done a great job reducing reflections and glare, but only on the Ultra model.
Samsung still does a great job keeping its phones thin and light. This is no Ultra, and if you want a phone you can use with one hand, the Galaxy S24 is a great option. It’s thinner than the iPhone or Google Pixel, and it’s also the lightest of the bunch. Usually a lighter phone means less battery inside, but the Galaxy S24 beats all competitors for battery life, so it’s not a concern.
Design score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S24 review: Display
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Excellent display is colorful and bright
Not as sharp as some competitors, but still looks great
Maybe too small for all the features Samsung crams in
Samsung is a perennial favorite when it comes to smartphone displays, and the Galaxy S24 is no disappointment, but it also isn’t the clear winner in any aspect. I enjoyed reading web pages, playing games, and editing photos on the smaller screen, and even small text was legible and sharp (with proper eyewear). The screen was also plenty bright, even in outdoor sunlight taking photos with the camera.
Samsung isn’t giving us the sharpest display with the Galaxy S24, and it’s odd for the company to fall behind a bit. The Google Pixel 8 and iPhone 15 both have a higher pixel density, making them technically sharper, though you might not notice the difference. The Galaxy S24 can get brighter than both of those phones, but OnePlus is pulling some 4,500 nit magic out of its hat with the similarly-priced OnePlus 12, so Samsung isn’t the resounding brightness winner.
Overall I had no complaints about the display unless I’m truly nitpicking. In our Future Labs tests, the Galaxy S24 had a wider color gamut than any competitor. Samsung is still sticky about Dolby Vision HDR support, which is what Netflix favors, but HDR10+ content looks great, and you can find that on every other major streamer.
While I like carrying a smaller phone, the six-inch display on the Galaxy S24 isn’t quite big enough to hold all of Samsung’s features. The Edge Panel is turned on by default, and it takes up so much room on the side of the phone that it was easy to swipe it open accidentally when I just wanted to use a back swipe gesture.
The Quick Panel also became more complex, and this makes it harder to read and use on the smaller Galaxy S24 display than it was on larger Samsung screens. Overall, more software simplicity would help show off that screen, instead of bogging it down with icons and menu clutter.
Display score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S24 review: Software
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Needs a lot of work to simplify and improve
Too many features are buried in Settings menu
Too many features, period
The good news about software on the Galaxy S24 is that it can do just about everything the Galaxy S24 Ultra can do, short of using the S Pen. The bad news is that it can do everything the Galaxy S24 Ultra can do, and no less. Every bit of complexity, often designed for the largest smartphone display possible, is still present in the Galaxy S24. It’s a mess.
The Galaxy S24 is super-powered, there is no doubt. There are big software features, like Samsung DeX, which gives you a Chromebook-like interface when you plug your phone into an external monitor. There are also fine, granular controls over everything, from battery and power management to Wi-Fi and networking to screen response and menus to … well, everything. There is no end to what you can do with the Galaxy S24, and it is easy to get very lost.
Samsung needs to simplify. There are too many features that are impossible to find, like wireless power sharing, which should let me charge my earbuds by setting the case on top of my Galaxy S24. Unfortunately, I can’t find the button to make this happen, not without a treasure map and a pickaxe (it’s under Battery, that’s my only hint to you).
The software problems are starting to feel like laziness. In setting up my Galaxy S24, I was excited when my older Samsung phone found the new S24 quickly and offered to transfer all of my stuff. This process quickly failed without warning, and I had to repeat it. After it failed the second time, I was asked on another screen to use Samsung Smart Switch, which somehow worked. Why not just start there?
The first time I turned on the Galaxy S24, I needed to update a ton of apps in the Google Play Store, and the updates failed, then disappeared. I opened the Galaxy App Store and found a slew of updates there, as well, even though there was no notification. My Galaxy was suddenly downloading strange Samsung software, including a blockchain manager? I don’t use anything blockchain at all.Then there are all the apps. There are too many apps from Samsung, too many apps from Google, and somehow even Microsoft gets its own folder?! On a Samsung phone, running a Google operating system? Good job, Microsoft. I hope it got what it paid for.
All of this just feels lazy, or cynical, or both. It doesn’t feel like Samsung has my best interest at heart, from the moment I start using the Galaxy S24. It feels like the software is pushing me to do more, to buy more, and use more. I just want simplicity. I just want it to work.
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
All the apps preloaded on the Galaxy S24
Image 2 of 4
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
All the apps preloaded on the Galaxy S24
Image 3 of 4
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
All the apps preloaded on the Galaxy S24
Image 4 of 4
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
All the apps preloaded on the Galaxy S24
Then there are all the apps. There are too many apps from Samsung, too many apps from Google, and somehow even Microsoft gets its own folder?! On a Samsung phone, running a Google operating system? Good job, Microsoft. I hope it got what it paid for.
All of this just feels lazy, or cynical, or both. It doesn’t feel like Samsung has my best interest at heart, from the moment I start using the Galaxy S24. It feels like the software is pushing me to do more, to buy more, and use more. I just want simplicity. I just want it to work.
Software score: 2 / 5
Galaxy S24 review: Cameras
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Most versatile cameras on a phone this price
Great image quality with better color and dynamic range
Cool new AI photo editing tools are fun to try
Sure, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is our top camera phone, but that doesn’t mean the Galaxy S24 is a slouch. Most of the great work Samsung has done improving its image processing carries through here. Photos I shot with the Galaxy S24 look better, more natural, than photos taken with either the Galaxy S23 or my iPhone 15.
You also get a real zoom lens with the Galaxy S24, and it helps a great deal. Having a real 3X zoom brings you closer to the field, or the stage, even if the zoom lens is paired to a woefully small sensor that produces images with more noise and blur than I’d like. No matter, neither the Pixel 8 nor the iPhone 15 has optical zoom around back, and real zoom is always better than digital zoom, all things being equal.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
You might occasionally get better shots from the main camera on the iPhone 15, and the Google Pixel 8 does a better job with low light images, but the Galaxy S24 is much more versatile. I actually find Samsung’s different camera modes, like the Food mode or the dual-camera video recording mode, to be fun and useful. My baked goods look delectable when I shoot them with the Galaxy, and the dual-camera video is great for reaction shots with my kiddo.
Samsung also brings a bunch of AI tricks into the camera, both in the Camera app and Samsung’s image Gallery. I wish there weren’t two photo apps, including Google Photos, but here we are. Unlike the Pixel, which gives you AI editing in Google Photos, Samsung keeps its Magic Editor software in the Gallery.
With Magic Editor, you can resize an object in your photo and move it around. You can erase the background entirely and replace it with something new. The phone will use AI to figure out what’s happening in the foreground and match the new background appropriately. There is also a tool that adds more background to an image if you rotate it and end up with blank space.
In practice, these are surprisingly useful. I like erasing spectators in the way when I’m trying to see my kid on the field. The generative AI did a nice job without a heavy hand, and the results usually looked natural enough. I hope Samsung doesn’t go too much further into creating fake imagery, but the Galaxy S24 will affix a watermark to images that have been edited using AI.
Galaxy S24 camera samples
Image 1 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 2 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 3 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 4 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 5 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 6 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Camera score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S24 review: Performance
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Excellent performance, close to the Galaxy S24 Ultra
More RAM would help, but isn’t necessary
Only hiccups were new AI features
Don’t let the smaller size of the Galaxy S24 fool you, Samsung has given this phone the same powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor found in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It’s even overclocked a bit compared to the same processor in competitors' phones, like the OnePlus 12, so it will outperform any other Android you’ll find, and any iPhone 15 that isn’t a Pro model.
What can you do with that performance? You can play games like Call of Duty Mobile at the highest settings and still hit 60fps. You can run Adobe Lightroom and watch your photo edits happen in real-time as you move the sliders. You can run Samsung DeX and open multiple windows on your monitor simultaneously. There’s a ton of power packed into this phone.
The only time I saw a real delay was when I used the new Google and Galaxy AI features. Holding down the home button to activate Google’s circle to search took a few moments. In fact, I wasn’t sure the feature was actually working at first because I wasn’t patient enough waiting for it to start.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Using Samsung’s Galaxy AI features caused a similar delay. When I asked the keyboard to rewrite my text messages, there was a long pause. When I recorded a speech using the Voice Recorder, it could not transcribe on the fly, like my Pixel 8 can, and there was a longer delay when I asked for a summary.
It’s too bad that Samsung has a performance leader that can beat a comparable iPhone, but the new AI features are the only thing that slows it down. It’s unclear if this will get any faster with software updates, as the AI features are a mix of cloud services and on-device processing. There are bottlenecks with both.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra technically outperformed the Galaxy S24, likely due to the extra RAM on board. The Galaxy S24 only ships with 8GB of RAM installed, while the S24 Ultra comes with 12GB. In practice, it was hard to see a difference unless I held the phones side-by-side, and then I noticed the S24 Ultra finishing some tasks just a bit faster. The Galaxy S24 was still able to open multiple apps at once and handle gaming at the highest graphics levels, so I had no complaints about its performance.
Performance score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S24 review: Battery life
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Excellent battery life, even though the battery didn’t grow much
Charging speeds could be faster
Plenty of power management, hidden under software menus
The Galaxy S24 has a battery that is only slightly larger than last year’s Galaxy S23, but battery life has seen a significant improvement, giving me hours more active screen time and lasting a full day with little trouble. On a normal day of use, the Galaxy S24 lasted until bed time with no trouble. On a day of heavy gaming and photography, I still lasted into the evening with a quick top up while I was making dinner.
I wish the Galaxy S24 would charge faster, as things haven’t improved since last year. I was able to get the battery to just over 50% in 30 minutes, just like with my iPhone 15. The Pixel 8 charges a bit faster, but cool phones like the OnePlus 12 (which costs the same) can charge at extreme speeds and fill the battery completely in a half hour.
There are plenty of adaptive modes to help you save battery life, but good luck finding them in Samsung’s terrible Settings menu. You can just trust that the phone will do a good job, like I did, and occasionally turn on Power Saving from the Quick Settings panel, which will work nicely.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S24?
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Buy it if...
You want a pocketable powerhouse phone The Galaxy S24 is the most powerful phone you’ll find at this size and this price. Samsung didn’t skimp on its smaller model’s power like Apple does.
You use your phone for work a lot Many of Samsung’s best Galaxy S24 features are made for work users, like Samsung DeX, which lets you run your phone as a full desktop computer to get real work done.
You want zoom without spending a fortune Other phones in this price range don’t give you the camera versatility of the Galaxy S24, which includes a real 3X optical zoom that outmatches the Pixel 8 and iPhone 15.
Don't buy it if...
You want a phone that is simple to use The Galaxy S24 is powerful and capable, but there is nothing simple about this phone. It is packed with features and many are turned on by default, so there is a steep learning curve.
All your friends have an iPhone There are a lot of sharing features between iPhone users that make Apple’s phone great, and it’s worth considering if you don’t want to be left out of the next NameDrop.
You want the best cameras, battery and performance If you’re considering the S24 instead of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, let’s be clear that the Ultra is the clear winner for cameras, battery life, and the performance, and that’s before we take out the S Pen.
Galaxy S24 review: Also consider
The Galaxy S24 is a great pick for the price, but there are still reasons to look elsewhere. If you're not sold on Samsung's smaller Galaxy, check out these other options from Apple, Google, and OnePlus.
Apple iPhone 15 The iPhone 15 is simple, elegant, and loaded with features that work with other iPhone users, like Apple’s new NameDrop and safety Check In. If you’re in an iPhone crowd, it’s worth considering.
Google Pixel 8
The Pixel 8 isn’t as powerful as the Galaxy S24, but Google still adds exclusive AI features and Pixel feature drops that make its phones special. Plus, Google promises seven years of Android updates, just like Samsung.
OnePlus 12 The OnePlus 12 isn’t as durable as the Galaxy S24, it isn’t totally water resistant, but it might be the one competitor that can beat the Galaxy for battery life, camera capabilities, and even performance. You just don’t get everything in the Galaxy with a OnePlus.
How I tested the Samsung Galaxy S24
I tested the Galaxy S24 for one week of intense use, immediately after testing the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which uses the same software version and features. I used the Galaxy S24 to its limits, testing every new feature, especially AI. I used AI for messaging, searching, and note-taking, in addition to testing the translation features with my son, who is taking Chinese in school, and local restaurants. I also tested DeX for work, Bixby for interface control, and many other Samsung features.
I played games with the Galaxy S24, mostly Call of Duty Mobile and Marvel Snap, in addition to trying others, like the new Warcraft Rumble game that just launched. I play games at the maximum settings, with Bluetooth headphones and a Bluetooth joystick attached where appropriate.
I also tested the Galaxy S24 with accessories and external devices, including Ray Ban Meta smart glasses, and a variety of wireless earbuds, including Galaxy Buds FE, Pixel Buds Pro, and Nothing Stick 2 earbuds. I used a Dell monitor, Razer Blackwidow keyboard, and Logitech Master MX 2 mouse for DeX.
The Galaxy S24 was benchmarked in Future Labs by our resident benchmarking expert, and results were shared and discussed with review editors. Benchmarks do not affect review scores in any way, and are helpful for comparison but not for real-world review purposes.
I tested the Galaxy S24 camera in a shootout against the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 Ultra. I took hundreds of photographs under the same lighting conditions for each, with similar settings enabled. Then, I compared the photographs when viewed on a professional Dell monitor at full resolution.
• Original review date: January 2024
• Camera updates continue to roll out
• Launch price: $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$2,199
• Lowest price on Amazon: $1,149.99 / £1,040 / AU$2,199
Update: April 2024. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is not only our pick for the best smartphone overall, it's also our favorite camera phone, at the top of our best camera phone list. That means that all eyes are on the S24 Ultra and the images it produces. Perhaps that's why Samsung keeps releasing camera updates to improve the image quality and stability of the camera system. We're on our third update since the phone launched, and image quality was always good, but Samsung is going to keep tweaking this phone, probably until we have a Galaxy S25 Ultra to play with.
Galaxy S24 Ultra: Two-minute review
If you made a list of everything you’d want on the best phone you can buy, your list would point to one phone: the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Samsung is clearly working from the same list, and the S24 Ultra will please fans and tech enthusiasts alike. In many ways, including some I didn’t expect, the Galaxy S24 Ultra proves itself the best phone you can buy at any price.
Do you want the best battery life? The Galaxy S24 Ultra outlasts the best iPhones and every previous Galaxy phone; it lasts more than a day with intense use.
Do you want the best cameras around? The Galaxy S24 Ultra takes better photos than its predecessor, no matter what the spec sheet says. It remains the most versatile camera phone for all types of photographs. Your artistic friends may prefer the iPhone 15 Pro, but you’ll take better shots of everything if you have a Galaxy S24 Ultra.
What else do you need? If you play games, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is one of the best gaming phones ever. It outperforms the best Android gaming phones, and it can even beat the blazing-fast iPhone 15 Pro Max.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
If you use your phone for work, the S24 Ultra has professional features that even the Pro iPhone can’t top, like Samsung DeX software that turns your phone into a veritable laptop, complete with windows and an application dock.
Samsung is relentless. In its pursuit to push the Galaxy S24 Ultra further than any phone that came before, it has mostly succeeded. And yet, more than ever, it’s apparent what is missing: elegance and simplicity.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best phone you can buy in all of the ways that should matter. It’s also the culmination of Samsung’s worst instincts. And while fans won’t mind suffering for Samsung’s advancements, this phone won’t be winning any switchers from the competition.
Samsung’s software is a mess. It’s a morass of settings, hidden features, and useless options that clutter the interface. It’s a jumble of features that were old five years ago, but which haven’t been either updated or abandoned since.
For every new feature Samsung adds to excite buyers, it takes two steps back, hiding those features beneath further settings menus and layers of options. If you were expecting to find new AI features on the Galaxy S24 Ultra you won’t be disappointed, as long as you’re willing to look three layers deep in the Settings app.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Samsung also may have squandered its brief performance lead on fanciful AI features that don’t work very well, or aren’t useful at all. Even if you find the language translation feature magical, you’ll also find a useless AI button that will reformat your Samsung Notes (who uses those?), or offer an inaccurate summarization of the web page you’re reading (gee, thanks).
Worst of all, these AI features add a delay. While you’re speeding around the new Galaxy at the fastest clip ever, these new AI features are speed bumps on the highway, and the results are just as welcome. I’m hopeful that useful AI advancements are coming, but right now we’re suffering through a lot of proofs of concept, and it’s only slowing down this otherwise lightning-fast phone.
The bottom line for the Galaxy S24 Ultra is still very high in the sky. This phone is the best you can buy, and all the software frustration and useless AI features won’t keep me from appreciating the weekend-long battery life, the unfailing cameras, and the endlessly-useful S Pen.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
This is the phone I use instead of my laptop or my tablet, because it’s more powerful and convenient when I need to get work done. This is the phone I show off when I want people to see what technology is coming in the near future. This is the phone I carry when I want to carry next to nothing, but still do everything.
I wish the Galaxy S24 Ultra was much easier to use, and maybe AI can solve Samsung’s usability problems in the future. I think Samsung needs a reckoning before that happens. The iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 17 is not just simpler, it’s more fun and sociable, with cool features like Name Drop and Check In that make iPhone users proud to share among iPhone friends.
Samsung doesn’t seem to care about that, but it should. The software problems have gotten bad enough that I won’t stick around much longer. The hardware is already great, and it somehow keeps getting better. Now it’s time for Samsung to focus on using the phones, instead of just building them.
Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price and value
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Costs more than last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra
Seven years of OS updates could improve value
Trade in deals and launch offers aren’t as good as last year
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is more expensive at launch than last year's Ultra, and the difference is going to hurt more. The Galaxy S23 Ultra was already packed with features, and there's nothing so big and new in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It just got a little bit better in a lot of ways.
The real value could come down the road, thanks to Samsung's promise to deliver seven years of major Android and security updates. That length of long-term support was unheard of only last year, but now we have seven years of support for the best Android phones, with Apple lagging behind offering only five years of support.
Samsung can promise breathlessly, but until we get to year seven, we won't know if it will truly deliver. Apple has literally delivered on this long-term promise a dozen times already across a wide range of iPhones. Google and Samsung – not once.
There's already reason to be skeptical. Buried in Samsung's latest terms of service is a notice that the current slate of AI features may only remain free for a limited time. Frankly, we have no idea what that means and it's too early to speculate. But it's weird, in a way that seems like Samsung is building legal backdoors to weasel out of expectations. Apple doesn't do that. Only time will tell if Samsung holds up.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
I bought a Galaxy S23 Ultra last year, trading a Galaxy S21 Ultra for it, and I am sad to report that trade in deals and discounts at launch are not as enticing as they were a year ago.
If you are trading up from last year's model, expect to pay hundreds over your trade value. I'd still say it's worth making the leap, just this once. Older phones are going to be left out of the newest AI features more and more with every update. That means values could plummet the first time Samsung delivers bad news and drops the features guillotine on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, or something even newer.
In the months since I originally published this review, we have seen some deals on the Galaxy S24 Ultra on Amazon, effectively lowering the price by around $150 / £200 or so. This is still one of the most expensive phones you can buy, and we don't see Samsung dropping the price much more, even when the next generation of Galaxy Z foldable phones shows up later this year.
Is this phone worth such a high price? If you're asking that question, you are reading the wrong review. You want the Galaxy S24 Plus, which is probably worth it. This is the Ultra. This is the extreme phone; the one that does what no other phone can do. You can't put a normal price tag on Ultra. It doesn't fit.
Value Score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Specs and benchmarks
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
In our Future Labs benchmark tests of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, an astonishing thing happened. It beat the best-performing iPhone: the iPhone 15 Pro. In almost every single benchmark test we ran, the Galaxy S24 Ultra scored higher. In multi-core tests, graphics rendering tests, battery rundown tests, and many others, the Galaxy S24 Ultra beat the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Last year's Galaxy S23 Ultra was not able to top the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it has been quite some time since an Android device scored a resounding win in cross-platform benchmark testing.
That said, I don't use benchmark scores in my final review score, and I only mention scores out of objective curiosity, not because benchmarks should be a part of a buying decision.
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Design
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A big ol’ slab of smartphone
Titanium hasn’t made it lighter
Polished and classy, but unchanged
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is indistinguishable from the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which doesn't mean there are no differences, but rather the changes are inconsequential. The speaker grills are different, the microphones moved a bit, but mostly the new phone looks like the old phone. That's too bad, because while Samsung's Ultra phone oozes a certain refinement, it isn't very interesting at a glance.
A deeper inspection is rewarding. The back glass is layers upon layers of metallic paint, which gives the phone an eerie depth, especially in the ghostly, natural grey titanium finish. The violet finish is my favorite, with a great contrast against the polished metal.
Samsung pays great attention to detail when it comes to color, materials and finish. Each color has a subtly hued frame that complements the new Gorilla Glass Armor back. The titanium black is all black, while other color options edge into warmer frame tones.
Apple fans like to point out the symmetry of their phone as a pinnacle of its design. Frankly, Samsung is more smart than symmetrical. I prefer having Power and Volume buttons on the same side. It means I don't fill my photo gallery with accidental screenshots every time I grab my phone.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Like Apple, Samsung has opted for titanium on the frame this year, but it doesn’t make as much difference as it does on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Pro Max managed to shed considerable weight this year versus last year, about half an ounce. The Galaxy Ultra? It’s a single gram lighter, at most.
If you’ve never played with an Ultra, you really need to pick one up and pop the pen. Did you know the S Pen clicks? There's no reason for it. It could just pop out, spring-loaded, but instead the S Pen has a clicky top that is extremely satisfying. Oh, the S Pen is also a motion-sensing stylus with a Bluetooth camera remote button, but Samsung hasn't neglected the clicky top.
Of course, that S Pen isn’t just built for fun, it’s one of the most surprisingly capable accessories ever. It’s as precise as a professional drawing tool, not like a big, clumsy, rubber-tipped stylus that you can buy for an iPhone.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
It also has Bluetooth built in so the side button can act as a remote control for other features on your phone, especially the camera. That’s right, the Galaxy S24 Ultra ships with a remote camera shutter release, which is an accessory I actually bought to go with my Nikon DSLR.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is flat this year, ending a run of screen curvature that began with the double-black-diamond slope of the Galaxy Note Edge, and subtly resolved itself into a signature Samsung look that reduced the effect of the bezel around the edges. On the front and back, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has gently-rounded curves that make the phone feel much nicer to hold. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is more sharp, and though it isn't uncomfortable, it feels conspicuously big.
Design score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Display
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Fantastic display in bright light or a very dim room
Huge and sharp, among the best you’ll find
Lack of Dolby Vision support still stings
The display on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is excellent, as good as you'd hope to find on a premiere smartphone. It’s huge, bright and colorful, especially using the Vivid color tone option.
There are plenty of adaptations for this display, including adaptive brightness and color tones that measure ambient lighting and adjust the display to look its best. In bright, outdoor light, the display can boost to a stunning 2,600 nits, which isn't quite the brightest you can find, but you won't need any brighter.
Even more interesting might be the Extra Dim option. The Galaxy S24 Ultra can maintain good color fidelity even down at one nit of brightness. That's dim enough that you could almost check your messages in a movie theater, but then you’d be an extra dim Ultra jerk. But you could.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
There is an always-on display mode, but Samsung also still makes its unique S-View cases, which provide a small window for time, weather, and notifications, peeping through a wallet cover case. It's a very cool case feature that Samsung never abandoned, even if we haven't checked them out for a while.
Could the Galaxy S24 Ultra display be any better? Absolutely. There are phone displays that can reach 144Hz refresh rate, though that may be faster than a human eye can actually see.
It would be nice for Samsung to give up the fight against Dolby Vision on its phone displays and TV sets. If you watch a lot of Netflix, shows look better when you compare a display with Dolby Vision against a display without. It seems like a silly omission for Samsung not to support Dolby's HDR video standard, when it supports Dolby Audio.
Display score: 5 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Software
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Terrible software hides all new features under ‘Settings’
New AI features are occasionally magical, but mostly useless
Seven year update promise already has an asterisk
It has become abundantly clear that Samsung is focused entirely on hardware and has no interest in improving its software. The software on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is terrible, and One UI is becoming unusable. Even the simplest features are bogged down with options and menus, and Samsung can’t seem to make a single decision about what’s best for its users.
I'm going to give Samsung a year to fix its software problems, though I suspect it will take two years or more to dig out of the current mess. Everything that was wrong with Samsung software has gotten worse, and the problems infect every new addition, like a disease.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is loaded with features, but where do you find them? Where do you find the new AI translation tools, or set up the AI feature that rewrites your text messages? Where do you turn on AI to edit photos, or AI to summarize a web page? All in the same place, sadly.
All of the new Samsung Galaxy AI features are buried in Settings, and they are not at the surface. There are 22 different options in the Settings menu. Option 16 of 22 is Advanced Features. Tap on this and you'll find “Advanced Intelligence,” which isn't actually what AI stands for… is it? In any case, that’s where Samsung has hidden all of the cool new features for its flagship smartphone: under the 16th Setting option, three layers down.
Image 1 of 2
Using Google's new Circle to Search (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 2 of 2
Google correctly identifies the lighthouse I was shooting (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
I’ve talked to Samsung about this, and they recognize that it’s a problem. Features are hidden. Everything gets buried in Settings, as if that is a place we expect to find features as disparate as wireless power sharing, parental controls for children, and always-on display widgets.
In a feeble attempt to inform users about everything the phone can do, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will occasionally bubble up messages and suggestions for things to try. Sadly, Samsung phones are overloaded with messages and suggestions. Galaxy phones will infamously serve you an advertisement, on your brand new Galaxy phone, imploring you to buy that brand new Galaxy phone.
That’s not how you educate people. Take it from me, a former high school teacher, if you simply tell your users about a new feature once, you haven’t taught them to use it. Samsung needs to take a big step back and figure out how to encourage users to try features they will enjoy. Samsung also needs to remove the features that aren’t being used, and hide the ones that don’t need to be visible.
As for the new AI features, they are a mixed bag of amazing magic and useless doggerel. If you get a chance to use the AI translation on a phone call, it’s like science fiction. It feels like you’ve stuck a Babel fish into your ear and you’re living in a fantasy future. Samsung could write ‘Don’t Panic’ on the phone and ship it with a towel.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Other AI features are useful, but only to a point. The AI writing style feature can adapt your text messages to a variety of different styles, including a professional tone and more playful messages, replete with emojis and hashtags. In practice, the differences were not very useful, and I mostly just stuck with what I’d written. Samsung also over-promised on this feature. I distinctly remember reps saying the phone would convert my words to Shakespeare, but I’ve seen nothing like this on my S24 Ultra.
These writing style and translation features are built into the Samsung Keyboard, so they work across multiple apps. Unfortunately, Samsung has utterly broken its software keyboard. During my test period, I had some of the worst trouble with autocorrect and an onscreen keyboard that I’ve ever had.
The keyboard would often capitalize words in the middle of a sentence for no reason. Even worse, it would autocorrect partial words and automatically insert some nonsensical phrase or string of characters into my typing. While typing contractions, most keyboards are smart enough to insert the apostrophe, but on the Samsung Keyboard the autocorrect tried to insert whole new words after my contraction. It was making up content out of context, and it was completely wrong.
When I went back to change the error, the keyboard was quite unfriendly. While the Apple iPhone keyboard assumes that a backspace after autocorrect means the autocorrection was bad, the Samsung keyboard sticks to its guns and makes changing errors incredibly tedious.
I suspect that if I am diligent with the Samsung Keyboard and I keep correcting all of its elementary errors, I will eventually teach it to write properly. I don’t have time for this. I’m not sure how Samsung broke its keyboard so badly, but it’s terrible and needs an immediate update.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra has generative AI wallpaper, just like the Google Pixel 8 Pro (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Some of the AI features that carried over from the Google Pixel 8 family have turned out to be a disappointment, as well. Samsung promised that its Voice Recorder app would offer transcripts and summaries, just like the Recorder app on the Google Pixel. In practice, Samsung’s app is not as advanced or useful as the Pixel version. It’s slower, less accurate, and does not provide a live transcription of the conversation as it happens.
The image editing features are also less impressive on the Galaxy S24 Ultra than they are on the Pixel 8 Pro. The Galaxy gets Samsung’s take on the Magic Editor tool, dubbed Generative Edit, which lets you select objects in your photo to move, resize, or erase them. When you erase an object or a whole background, the phone can use AI to replace that part of the image.
What the Samsung phone lacks are the best editing tools available on the Pixel, namely the Photo Unblur tool that sharpens even old photos you didn’t take with your smartphone, and the Best Take option that combines multiple photos to get rid of closed eyes and ugly expressions.
Yet, as much as I complain about Samsung’s software, there are simply things you can do with a Galaxy phone, especially the Galaxy S24 Ultra, that you can’t do with anything else. I love Samsung’s DeX, which turns your phone into something that acts more like a Chromebook, when you plug it into a monitor with a keyboard and mouse. You get a new home screen with windows and a dock, and everything runs smoothly.
Why is this useful? I have a computer at home, but my corporate IT guys don’t like me using it for work stuff. Instead, I use my phone, which is already set up with work and personal accounts. If I need to get work done at home, or even while I’m traveling, I don’t need to bring my work laptop. I can just plug my Galaxy S24 Ultra into a USB hub and now I have all of my work and personal stuff in one place.
Using the Galaxy S24 Ultra (left) with DeX on my home monitor (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
I can respond to important emails using a real keyboard, or edit documents in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. I can do just about everything I need, short of running Chrome web browser extensions. I never need to add my protected work account to my own personal computer. I can just use DeX and have the best of both worlds on my Galaxy S24 Ultra.
As mentioned, Samsung promises that the entire Galaxy S24 family will get software updates and security patches for the next seven years. With brand new AI features on the phone, I wonder how Samsung will be able to pull this off, especially since AI seems to be advancing exponentially. How can a seven-year-old phone possibly survive in the year 2031?
One clue may lie in Samsung’s terms of service. Hidden deep you’ll find the following language concerning AI features: “Samsung may, at any time, change some or all of its advanced intelligence features to subscription-based features, in which case Samsung will provide prior notice. Samsung reserves the right to rate limit you to prevent quality decay or interruptions to the advanced intelligence features.”
This could be completely innocuous, or it could be a sinister sign that Samsung is looking for a loophole to get out of its seven year promise. It may offer future Android updates in regular and “Premium” flavors. It could also exclude certain models from any future premium feature and just offer the most basic, barebones OS to the Galaxy S24 Ultra by the time, say, Android 18 is launched, presumably in four years.
In any case, there is now an asterisk on Samsung’s promise of seven years of updates, until this is clarified. I want and expect Samsung to behave like Apple. Any features that aren’t entirely hardware dependent should come to every eligible phone. The five-year old iPhone XR obviously can’t get a new Dynamic Island, but the latest update brought NameDrop, which is a brand new iOS 17 feature. We expect the same when the Galaxy S24 Ultra is updated to Android 21 in 2031.
Software score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Cameras
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Better image quality, even if the specs are suspicious
Less detail from the zoom lens, but better color and range
Still needs help with low light and noise reduction
The Galaxy S23 Ultra was our overall best camera phone of last year, so rumors that Samsung would be dropping the optical zoom from 10x to 5x set off a flurry of concern. The 10x zoom was the standout feature on the Galaxy S23 Ultra … aside from the 200MP sensor, the two zoom lenses, the 100x digital astrophotography, the AI image enhancements, and everything else the phone could do. Still, it’s odd for Samsung to take a step backwards, especially where specs are concerned.
Let’s start with the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 5x zoom lens. Samsung has not taken a step backwards, more a step sideways. The Galaxy S24 Ultra still has the best zoom camera you can find on a smartphone. It’s better than the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x zoom, and it’s much better than the 5x zoom you’ll find on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Most of the time, like when you are really using the zoom to its full extent.
When you zoom in to 10x or even 100X, the Galaxy S24 Ultra produces images with better color and much better dynamic range than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Where the older camera made images look flat, you’ll see more depth and shadow with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. What you won’t see is plenty of detail. Samsung has sacrificed the fine details in images for better overall quality.
It’s a good trade. Those 10x and 100x zoom images from the S23 UItra look terrible. Sure, you could make out some details, but they are mixed with noise and blur like a virtual chopped salad. On the Galaxy S24 Ultra, you won’t see as much, but you’ll be happier sharing those photos because they actually look like good pictures, rather than police evidence.
In a straight comparison between the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max at 5x zoom, the iPhone produces better images. Once you start applying digital zoom, the Galaxy does a better job. At 5x zoom, I got a nice landscape shot of a lighthouse from both cameras. When I zoomed into 25x, the Galaxy kept more detail and even better color than the iPhone. The iPhone couldn’t zoom any farther, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra could grab enough detail from the Peck Ledge lighthouse, which sits a mile off the Connecticut coast, to count the stairs leading up from the dock.
Samsung has been criticized in the past for unnatural color in photos, and it’s clear the company took this to heart and tried to hew closer to the iPhone’s processing techniques. Colors look much more natural all around, often even cooler than the over-warm iPhone pics that cast a yellowish tint on some images. Digital sharpening problems have been reigned in, so the Galaxy S24 Ultra produces images with a nice amount of detail, without the blurriness you’ll find on some iPhone pics.
That doesn’t mean the camera isn’t without problems. Low light is still an issue, and other phones handle various night situations better. The Google Pixel 8 Pro is better at landscape and city photos at night, and even the OnePlus 12 could handle some mixed-light shots, like taking photos of food in a dark restaurant, better than Samsung’s best.
Overall, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best camera phone I’ve used in the past year. It may not dominate in every area, but it performs consistently better than every other phone, whether you’re using an iPhone, a Pixel, or even a newer OnePlus phone with fancy Hasselblad processing.
Where Samsung really excels is in the interesting shots. If you need a good macro photo up close, or an appetizing pic of the pizza you made, the Galaxy has you covered. Selfies and portraits look great, with accurate skin tones and enough detail that you won’t look like a poseur. The phone had no trouble framing my adorable dog and cropping her fuzzy ears nicely in a portrait shot.
For photo editing, Samsung has made some advances, but you’re better off relying on third-party software, and maybe even some obscure Samsung apps. In the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s Gallery app, you can now apply the Generative Edit AI features, which can resize and move objects in your image, or completely change the background depending on the context of the shot. It’s a nice trick, but I’m not sure it counts as photography as much as mixed-media collage. If you do apply any AI tricks, though, Samsung will add a small watermark to your photo to let viewers know.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Samsung Gallery app will suggest photo edits, like removing reflections (above). You can see the results below:
If you miss the Photo Unblur feature from the Google Pixel 8 (and it is quite desirable), you can head to the Galaxy App Store and download Samsung’s Galaxy Enhance-X photo editor. This little-known app gives you a ton of advanced photo editing tools, many of which rely on AI and machine learning. These tools aren’t as effective as edits in Google Photos on a Google Pixel 8 Pro, but it’s cool to peek into Samsung’s software skunkworks to see what the company can create.
You can also run more advanced photo editing software, like Adobe Lightroom and SnapSeed. These apps run very smoothly on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it was easier to edit photos with the S Pen than with my finger.
I have not been able to test the AI moon photography features on the Galaxy S24 Ultra because it’s been cloudy since I received my review unit, but rest assured I will be shooting for the moon as soon as possible. Samsung says that the AI on board will recognize objects, then try to identify the subject to shoot the best photo. We’ll see if the new phone can keep up with the dazzling astrophotography of last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Image samples
Image 1 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 2 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 3 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 4 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 5 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 6 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 7 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 8 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 9 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 10 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 11 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 12 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 13 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 14 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 15 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 16 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 17 of 17
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Samsung has clearly made significant improvements with image processing on the Galaxy S24 Ultra compared to last year's Galaxy S23 Ultra. This photo looks much more natural with better color and dynamic range, and without as much digital sharpening:
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 2 of 3
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Image 3 of 3
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Camera score: 5 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Performance
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
First Android in memory to beat the iPhone in benchmarks
Only delay comes with new AI features
Tops in gaming and productivity
Ever since Apple started making its own Bionic chipset for the iPhone, we haven’t seen an Android phone that could beat Apple’s best iPhone in raw performance. That ends with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The Ultra is just as fast as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and in many ways it’s even faster. You may never notice the performance gains, but I have to give credit where credit is due. Qualcomm and Samsung have managed to top Apple’s silicon for the first time in years.
What does that mean in the real world? Everything that you could do on your smartphone you can now do faster. If you play games like Call of Duty Mobile or Genshin Impact, you can play at the highest settings and experience fluid framerates and stutter-free gaming.
Pair your game with an Xbox or Playstation controller via Bluetooth and you will be destroying noobs on pathetic Pixels and cheap Motorola phones in your multiplayer arena of choice. Seriously, having a phone that responds so quickly to your commands and movements is a huge win for multiplayer games.
Is the Galaxy S24 Ultra a gaming phone, then? You’d better believe it. I tested the S24 Ultra against the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, a phone that is truly made for gaming. The S24 Ultra had no problem beating the ROG Phone 8 in every metric, even producing a higher framerate on the newest games.
If gaming isn’t your thing, you can still feel the performance benefits. I edit photos in Adobe Lightroom, and on my Galaxy S24 Ultra I can move the adjustment sliders freely and watch my photo change in real time. In side-by-side tests using the new Adobe intelligent masking features, the Galaxy S24 Ultra was able to find and select my foreground subject in seconds faster than my older Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The only features that cause a delay on the Galaxy S24 Ultra are the new AI features, and that’s ironic. For the first time in years, Samsung commands a lead over its rival Apple, but it loaded the Galaxy S24 Ultra with AI features that Apple has skipped, so far. Instead of feeling like everything moves faster on my Galaxy, I have to wait while the AI composes new text messages, or makes edits in the photo gallery.
Those features aren’t worth the wait. If there was no waiting, if writing suggestions appeared in real time the way Adobe Lightroom changes my photos, I’d be amazed by the AI tools and I’d use them more often. Instead, every time I see the AI stars logo appear, I see a Stop sign.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Battery life
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Excellent battery life, among the best you’ll find
Fast charging, but could be faster
Plenty of power management options
You won’t find a phone with longer battery life than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
In our lab testing, which involves continuously browsing the web on 5G until the battery runs out, the Galaxy S24 Ultra in its default Adaptive display mode lasted a huge 16 hours and 45 minutes. That beats the impressive 14 hours and 2 minutes the iPhone 15 Pro Max managed in our testing. It also outlasts the Galaxy S23 Ultra by more than two hours, as beats many other Android phones too.
You’d have to buy a hardcore gaming phone with a massive battery inside, like the Red Magic 9 Pro with its 6,500mAh cell, to get any more battery life from your phone.
Samsung didn’t increase the size of the battery over last year’s Ultra, it just improved power management on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so it saves more juice. The adaptive screen settings can be aggressive, but you can turn them off if you need a bright display all the time. You can also adjust settings like screen resolution and processor performance to save more power.
There are even more extreme options. Samsung used to have an ultra power saving mode, but now that’s just another setting under the Power Saving features, letting you limit the apps available, turn off edge panels, dim the display, and generally shut down everything you don’t need to conserve every watt.
There should be a more intelligent power management option that reads your habits and adapts the power savings to the way you use the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Oh, wait, there is such a mode and it’s called “Adaptive power saving.” But you’ll never find it.
Adaptive power saving is buried under the Settings menu, then under ‘Device care.’ Then you have to tap the Battery graph, which is a button that doesn’t actually look like a button, but trust me it’s a button.
Then tap ‘Power saving,’ which also looks like plain text and not a button. Again, it’s a button. Hooray, you’re almost there! Just find the three little dots in the upper-right corner, which is a Samsung way to hide even more menus, and then you’ll finally be able to open the ‘Adaptive power saving’ settings.
Why, Samsung? Why? Why does it have to be this way? Why can’t my Galaxy S24 Ultra come with adaptive power saving turned on by default? If this feature is so useful, why is it hidden beneath FIVE LAYERS of menus? Beneath buttons that don’t look like buttons, and submenus that are just cryptic dots? Enough is enough. Fix the software, or this is my last Galaxy Ultra.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Galaxy S24 Ultra charges at 45W, which is a respectable charging speed, fast enough to get you well past 50% if you only have a half hour to charge your phone. In fifteen minutes, my Galaxy S24 Ultra was just under 40% charged, and it took around 45 minutes to charge the phone completely. That’s even faster than Samsung promises.
There are phones that charge faster, like the OnePlus 12 that comes with an 80W charger. That phone can reach 100% charge in about half an hour, and OnePlus even has a superfast (ie. SuperVOOC technology) wireless charger that is capable of 50W charging. The S24 Ultra can handle up to 15W wireless charging, including the latest Qi2 charging standard.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra can also charge other devices wirelessly, and if you can find wireless power sharing in the Settings menu, I will personally send you a prize. Instead, just add a Wireless power sharing button to the Quick settings menu if that’s a feature you use often.
Unlike the OnePlus 12, the Galaxy S24 Ultra does not come with a charger in the box, and if you want the fastest charging speed you’ll need to pay attention to the charger you buy. You can spend a lot of money and get a big wall wart from Samsung, or you can do the right thing and get this Anker 713 Nano Charger from Amazon for around half the price.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Score card
Buy it if...
You want to do a lot more with your phone If you want a phone that does more than a phone should be capable of doing, you want a Galaxy S24 Ultra. This isn’t just a phone, it’s a laptop, a drawing tablet, a game console, and an entire camera bag in your pocket.
You want to see what the future feels like in your hand Samsung tries new features before any other phone company, and if you want to make a phone call with a Star Trek universal translator, or have an AI rewrite your text messages for you, you need a Galaxy S24 Ultra.
You want the best phone overall, no matter how hard it is to use The Galaxy S24 Ultra is admittedly complicated, but that’s because there is so much that you can do with it. If you want uncompromising technology with every option available, get the Ultra.
Don't buy it if...
You don’t need all that
If you have ever started a sentence with “I don’t need,” then the Galaxy S24 Ultra is not for you. It has everything you need and everything you don’t, and you can’t ask for less. It only comes with everything.
You want a phone you can use with one hand The Galaxy S24 Ultra is titanium, but it isn’t lighter than last year’s phone, and the Ultra is a big beast to behold. If you need something more manageable, try a different device.
You prefer an elegant experience over tech wizardry While the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a phone like no other, it isn’t easy to use, nor is the software elegant. If you want to appreciate intuitive design and features that feel natural, check out what Apple is doing with iOS 17 on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Also consider
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max If you want the absolute best phone but the Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t strike the right cord, there’s only one other phone to consider and that’s Apple biggest and best iPhone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 If cameras aren’t so important, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 gives you everything you’ll find on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, with a tablet folded away inside. It’s a whole new class of device.
Google Pixel 8 Pro You can save a lot of money by considering the Pixel 8 Pro, which is not only simple to use with a great camera, it also gets the same seven years of Android updates that Samsung has promised. Plus, AI directly from Google with no Samsung in between.
How I tested the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
One week testing period
Used AI features extensively, plus Samsung exclusive software
Benchmark testing for comparison, not scoring purposes
I had the Galaxy S24 Ultra for a week before this review posted, but I have more experience with Samsung Galaxy Ultra phones than any other phone model, and perhaps more than any other reviewer. I worked for Samsung as an internal reviewer when the first Galaxy Note was launched, and I have used every Samsung S Pen-enabled smartphone ever produced, including the one that nobody else used because it exploded.
While Samsung provides review units for me to borrow, I have purchased my past two Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra devices with my own cash, and this phone is calling my name.
I used the Galaxy S24 Ultra to its utmost, testing every single new feature that Samsung has marketed, and retesting all of my favorite old features. I used AI for messaging, summaries, and transcription, in addition to testing the translation features with foreign language teachers and students. I also tested DeX for work, Bixby for interface control, and all of the other Samsung features.
I played games with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, mostly Call of Duty Mobile and Marvel Snap, in addition to trying others, like the new Warcraft Rumble game that just launched late in 2023. I play games at the maximum settings, with Bluetooth headphones and a Bluetooth joystick attached where appropriate.
I also tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra with accessories and external devices, including a Dell monitor, Razer Blackwidow keyboard, and Logitech Master MX 2 mouse for DeX. I used a variety of wireless earbuds, including Galaxy Buds FE, Pixel Buds Pro and Nothing Stick 2 earbuds, as well as Ray Ban Meta smart glasses.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra was benchmarked in Future Labs by our resident benchmarking expert, and results were shared and discussed with review editors. Benchmarks do not affect review scores in any way, and are helpful for comparison but not for real-world review purposes.
I tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra camera in a shootout against the current best cameras available, including the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the OnePlus 12, and the Google Pixel 8 Pro. I took hundreds of photographs under the same lighting conditions for each, with similar settings enabled. Then, I compared the photographs when viewed on a professional Dell monitor at full resolution.
Asus might have made the best out and out gaming phone of 2023 in the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, but the Nubia Red Magic 8S Pro was the people’s champ. It offered comparably zippy performance and gamer-friendly controls in a reasonably neat package, all for less than half the price.
Now the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro is here, with updated internals and a slightly streamlined design at the same asking price. Yes, it’s another iterative update from Nubia, but that’s kind of what it takes if you’re intent on staying at the cutting edge of mobile gaming performance on a strict budget.
The design is much like the previous models, with flat surfaces and gaming-friendly capacitive shoulder buttons, but with a more elegant flattened camera module. Meanwhile, the huge notch-free display is brighter and more vibrant than before.
If we’re talking top-tier features, the Red Magic 9 Pro really hits the bullseye with its performance. Not only does the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 beat most of the competition, but it can do so over a sustained period thanks to an extensive multi-layered cooling system.
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
The other key component here is the Red Magic 9 Pro’s battery. It’s bigger than ever at 6,500mAh, and it can last a full two days of regular usage on a single charge. Heavy gaming won’t leave you sweating come the end of a day either, while a bundled 80W charger gets you back up to speed quickly.
Few of the best gaming phones take brilliant pictures, and the Red Magic 9 Pro is no exception. Its 50MP main Samsung-made sensor does a passable job, especially now that it has OIS, but the new 50MP ultra-wide is fairly mediocre, and the under-display selfie cam is abysmal.
Nubia’s software provision has come on leaps and bounds since its calamitous early days, to the point where it’s now actually quite usable. It’s far from perfect, but its Game Space mode is well tuned to a gamer’s needs.
It isn’t the best pure gaming phone on the market, even with its imperious performance, but the Red Magic 9 Pro is undoubtedly the best-value. You simply won’t find this level of sustained performance anywhere else for $649 / £579.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Price and availability
From $649 / £579 / Australian buyers use Red Magic's global store in USD
Pre-order from December 27, 2023
On sale from January 3, 2024
The international version of the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro was made available for pre-order from December 27, 2023 on the Red Magic website, with open sales commencing on January 3, 2024.
The entry-level Sleet model – which ships with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage – costs $649 / £579. The Cyclone and Snowfall models – both of which ship with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage – cost $799 / £709.
While Red Magic tries to sell its devices local currency in most of the markets it operates in, interested buyers in Australia will have buy through the company's global store, which is all priced in USD, meaning the base 256GB model sells for approximately AU$965 at $649 and the 512GB variant costs equivalent to about AU$1,190.
That essentially sees Nubia freezing the pricing of its latest gaming phone compared to the 8S Pro. The mid-level price has been taken out this year too, which effectively means that you get a choice of color if you’re shopping for the top storage RAM version.
Value score: 5 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Specs
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Design
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, aluminum frame
Even flatter design than before
520Hz capacitive shoulder buttons
Dedicated gaming mode switch
As gaming phones go, the Red Magic 9 Pro looks pretty decent, but isn’t the most comfortable to hold for extended periods. Make no mistake, this is still a big, bulky phone, at 8.9mm thick – half a millimetre thinner than the 8S Pro – and with a similar weight of 229 grams.
Both measurements are at the very top end of acceptable for regular phone users, but within a gaming phone context they’re quite reasonable. With none of the ROG Phone 7 series' curves, however, it might weigh a little heavier after a lengthy gaming session.
The Red Magic 9 Pro’s blocky, flat-surfaced look has been accentuated this year with an almost completely flat back. The camera module has been shunted to the side and placed underneath the transparent rear cover, which could be the first practical use case for such an aesthetic choice. It’s a pleasingly clean effect, though it’s ever so slightly spoiled by the flash poking through.
My model comes in the Snowfall colorway, which is basically off-white with a semi-transparent back hinting at some of the components within. Cyclone pulls the same trick but with black as the underlying color, while Sleet is the terribly named plain black entry model.
There’s some RGB lighting, of course, around the fan, under the '09' decal, and now also underneath the capacitive shoulder button controls that sit along the right edge. Said sensors appear to be unchanged since the 8S Pro, lighting aside.
Once again, they have a speedy 520Hz response rate, and work with Nubia’s gaming UI, allowing you to map gaming controls to them. They’re particularly handy in shooters like CoD Mobile or PUBG Mobile, where they can be assigned to aim and shoot.
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 2 of 4
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 3 of 4
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 4 of 4
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
On a rather over-stacked right-hand edge, you also get the volume and power buttons – the latter pleasingly circular – as well as a custom Game Boost Switch. Flip this to jump into Game Space mode, where you can launch games and tinker with performance and interface elements, so as to optimize your gaming experience.
That flat side frame itself is made from aluminum, while the display is once again covered by Gorilla Glass 5. This isn’t the newest or toughest material of its kind, but cuts clearly had to be made somewhere to hit that price point. Another such compromise is the lack of a water and dust resistance IP rating.
You only get the one USB-C port on the bottom of the phone, unlike the Asus ROG Phone range, but you still get a 3.5mm headphones jack on the top edge.
The front of the phone impresses from a visual perspective, with minimal bezels and an under-display selfie cam making for a nigh-on all-screen experience. It’s not an especially gamer-friendly touch, though, with less space to hold the phone and ample opportunity for false presses.
It also means that the speaker grilles have been consigned to the top and bottom edges, which isn’t ideal for landscape gaming.
Design score: 3.5 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Display
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Large 6.8-inch screen
FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
New material provides brighter, bolder picture
Under-display selfie camera
Like its predecessor, the Red Magic 9 Pro packs a large 6.8-inch OLED display with a 2480 x 1116 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The latter spec isn’t the fastest on the gaming phone market, but given that precious few games will support frame rates in excess of 120Hz it’s not a huge problem.
This isn’t exactly the same as the Red Magic 8S Pro display, however. Nubia has switched to using BOE’s Q9+ luminescent material, which makes for a punchier output. A little too punchy, in fact – I had to crank the color mode all the way down to ‘Soft’, away from the ‘Colorful’ default and past the medium ‘Standard’ setting, to secure a slightly more natural look.
This new material seems to grant the Red Magic 9 Pro a little more brightness too. Nubia claims a peak brightness of 1,600nits, which is up 300nits from the 8S Pro. With auto-brightness switched off, I recorded the 9 Pro hitting 445 nits, which is about 100 nits more than its predecessor.
While this might not be the sharpest or most nuanced display on the market, the Red Magic 9 Pro's screen makes for an excellent gaming canvas. It’s big, flat, sufficiently bright, and it doesn’t have a bothersome notch getting in the way of the action.
Display score: 4 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Camera
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
50MP main with OIS this time
Improved 50MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro
16MP in-display selfie camera still terrible
Up to 8K video
If a manufacturer needs to free up space and money to do something a little different with a phone, it’s invariably the camera that suffers. Just as with foldables, so it is with gaming phones.
Last year’s Red Magic 8S Pro didn’t take particularly great pictures, and the Red Magic 9 Pro isn’t all that much better. It does mark a slight improvement, however.
While it packs the exact same 50MP Samsung GN5 main image sensor as before, this time it’s accompanied by optical image stabilization (OIS). You’d take this component for granted in a $700/£600 smartphone, but it’s a welcome addition to this $700/£600 gaming phone.
The combination of an aging flagship sensor (it was in the Samsung Galaxy S22) with proper stabilization, a 7P lens (that stands for seven [plastic] elements), and the improved image processing of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, produces decent shots in good lighting. The results in low lighting are a tad crisper than with the 8S Pro, though Nubia’s Night mode still brightens things up to a slightly false-looking degree.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro camera samples
Image 1 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 2 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 3 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 4 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 5 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 6 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 7 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 8 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 9 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 10 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 11 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 12 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 13 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 14 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 15 of 15
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Nubia has also improved the ultra-wide camera, swapping out the 8MP sensor in the 8S Pro for a 50MP Samsung JN1 alternative. While it’s an adequate component in good lighting, there’s a marked difference to the main sensor in terms of tone and dynamic range.
The fresh OIS provision also enhances the 9 Pro’s video capabilities. It’s still shooting at 8K/30fps, 4K/60fps, or 1080p/240fps, but the footage I captured seemed to benefit from the new steadying technology.
One thing that most certainly hasn’t changed is the Red Magic 9 Pro’s 16MP under-display selfie camera. It might free up space on the display, but once again selfie shots look truly terrible – a blurry, smudgey, borderline impressionistic mess.
Camera score: 3 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
One of the first phones on the market with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip
12GB or 16GB RAM of LPDDR5X RAM
256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0 storage
Any compromises made with the Red Magic 9 Pro’s design and camera were reached in service of this: providing as much gaming power as possible for a mid-market price.
On that front, the Red Magic 9 Pro is an unmitigated triumph. Nubia has switched to the latest and greatest chip at its disposal, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from Qualcomm, together with either 12 or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM.
This is the same chip the vast majority of 2024 flagship phones will be using, and it’s as fast as you’d expect. The usual CPU and GPU benchmark tests reveal a clear, if hardly seismic performance boost over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 from 2023.
Interestingly, it’s nip and tuck with the iPhone 15 Pro and its A17 Pro. Apple’s latest chip seems to have a clear single-core CPU performance advantage, but the $649 / £579 Red Magic 9 Pro and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 wins its fair share of GPU rounds.
Raw processing power is all well and good, but that’s only half the story with a gaming phone such as this. Where the Red Magic 9 Pro really impresses is with its level of sustained performance.
Shoulder buttons and a red switch made for gaming on the go. (Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Running a couple of the 3DMark Extreme tests, which run 20 successive minute-long intensive graphical tests, the Red Magic 9 Pro achieved close to perfect stability. That is, its average loop score remained remarkably consistent. Non-gaming phones only tend to score 70 to 80% in the stability stakes, due to their habit of throttling the processor significantly after the first loop.
The difference all comes down to cooling. Nubia has equipped the Red Magic 9 Pro with an upgraded ten-layer ICE 13.0 Cooling System, which includes a physical fan that kicks in when you start up a game. It’s a bit noisy, but it enables you to run the likes of Genshin Impact or Diablo Immortal on the highest settings at a solid 60fps, and they won’t start dropping frames deep into your session.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Software
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Red Magic OS 9.0 on Android 14
Ugly but functional UI
Powerful Game Space dedicated gaming UI
Nubia has improved its Red Magic OS user experience immeasurably over the past couple of years. What was once a painful mish-mash of screen-hogging widgets, occasionally untranslated Mandarin text, and a number of glitches has turned into a fairly typical custom Android 14 environment.
It’s still a pretty mediocre custom skin, with charmless wallpapers, a superfluous browser-cum-news-feed app, and the Booking.com app preinstalled (why is it always Booking.com?). But Red Magic OS 9.0 is now in a broadly functional state, and I was able to run the phone as my day-to-day device for around a week (and intermittently thereafter) with no major snags.
While I’m doling out faint praise, is that Google Keep I see preinstalled? It’s a very small point, but precious few manufacturers go with Google’s clean note-taking app out of the box, so I appreciate it when one does.
I did observe a couple of hiccups early on, with the home screen seeming to exhibit some bizarre lag despite all that power on tap, and despite me forcing the screen to refresh at 120Hz. After a couple of firmware updates, however, everything seems to be running smoothly.
I also had to go in and set Gmail to sync manually, for whatever reason. Presumably the aforementioned updates fixed that, but it’s difficult to be certain without a factory reset.
Game Space is loaded with useful tools for gamers. (Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
The important software here – given the intended audience – is Nubia’s Game Space UI. Flick that red switch and you’ll be booted into an interface that grants access to your games, as well as control over fan, CPU, and GPU settings.
When in a game you can drag in from the top left edge of the screen to bring up a streamlined UI. It’s from here you can also assign those capacitive controls to the game’s on-screen virtual buttons.
Nubia’s Game Space UI also lets you manage any accessories that you choose to buy, as well as run a large screen projection, manage your in-game screenshots and captured videos, tweak the RGB lighting output, and much more besides.
It’s way more than your average phone user will want or need, but then the Red Magic 9 Pro isn’t for average phone users.
Software score: 3 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Battery
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Expanded 6,500mAh battery
Clears a full day of intensive use with ease
Fast 80W wired charging
Given that the Red Magic 9 Pro weighs about the same as the 8S Pro, and is also a little thinner, it’s impressive to note that Nubia has managed to increase the size of its battery.
It’s now up to a frankly huge 6,500mAh dual-cell configuration. Nubia claims that it can last up to 56 hours, which is tricky to equate to real world usage. I found that I could go through a full day of moderate usage with about four hours of screen-on time, and still be left with around 65% in the tank.
That’s an excellent result, not only improving upon the Red Magic 8S Pro, but also opening up the genuine possibility of practical two-day usage.
Of course, that’s not what all that extra juice is intended for. Gamers will find that they can indulge in a couple of intensive gaming sessions throughout the day, and won’t have to worry about plugging in until bed time.
The charging provision has ostensibly been improved too, with an 80W charger bundled in, which is up from 65W on the 8S Pro. Given the extra capacity of that battery, though, charging speeds are roughly the same, with a full charge from empty taking around 40 minutes.
Again, there’s no wireless charging here, but that’s a feature that’s routinely omitted from gaming phones – even the $1,399 / £1,199.99 / AU$2,099 ROG Phone 7 Ultimate – where advanced cooling solutions occupy that space instead.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro?
Buy it if...
You want peak gaming performance at half the price Good luck getting this much sustained gaming performance this cheap anywhere else. Nubia's choice of top-speed chip, memory and storage, along with active cooling make for a powerful team.
You’re after an all-screen phone The Red Magic 9 Pro’s minimal bezels and under-display camera make it a uniquely screen-heavy device. While it's built for active media, you can also passively sink your teeth into shows and even books on its expansive display too.
You want two-day battery life When you lay off the games, the Red Magic 9 Pro will sail through two full days of use on a single charge, and if you don't, you'll still make it through a day without having to curb your gaming habit.
Don't buy it if...
Photography is a priority The main sensor doesn’t take terrible photos, but you can get a way better camera system for the same money – or even less. Under-display camera tech is cool in theory, but the reality means selfie-lovers should avoid too.
You want the best gaming phone, money no object Nubia cuts a few corners to hit an aggressive price point. If money is no object and you want the very best, keep any eye on the Asus ROG Phone range.
You hate custom Android UIs Anyone with a bee in their bonnet about manufacturers messing with Google’s stock Android UI should look away now. Red Magic OS 9.0 is the best iteration of the company's user experience to date, but that's not saying a whole lot, considering where things started.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Also consider
The Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro is a unique proposition alright, but it isn’t the only option if you’re after a game-friendly phone.
Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate It’s about to be replaced at the time of writing, but if you can use that fact to get the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate at a discount, it remains a fabulous gaming specialist.
Nubia Red Magic 8S Pro Last year’s model remains a fabulous gaming phone, with a very similar feature-set to the 9 Pro. You should be able to get it even cheaper now, too.
Apple iPhone 13 Apple still sells the iPhone 13 as new for around the same price as the Red Magic 9 Pro. It’s not as gaming focused, but it remains capable, and has access to a superior roster of games.
How I tested the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
Review test period = 2 weeks
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, bundled Nubia 80W power adapter
I was sent the top Snowfall model of the Red Magic 9 Pro by a PR representative, at which point I commenced using the phone on a daily basis over a two-week period.
For at least a week of that time, the 9 Pro was my everyday phone. For the rest of the time, I swapped in another active SIM and continued to use the phone for benchmark tests, photos, and general browsing.
I’m a freelance journalist who got his start writing about mobile games in the pre-smartphone era. I was around to cover the arrival of the iPhone and the App Store, as well as Android, and their seismic effect on the games industry. I now write about consumer tech, games, and culture for a number of top websites.
In the Moto G54 5G, Motorola has in some ways gone back to the drawing board. There is still the overall mission to offer customers the best possible mobile experience for as little money as possible, but in the G54 5G, I think it’s genuinely achieved it. I say that in the sense of, with the previous model in this series, the Moto G53 5G, there were too many compromises for one to make. In this latest model,Motorola has properly cracked it, and I feel it not only delivers an experience that belies its price, but it gives phones a fair bit more expensive than it a decent run for their money.
Yes, Motorola has now done a complete 180 since the G53 and made improvements across the board, to deliver an undeniably affordable smartphone that I struggled to find major fault with. And the company is actually charging less for this latest model than it did for the G53. That alone should be lauded.
No, of course the Moto G54 5G still isn’t going to trouble the four-figure flagships of the world, but the more mid-range phones? They should certainly be worried. For anyone looking for an affordable phone, I can’t personally think of anything better than this. The screen is finally full HD+, the processor offers a decent amount of performance (super intense gamers should still tread with caution) and the camera takes noticeably improved images compared to its predecessor. I also think it looks fantastic, and did plenty enough to make me rethink what a ‘budget’ phone is supposed to look like.
Having reviewed the earlier Moto G53 5G myself, I approached taking temporary ownership of the G54 5G with caution. And yes, I definitely made pre assumptions in my mind that I was going to be in for much of the same ride, just maybe in a shiny new colour. Well shouldn’t I now just eat my shoes. I was wrong and I applaud Motorola for producing a genuinely good device for not a lot of money.
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Price & availability
List price of £180 / AU$299
No direct US equivalent again
Availability of Motorola devices continues to be inconsistent, depending on where you are in the world. As we’ve seen with previous Motorola smartphones, the Moto G54 5G is available in the UK and Australia, but isn’t available in the US, not by the same model name anyway. In the UK, you can expect to pay £180, £10 less than the previous model, while in Australia the Moto G54 5G receives a AU$30 discount over its predecessor, coming down to AU$299.
In the US, the Moto G Power 5G appears to be the most similar on paper, and this can be bought for $199.99 (down from $299.99) at the time of writing.
The fact that Motorola has taken what was already an affordable phone and made it cheaper is seriously impressive. When I reviewed the Moto G53 5G I gave it a value score of 4 out of 5, and given the G54 5G is cheaper and offers much-improved specs, it has to receive a 5 stars this time around.
• Value score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G53 5G review: Specs
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Multiple colors, including vegan leather option
Thinner and lighter than previous model
Not always the most ergonomical
The majority of wallet-friendly phones now follow a very similar design language. Namely, plastic build, large-ish bezels (compared to the very best phones at least) and, in my experience anyway, they’ve all been lightweight and come in a selection of unexciting colors.
And, while the Moto G54 5G doesn’t deviate from the norm too much, I think there have been enough changes to make it look decidedly more premium and, dare I say, sexy? The review unit I received came in the Indigo Blue color, which employs an attractive vegan leather material on the rear. It’s a material often reserved for more premium devices to cement their premium status, so it was a genuine surprise to find Motorola has been able to get it to trickle down here – the company’s Razr 40 Ultra flip phone employs a similar material, for example. The result is a tactile phone that really is a joy to hold.
The other color options are Midnight Blue in Australia/UK and Mint Green and Glacier Blue in the UK – though they are all of a plastic-only persuasion.
Elsewhere it is largely business as usual. A large 6.5-inch screen dominating the front with a small punch hole camera in the top center. A small bump housing the two camera lenses is on the rear, and I’m pleased to say this bump barely protrudes at all, so when the phone is placed down on a surface it continues to sit flat.
A power button with built-in fingerprint sensor and the volume rocker are on the right edge, and it’s here that I did find a slight flaw. While the power button does sit at a natural height for one to use their thumb to unlock the phone – I did find using the fingerprint sensor unlocked the phone 9 times out of 10, and quickly too – the volume rocker, for me, sits too high up the right edge to be used comfortably. This is a tall phone, and I would say I have large hands and even I had trouble using it. I either had to shuffle the phone down in my hand, or move to two-handed operation. A minor issue to most, I would expect, but an issue I found nonetheless. I would have preferred to have seen the volume buttons placed at a more natural height on the left edge so I could adjust using my index and middle fingers.
Speaking of the left edge, it’s where you’ll find the SIM card and micro SD card tray, the latter being capable of accepting cards up to 1TB. The Moto G54 5G also supports eSIM along with physical SIM cards, and you’re welcome to use one of each in conjunction if you wish.
As with the Moto G53, there’s no mention of Gorilla Glass protection for the screen on the Moto G54, so I would recommend investing in a screen protector as a best practice safety precaution. Motorola also only advertises a water-repellent design, so while a splash of rain shouldn’t trouble the Moto G54, you’ll want to avoid any possibility of fully immersing it.
• Design score: 4/5
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Display
6.5-inch full HD+ LCD with 120Hz refresh
Fantastic colors and contrast
Excellent for watching streamed content
(Image credit: Future)
One of the biggest drawbacks to the Moto G53 5G was, in my opinion, its display. While it did support a 120Hz refresh rate, the resolution was a big let down at only HD+. While it could be argued this was acceptable for a ‘budget’ phone, the fact was other companies producing similarly-priced phones were including full HD resolutions as a minimum.
I don’t think I was alone in that assessment and it appears as though Motorola has listened to the criticism, because now we’ve got a full HD+ display, baby! The resolution this time around has been increased to 2400 x 1080, resulting in 405 ppi. It’s not quite double the resolution of the outgoing model, but it’s a huge improvement and colors are noticeably sharper, more accurate and vibrant. I once again turned to a Disney Plus stream of The Incredibles – one of my go-to movies for testing color and movement – and while I didn’t have the G53 to hand to test side-by-side, I have a strong memory of the picture when playing the Pixar movie on that device to be a little pale. Definition between the red suits of the super family and green forest trees was good, but overall it was a rather lackluster performance.
The same can’t be said of the Moto G54. My experience this time was far more enjoyable across the board. Images were sharp and really did pop with color, and despite there being a pixel density difference on paper between the G54 and my iPhone 13 Pro, I couldn’t detect any discernible difference. If anything, I preferred the image produced by the Moto G54, owing to it looking more natural.
I also loaded up a Netflix stream of Edge of Tomorrow and again, was thoroughly impressed. Colors appeared natural, whether it be skin tones, sandy beaches or blue skies. Contrast was admirable too and fast-moving scenes were handled well. Black levels weren’t quite OLED deep, but honestly, they weren’t far off. The only thing I will say about the display as a whole is that the glass can be quite reflective even with brightness turned up all the way. So if you’re viewing with a bright light source behind you, then you may find yourself having to readjust your position to get the best possible experience.
A 120Hz refresh rate returns, and this can be set to automatically adjust if you wish, or you can lock it at either 120Hz or 60Hz, either to the detriment of battery life or to preserve it, respectively. I left it on Auto mode for the majority of my review, which gives all control over to the phone to determine what refresh rate is required at what time, depending on how you’re using it or what you’re viewing. I never noticed any notion of stutter, even when flicking quickly between home screen menus – something I did occasionally notice when using the G53.
For a sub-£200/AU$300 phone, the Moto G54 5G’s display is nothing short of outstanding.
• Display score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G53 5G review: Cameras
50MP main, 2MP macro and 16MP front cameras
Optical image stabilization a new addition
Improvement on previous model, but still not up there with the best
(Image credit: Future)
Motorola has opted for the same dual camera system in the G54 as it did with the G53, in the form of a 50MP main sensor and a 2MP macro sensor. However, Motorola has reduced the micrometer from 1.28 to 1.22. What this should mean, on paper, is that the camera in the G54 is theoretically capable of taking sharper images, as the pixels are more compressed.
This should be especially true in the case of the G54, as Motorola has also added optical image stabilization, which shouldn’t just help produce sharper images during the day, but help to improve low light photography too.
In practice, yes, images are better than those I was able to take on the previous model, but they’re still not all that great. In good lighting you will be able to take decent images, with colours appearing natural and only a minimum amount of noise being introduced when you zoom in.
Image 1 of 6
(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 6
(Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 6
(Image credit: Future)
Image 4 of 6
(Image credit: Future)
Image 5 of 6
(Image credit: Future)
Image 6 of 6
(Image credit: Future)
I personally decided to turn off the Auto Enhance feature, as I felt it made images look a little fake or airbrushed, particularly on images of people. Changing the setting to Natural made things look more… natural. As for the front-facing camera, despite getting a bump from 8MP to 16MP, it still leaves a lot to be desired, which I was surprised by. Ok, so I probably do look a bit better in selfie pictures compared to the previous generation, but other than posting them here for the purposes of this review, I don’t think I’d be sharing them on my socials.
Naturally, you have to factor in the cost of the Moto G54 when forming an opinion on the camera, and in this sense, it could be considered capable. But, as smartphone cameras in general go, it does still leave a lot to be desired.
The Motorola Moto G54 5G comes running Android 13 and will be eligible for an Android 14 upgrade when it becomes available. Motorola has confirmed its team is working on the upgrade, but doesn’t yet have a release date.
So, in the meantime, what you get is a predominantly bloatware-free Android experience, although Motorola does preinstall some of its own apps, which includes one that lets you customize your G54 to make it truly your own. You’re able to change the font, theme colour, layout of the home screen and any gestures to carry out an assortment of tasks. It’s an intuitive app, and I was able to adjust multiple settings in no time at all.
What I also appreciated about Motorola’s own UI was just how much better it looked on the G54 compared to the G53, made possible by the full HD+ upgrade to the display. If I hadn't known how affordable it was already, then I would certainly have assumed it would have cost more, had I seen it in the hands of someone around me.
To gain a clearer idea of how well (or not so well) the Moto G54 5G performs compared to similar devices, we can turn to Geekbench 6 and 3DMark to run a couple of tests. On Geekbench 6, the Moto G54 5G returned a single core score of 924 and a multi-core score of 2,354, both notable improvements over the previous G53, which posted scores of 719 and 1,743. With this latest phone, Motorola has opted to use a Mediatek Dimensity 7020 processor, moving away from the Snapdragon 480+ chip found in the G53. The move appears to have been the right one, and coupled with 8GB RAM as opposed to the previous 4GB, the G54 is far better equipped to handle a range of everyday tasks.
To determine how well the GPU of the Moto G54 5G performed, I ran 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme, and was returned a score of 2,565. The 3DMark app told me this was only 56% better than results from other devices. I was unable to run our usual 3DMark Wild Life test, as the Moto G54 5G doesn’t support all Vulkan features.
However, this doesn’t necessarily affect real world gaming performance, and to find out, I installed and played Asphalt 9 with no discernible lag or frame rate drops. In fact, I played through a good number of races and the phone performed admirably. The only thing I would point out is that I did start noticing a bit of heat generation through the rear panel, so I wouldn’t recommend playing for seriously long sessions – and more graphically-intense games may be out of the question – but for the most part, mobile gaming is fine on the Moto G54 5G.
In terms of audio, I was pleased with the volume produced by the speakers. The Moto G54 supports Dolby Atmos audio processing, and it’s on by default – there’s no way of turning it off. You are able to change from the base setting of Smart Audio, which analyses the type of content you’re watching/playing, and adjust sound output accordingly.
I switched the setting to Music when playing songs via Apple Music, and there was a noticeable difference. Vocals came through a bit clearer, albeit with a bit of harshness in the top end, and I was able to pick out slightly more detail in the stream of Alicia Keys’ Rock wit U. But, for the best overall audio performance, I would recommend leaving the Smart Audio setting on.
When streaming video content from Netflix, the virtual surround sound applied via the default Dolby Atmos processing was more noticeable. During the first beach fight scene near the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow, sounds of helicopters flying around did appear to move around the phone, as opposed to coming directly from the speakers at either end of the device. Bullets flying out of Tom Cruise’s arm-mounted machine guns had real impact, and the movie’s soundtrack provided support in the background. All in all, an impressive presentation.
There is a separate ‘Spatial sound’ option in the sound settings menu, which can be turned on in conjunction with Dolby Atmos, and which appears as being available in Netflix for content that I’m aware is available with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack on other platforms. I switched between turning Spatial sound on and off in the settings while watching a number of films, and found they all sounded better with it switched off. The same was the case for playing music, again from Apple Music. In all instances, Spatial sound did introduce a slightly wider soundstage, but on the whole it just sounded more echo-y and totally unnatural.
• Software & performance score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Battery
5,000mAh battery lasts well over a day
15W 'TurboPower' charging could be quicker
No wireless charging
I’ve always found battery life in Motorola phones to be exemplary and the same can very much be said of the Moto G54 5G. Once again, Motorola has fitted a 5,000mAh battery which, under general everyday use, should last you into a second day without needing a recharge. It did for me, anyway.
Of course, performing more intensive tasks such as streaming video content or playing games will reduce it significantly, as will locking the screen refresh rate to 120Hz, as previously mentioned. Indeed, spending about half an hour playing Asphalt 9 did diminish the battery percentage considerably, by around 10%.
Where Motorola has improved things compared to the G53 is by adopting a faster charging speed. The Moto G53 maxed out at 10W throughput, which meant it took just over two hours to recharge the phone from near empty. In the Moto G54 however, this has increased to 15W with support for TurboPower charging, and Motorola even includes a 20W charger in the box.
Admittedly, I wouldn’t call the charging speed of the Moto G54 ‘Turbo’, but I didn’t exactly feel short changed or as if I absolutely needed it to be quicker. Charging from 18% to 100% using the supplied charger took roughly an hour and a half. It’s also worth noting that wireless charging isn’t supported. I personally didn’t mind this, as I’ve never used wireless charging, but if you are a user, you’re going to be missing out.
• Battery score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G53 5G: Score card
Should I buy the Motorola Moto G53 5G?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
If you're looking at the Motorola Moto G53, then it's most likely because you're looking to spend as little as possible on a phone. But you're also going to want to get the absolute most bang for your buck. Here are some good alternatives that do cost a little bit more, but which don't scrimp on features.
How I tested the Motorola Moto G55 5G
I used my review unit of the Motorola Moto G54 5G mainly for leisure during my testing period of a few weeks. I predominantly used it to browse web pages, scroll through social media and to take some pictures, and also found myself watching full length movies, due to its display being so engrossing. I also attempted to play a few games on it to best mimic the most likely real-world use case scenarios.
I didn't use it to replace my usual phone, an iPhone, but I was still able to send messages to friends via social media apps when connected to Wi-Fi. I also used my iPhone as a means to compare picture-taking abilities, being well aware that the iPhone was going to take more impressive shots due to its more capable camera system.
If you ask Samsung folks what the ‘FE’ in Galaxy S23 FE stands for, they’ll tell you it no longer stands for ‘Fan Edition’; it doesn’t stand for anything. I’m telling you this really is a Galaxy S23 for the fans. By ‘fans,’ I mean folks who appreciate the best that Samsung offers, even when they can’t afford the best that Samsung offers. Like car fans will look for great used car deals, and fashionistas find flash sales and samples, Samsung fans can still get (most of) the best of the Galaxy S world without paying sky-high prices.
The Galaxy S23 FE is a bargain, especially if you find it on sale, and it quickly went on sale for Black Friday soon after launch. This phone lists for $599 in the US, but it dropped as low as $399 for Black Friday, and it’s still got a discount as of this writing. This is a phone that is meant to fill the wide price gap between the Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy A54, but it will also be a terrific bargain when sales are active.
What makes this a Galaxy S23 for the fans? It’s very powerful, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform that was the engine for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has solid cameras with excellent features, including cool photo modes that are easy to use and make your photos look much better. It also has a solid build quality, with total water resistance. It even comes in some cool colors.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Of course, because it’s a Samsung, the Galaxy S23 FE also goes over the top in ways that other bargain phones don’t. For instance, the Galaxy S23 FE can run DEX, Samsung’s desktop environment that turns your phone into a laptop when you plug it into a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. That’s a great feature if you use your phone for email, apps, and playing games that you don’t usually run on your computer, and I can’t believe it’s included on the Galaxy S23 FE.
The Galaxy S23 FE is overloaded with features, like every good Samsung phone. It not only includes wireless charging, it can share its charge wirelessly with other devices, so if your earbuds run out of battery you can just sit them on the Galaxy S23 FE.
In some ways, the S23 FE even tops Samsung’s biggest competitor. It has Wi-Fi 6E, which the iPhone 15 can’t match. The iPhone has USB-C, but the Galaxy has a much more capable USB-C port with faster charging. Oh, it also has a real telephoto zoom lens with 3X optical zoom, in addition to the wide and ultra-wide lenses. Take that, iPhone.
The downside? It looks like a cheaper version of the Galaxy S23. It doesn’t look like a bargain phone. Bargain phones gussy up cheap plastic to make a nice-looking shell that isn’t really durable. The Galaxy S23 FE feels plenty durable. It also feels thick and heavy. Definitely not chintzy, not at all, the materials feel strong and premium. Samsung just didn’t bother cutting any bulk from this big guy.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
That said, you’ll appreciate the durability in three or four years when you are still using this phone. Samsung has made an excellent promise of four years of OS updates and five years of security patches, and that’s stellar for a phone in this price range.
The Galaxy S23 FE is easy to recommend, whether or not it’s on sale, especially against other phones you can find for the same price. It’s more powerful than a Google Pixel 7, with more features. It’s got better cameras than the Motorola Edge. It’s not already two years old, like the comparably-priced iPhone 13.
If you’re deciding whether to spend a little bit more to get this phone, I’d say it’s worth the extra. Samsung gives you a lot when you jump into the Galaxy S family. If you want a phone that’s better than this, you’ll have to spend a lot more.
Want more of our thoughts on the latest Galaxy phones? Check out our news round-ups for the upcoming Galaxy S24 and the rumored Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Galaxy S23 FE review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Starts at $599.99 / £599 / AU $899 for 128GB and 8GB RAM
Less expensive than the Galaxy S21 FE was
Great sales already dropped this to $399.99 in US
For a while, if you had around $600 / £600 / AU $900 to spend on a phone, there weren’t any great options from Samsung. You could find cheaper phones like the Pixel 7 or the Galaxy A54. Or, you could get an iPhone 13, which is still available new. Otherwise, you mostly had to hope for a deal to drop a great flagship phone into your price range.
Enter the Galaxy S23 FE, or I should say re-enter the FE because we had a Galaxy S21 FE, but that phone was disappointing. It was expensive and underpowered. There was no Galaxy S22 FE, despite rumors, and Samsung seems to have listened to criticism to get the Galaxy S23 FE into the sweet spot for a bargain edition of its flagship phone.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the deals we’ve already seen on this phone. We rarely get such amazing deals before we can even finish a review. This phone hadn’t launched in the UK when Amazon dropped the price in the US to $399.99, which is absurdly low. From here on, we’ll be looking for price drops on this device, as it seems to be an early favorite to put on sale.
Even at full price, however, the Galaxy S23 FE is a good choice. It has some important features that other phones lack, like IP68 water and dust resistance, and it has some niceties that even some flagship phones still skip, like wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. It’s powerful and durable, and Samsung will support it with major updates for four years, so it has better longevity than most phones.
If you can find a deal, absolutely grab this phone. Even if you can’t, this is the best new phone you can buy at this price.
Value score: 5 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Specs
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The Galaxy S23 FE uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform found on the Galaxy S22 family, including the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has the same 8GB of RAM that you’ll find in the Galaxy S23. In other words, it’s plenty powerful. It’s powerful enough to be a real workhorse for creative types, running photo editing software like Lightroom and recording video up to 8K resolution.
Where does Samsung cut corners? Well, Qualcomm’s newest processor is a bit faster than the 2022 chipset. The screen on the S23 FE is very nice, but the regular Galaxy S23 is brighter. The main camera is similar, but the ultra-wide and zoom cameras are better on the Galaxy S23, which can handle more advanced video shooting.
Still, this is an impressive phone for the money, especially thanks to the excellent build quality that screams durability, and the extra large battery inside. This phone had no trouble lasting all day, and it was fun to use. Nothing about the Galaxy S23 FE tells you that it's a bargain phone unless you spend a lot of time with phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Galaxy S23 FE review: Design
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great color options, with exclusives on Samsung’s site
Big, thick, and chunky
Design is youthful, like a My First Galaxy phone
Do smartphone colors seem a bit serious to you? The Galaxy S23 FE is here to help. The purple on my review sample is the happiest purple I’ve seen on a phone in years. The tangerine color will inspire oohs from folks who spot your phone. The colors are bright, glossy, and saturated. You can still get cream or graphite if you want to be boring, but there is also a lovely mint and a cloudy indigo blue.
Why start with the colors? Because if you’ve seen one Galaxy S phone, you’ve seen the rest. The design for the Galaxy S23 FE comes straight from the Galaxy S playbook. It’s glass front and back. The cameras are like portholes peeking out from beneath the sea of purple (or tangerine). The branding is remarkably subtle: you can’t see the word “Samsung” unless you hold the phone in the light just so.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
This phone is thick, for sure. The middle-child Galaxy S23 Plus has a larger display than the Galaxy S23 FE, but the FE is more than a half mm thicker, and it weighs a hefty 13 grams more than its bigger sibling. It looks big and feels big. It isn’t uncomfortable. The sides are brushed metal and nicely rounded, so it’s very comfortable to hold. It’s just a big chongus of a phone.
With a thicker design, thicker bezels around the display, and brighter colors, the phone gives off a youthful vibe almost like a toy, but a toy that won’t break. It feels like a great starter phone if you want your kid to have something serious, but also something durable that won’t break the bank if they break it.
Design score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Display
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Sharp with good color
Bright enough but not the brightest
Bezels are too large and asymmetrical
As you’d expect from a Samsung phone, the display on the Galaxy S23 FE looks great, especially against other phones at this price. It’s not quite as bright as the Galaxy S23, but it looks just as sharp and colorful, and it holds HDR10+ certification for watching streaming content in superior HDR quality.
The bezels around the display are big and they aren’t symmetrical, which bothered me. I didn’t think it would bother me this much, but once I noticed that the lower bezels were bigger than the rest, I always noticed. I couldn’t not see the unevenness. Maybe this sort of thing doesn’t bother you. If it does, you know who you are, and this will bother you.
There’s a good always-on display option on the Galaxy S23 FE, but it is turned off by default so you’ll have to dig to find it. If you’re a true Samsung fan, I also recommend downloading Samsung’s Good Lock app from the Samsung Galaxy Store. It has a lot of great themes, wallpaper, and lock screen options that are not part of the normal Samsung One UI. Only for true fans, though.
Display score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Software
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Lots of apps, maybe too many
Features can be buried under layers of menus
Good search (and Bixby) can help
The great thing about Samsung phones is that they are loaded with features. The terrible thing about Samsung phones is that every year more and more features get crammed in, and the old ones just get pushed to the back of the Settings closet. The good news is that Samsung has great tools that can help, if you’re willing to give them a try.
I’m talking about Bixby, and if you’re a Samsung fan then you don’t shudder or turn away in disgust when I say that name. The Galaxy S23 FE has more features than any other phone in its price range, and Bixby is the best way to find them.
For instance, the Galaxy S23 FE can charge other devices wirelessly using a feature called Wireless Power Sharing. So, where do you find this feature? I’m going to tell you (and you won’t believe me), but the easiest way to find it is to just ask Bixby. Hold the Bixby button (read: Power button) and say, “Turn on wireless power sharing.” Voila! The feature is turned on. You won’t have to worry about the next part.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
If you want to find wireless power sharing on your own, first grab your bullwhip and fedora, because this is an adventure. At first, I thought the feature was called “reverse wireless charging,” but it’s called wireless power sharing. I looked under the Battery and device care settings, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t even buried under the corner submenu dots. I couldn’t find it.
Then, on the Battery Settings screen, I see three meters that show how full your battery, your storage, and your RAM are currently. To find wireless power sharing, you have to tap on the Battery meter. There’s no indication that this is even a button or a menu. You just have to know. I’m a longtime Samsung user, so I expect these things.
The problem with the Galaxy S23 FE and all of Samsung’s software is that far too many useful features are like this. They are buried. They are impossible to find. They are hidden under buttons that don’t even look like buttons. It’s great to have so many features, but Samsung needs to simplify.
Samsung DeX gives you a real desktop with a taskbar (Image credit: Future)
I was shocked to find Samsung’s powerful DeX on the Galaxy S23 FE. DeX is Samsung’s ‘desktop environment experience.’ It’s basically a new home screen that your phone creates when you connect to an external monitor. You can run multiple apps in windows side-by-side, just like you would on a laptop. It feels like a Chromebook.
DeX is endlessly useful if you know when to use it. It’s especially great when you’re traveling and can just plug your phone into a workstation, or even connect wirelessly to a TV. It’s also nice if you have a work phone and a personal computer, or vice versa, and you don’t want to mix your work and personal lives on each device. You can just work on your phone the way you’d work on a computer.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor inside, doesn’t have DeX on board. Amazingly, a bargain phone like the S23 FE has such powerful software. You know what’s also amazing? Samsung forgot to load a Clock app. Or a Calendar. You can get the Google Clock and Google Calendar from the Google Play Store, but this was a really, really weird oversight.
It’s time to simplify.
Software score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Cameras
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Cameras are very good for a phone this price
Some trouble with night photos
Solid zoom and great photo modes for fun options
The Galaxy S23 FE has very good cameras, and it sits in the middle of phones in this price range. The main camera is very good, especially under bright lighting conditions, though details weren’t always perfect. The 3X optical zoom camera is passable and better than the digital zoom you’ll get on other phones for this price.
Samsung does a good job with its camera app, and you can trust the photo modes to do what they promise. The Food mode on Samsung cameras is one of my favorites, applying warm color tones and a nice bokeh blur to the background to make food subjects pop. In every mode, photos are highly saturated on this phone, but that’s nothing new to Samsung fans.
A great sandwich deserves a great Food mode (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
If you care about photography, you might be better off with an older phone like the Google Pixel 7, which takes slightly better pics and also gives you Google’s unique photo editing tools. Of course, the Galaxy S23 FE is powerful enough to run Adobe Lightroom, if you want to edit, so Google isn’t the only game in town.
The Pixel 7, like the Motorola Edge and the iPhone 13, skips the telephoto lens. If you want real zoom on your camera, you’re going to need the Galaxy S23 FE. I found zoom to be one of its best qualities, and even at night, zoomed-in pics looked pretty good.
Of course, because it’s Samsung, there are maybe too many camera modes, and not all of them are clear. If I’m shooting video, should I just use Video mode, or do I need to use Director mode? And what is this enigmatic Single Take mode, that lets you shoot anything from ‘boomerang clips’ to ‘collages’ to ‘cropped shots’ without explanation?
There’s a lot to love in the Camera app, but just like everything else on the Galaxy S23 FE, it needs to be simplified. Samsung needs to make more decisions for us and get rid of so many unnecessary options.
Confusingly, Samsung includes two photo gallery apps: its own Gallery and Google Photos. You can stick with Photos, but I’ve been using both for a long time, and Samsung Gallery backs up to OneDrive, so you have a cloud backup that follows you to your next device, just like with Google.
The camera was a bit less responsive than I’d like, and it seemed to take a beat to focus and snap a photo, especially in night mode. My photos still came out great, but if you’re chasing fast animals or rugrats for your pics, you may want a better camera phone.
Galaxy S23 FE camera samples
Image 1 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 2 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 3 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 4 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 5 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 6 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 7 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 8 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 9 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 10 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 11 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 12 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 13 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Image 14 of 14
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Camera score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Excellent performance from a proven chipset
Much faster than anything else in its class (except iPhone)
Able to handle real performance tasks like DeX
Forget that the Galaxy S23 FE runs on a chipset that is now officially two and a half generations old. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was fast enough for the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and it’s fast enough for anything you can do on an Android phone. If this phone is powerful enough to emulate a laptop in DeX mode, then you can be sure that performance is no problem.
Gaming is also great on this phone, though the screen could be a bit brighter and maybe bigger for real gaming fanatics. Still, if you’re looking for a capable and affordable performer, the Galaxy S23 FE had no trouble tearing up cheap phone noobs on Call of Duty Mobile. It handles all the detailed particle and motion effects in Marvel Snap with aplomb, at 60 FPS.
Performance score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Battery
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great battery lasted all-day
Lots of performance and power-saving options
Advanced charging modes for a bargain phone
The Galaxy S23 FE had no trouble lasting through a busy work day until it was time for bed. It may be big but that also means there’s space inside for more battery, and Samsung took advantage with a 4,500 mAh battery, which is much larger than the 3,900 mAh cell inside a Galaxy S23.
Most of Samsung’s choices add up to better battery life on the Galaxy S23 FE. The screen isn’t as bright as the Galaxy S23? Saves battery. The processor isn’t as fast? Saves battery. These are worthwhile sacrifices, and I almost wish Samsung would make the same on its upcoming Galaxy S24 phones.
Some phones can charge much faster than the Galaxy S23 FE, but it still hits a respectable 25W, which is about the best you can expect from an iPhone 15 Pro, anyway. Better than that, it has wireless charging, which is a feature some phone makers (looking at you, OnePlus) omit to cut costs.
Not only does Samsung give you respectable 15W wireless charging, but you can also use the Galaxy S23 FE to wireless power share with another device, like your Galaxy Buds Pro (the Galaxy Buds FE case doesn’t charge wirelessly) or your friend’s dead iPhone. That’s a feature you only find on premium smartphones.
There are tons of power-saving features and performance adjustments you can make to save battery life, and I’m not going to rehash my same complaint about Samsung phones: great features, very hard to find. Dig and you shall be rewarded. Or just let the phone do its own thing and it will still last all day. Either way, the battery life was good.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Galaxy S23 FE?
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Buy it if...
You have $600 or less to spend The phone market is sharply divided between very expensive and very cheap phones. This is one of the few phones in the middle that gives you more and is worth buying.
You are a true Samsung fan
I don’t care if FE doesn’t stand for Fan Edition, this phone has DeX, zoom cameras, and software bloat. Don’t tell me it’s not for the fans.
You like bright, colorful phones
Honestly, most of the other phones in this price range are boring, black slabs, besides the odd-looking Pixel. Samsung gives you the best looking phone in bright, glossy colors.
Don't buy it if...
You need real camera performance
This is a great camera phone in the bargain phone price range, but premium phones are much better, and the Pixel 7 has some cool photo features unique to Pixel phones.
You wear tight pants
The Galaxy S23 is a thin and light phone, but the Galaxy S23 FE is like the cousin that loves pasta and has a bigger battery. Big but beautiful? Definitely bigger.
You want something simple
The Galaxy S23 FE is a bargain phone with a lot more, so if you want something simple and easy, find an iPhone you can afford, instead.
Galaxy S23 FE review: Also consider
Google Pixel 7 The Google Pixel 7 isn’t quite as powerful as the Galaxy S23 FE, but it does come with Google’s machine learning features that are exclusive to Google devices, including the Magic Eraser and other great photo editing tools. This might be the better camera pick for the money.
Motorola Edge (2022) The Motorola Edge is a bargain phone that masquerades as a flagship. It looks pristine and professional, but it isn’t quite as powerful and the cameras can’t hold a candle to Samsung’s offering. You might find it cheaper, however.
How I tested the Galaxy S23 FE
Review test period: More than one month
Testing included: everyday work and personal use including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used: Anker Prime GaN charger, Galaxy Buds FE, Galaxy Watch 5
I used the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE for more than a month as my primary work phone. During this time, it was my business device for taking meetings and video calls, working while traveling and playing games on my commute to work.
I used the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE to take photos, navigate with maps, and play games. I used it for phone calls and messaging of all sorts, including RCS messages and various messaging services, including Slack and WhatsApp. I also used Bixby to control the phone and to send messages using voice commands, especially while I was driving and using Android Auto.
I played games extensively with the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, and I tested it with several streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, and Max.
I tested the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE with various accessories, including the new Samsung Galaxy Buds FE and the Galaxy Watch 5. I also used it with Pixel Buds Pro, my MX Master 2 mouse, and an SD card reader. For battery testing, I recorded my usage during the day and noted the times the phone died. I timed the phone during the charging process to verify charging claims.
