Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra is the company’s current top flagship and is already one of the year’s best smartphones.
However, it is already four months old, so that potential buyers might have a question: Should we get the Galaxy S24 Ultra or wait to get next year’s Galaxy S25 Ultra as soon as it launches?
Fret not, because I will answer this question today, based on the leaks and speculations about the Galaxy S25 Ultra and whether it makes sense to wait for it.
Reasons to Wait for the Galaxy S25 Ultra
While the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a great smartphone, it is not the upgrade from the S23 Ultra that many users hoped for. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to bring the following major updates from the S24 Ultra.
- Bigger and better display:Â The Galaxy S25 Ultra is rumored to get a slightly bigger 6.9-inch display with higher brightness, which could be as high as 3000 nits, up from the current 2600 nits of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. While peak brightness numbers may not mean much, the company could upgrade the manual brightness figures, making the displays more legible outdoors.
- Massive camera upgrades:Â The Galaxy S24 Ultra brought us a 50 MP sensor for the new 5x optical zoom lens, and while the Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to carry forward this specific lens, the other sensors could get an upgrade. According to certain leaks, Samsung plans to upgrade the ultrawide and the 3x zoom lens on the S25 Ultra with new and bigger 50 MP sensors.
- New chipset:Â The Galaxy S25 Ultra will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for Galaxy, which is expected to be a major performance leap over the current 8 Gen 3, with Qualcomm’s custom Oryon cores and fabbed on TSMC’s 2nd generation 3 nanometre node. Also, the phone might continue to be powered globally only by Snapdragon chips (with the Exynos 2500 reserved for S25/S25+).
- Better build:Â The S25 Ultra is rumored to get a new grade of Titanium for its build. Samsung currently uses Grade 2 Titanium for the S24 Ultra, which could be upgraded to Grade 3 or Grade 4 Titanium for the S25 Ultra. This will improve the build quality and enhance the durability of the new devices.
- Faster storage:Â The S25 Ultra could get the new UFS 4.0 4-lane storage faster than the S24 Ultra’s (and also for all other phones) UFS 4.0 2-lane storage. This will improve storage speeds, enable faster-wired data transfers, and reduce app opening times for the new generation.
- New AI features:Â The second generation Gemini Nano could be powered on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, improving on-device AI and faster computing. The company is also expected to debut new AI features, like a new “Battery AI” feature, which is supposed to increase runtime by about 5-10% without affecting performance.
- More RAM: The S25 Ultra will finally get a major increase in RAM capacity, going as high as 16 GB, an upgrade from the maximum of 12 GB on the S24 Ultra. This could allow users to hold more apps in the background. Furthermore, it could be the next-gen LPDDR6 RAM, improving performance even further.
These are some of the rumored major upgrades for the Galaxy S25 Ultra that are sure to entice users to wait for it.
Furthermore, it is to be noted that Galaxy S24 Ultra is a very problematic phone since users have reported a large number of issues with grainy displays, poor white balance tuning, and lackluster long-range zoom. While Samsung is gradually fixing these issues with updates, a major camera improvement update for the Galaxy S24 Ultra has yet to be released.
Given the current situation of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it could convince you further to ride out this mediocre generation and get the Galaxy S25 Ultra when it comes out next year.
Reasons to Not Wait and Buy the Galaxy S24 Ultra Now
One major reason users are getting the Galaxy S24 Ultra now is simply the fact that the next generation is still too far away.
The S24 Ultra is barely over four months old and still has quite a lot of life in its yearly cycle. It also competes well with the best smartphones out there, with still-competent cameras, reliable battery life, and the S Pen everyone loves and knows.
Sure, the S25 Ultra might get many enticing upgrades, but not everyone can wait 8 to 10 months until early 2025 to get the Galaxy S25 Ultra. For users looking to upgrade earlier, the Galaxy S24 Ultra hence makes total sense.
I would also like to mention that Samsung’s camera tuning on newer hardware has generally been perfected over a few generations. This has been seen historically with the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the S24 Ultra’s 5x lens, that the company’s years of major camera hardware upgrades don’t lead to the best tuning from the get-go.
The new camera is instead tuned and refined with updates and generations over the years to reach perfection. This same issue could happen with the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s new Ultrawide and 3x lenses, but only time will tell.
Moreover, all of the information about the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes from leaks and rumors, which may or may not make it to the final product. It is possible that Samsung could remove some of the expected upgrades as a cost-cutting measure before release and make the S25 Ultra a minor iteration of the S24 Ultra. If that happens, it will be better to get the older generation.
Conclusion
It is quite a simple decision for you, the buyer. If you can wait for 8-10 months for early 2025, and if the major upgrades detailed above all come to the phone as expected, it will make perfect sense to get the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
However, if, for some reason, you want the phone earlier, or if you feel the new upgrades aren’t worth it, or want a Galaxy Ultra at a lower price (the S24 Ultra frequently dips below $1000), then the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a fantastic smartphone that will not let you down. It is a complete phone, and the company will definitely fix the camera issues with updates in the future.
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