Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: I'd upgrade for this one feature alone

It's crazy to think it'll soon be two years in January 2026 since Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S24 Ultra. For its time, it was arguably one of the top Android smartphones with very little competition. But all that changes now that the Galaxy S26 Ultra has been unveiled. If you've not yet upgraded to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, should you finally trade your S24 Ultra in for the S26 Ultra?

On paper, the Galaxy S26 Ultra offers a much more noticeable improvement in design and features compared to the S24 Ultra. There's the latest Snapdragon chip, much faster wired and wireless charging, and improved cameras. Let's break down all the details about the Galaxy S26 Ultra and see how it's better than the S24 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design and display

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra finally gets softer design cues making it look more in line with the rest of the family. Build quality is still solid but it's now even slimmer and lighter than ever before. The S26 Ultra is a tiny bit taller than the S24 Ultra but it measures just 7.9mm in thickness and weighs 214 grams. Compared to the 8.6mm thickness and 232 grams of the S24 Ultra, you should immediately notice the difference when you switch to it.

The Ultra series has always had one of the best displays in any Android phone, and that continues with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. You get a 6.9-inch Super AMOLED 2X panel with a sharp QHD+ resolution. Sunlight legibility and touch response have never been an issue before and you should expect the new S26 Ultra to deliver the same or even better performance.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will end up being more distinctive compared to the S26 Ultra, thanks to its sharply contoured edges. This boxy look is what helped the Ultra stand out from every other Android flagship all these years. This, of course, comes at the cost of ergonomics. It's not the most comfortable phone to hold to carry around due to its sheer size and weight. Build quality is still top-notch, and it's a phone that should last long after even the software updates stop coming.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has one of the best displays on a flagship, and this holds true even today. It's not perfect, though, as some units in the initial batches reported a phenomenon called mura, where not all pixels produced the same level of brightness, leading to a grainy look. It does get the anti-glare coating, which makes a massive difference when viewing the display under sunlight or against artificial light sources.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Performance and specs

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra uses Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC. This chip promises a 20% boost in CPU and GPU performance, while using 20% less power. The neural processor is also said to have been improved for handling more on-device AI tasks.

Other specs include 12GB of RAM for the 256GB and 512GB variants and 16GB RAM on the 1TB variant. The S26 Ultra does not get the hero colorway that was rumored, but instead comes in Colbalt Violet, Sky Blue, and Black. Thankfully, the phone starts at the same price as the S25 Ultra, which is $1,299.99.

Other features that the Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with include the S Pen, an IP68 rating, and One UI 8.5 based on Android 16. Samsung continues to offer seven years of software and security updates just like before. Battery capacity stays the same 5,000mAh and it's been this way for the past few generations.

The charging speed has gotten a bump though as for the first time, we're seeing a Samsung phone getting 60W wired charging. Samsung calls this Super Fast Charging 3.0, and you'll need to buy this new charger separately. Wireless charging speed has also been bumped up to 25W which means the S26 Ultra now supports the Qi2 25W charging standard.

Samsung only sells refurbished models of the S24 Ultra on its U.S. site, and while you can buy a new piece from Amazon at a lower price, I'm not so sure it'll make sense to do that in 2026. If you've already set aside a budget of over $1,000 for an Ultra phone, it'd better be the latest model. Samsung only offered 12GB of RAM on all its storage tiers for the S24 Ultra.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the S24 Ultra is still plenty powerful and should have no trouble handling modern games and multitasking. Some of the newer AI features in the upcoming One UI 8.5 might be hardware-dependent, which means you may or may not be able to use them on the S24 Ultra. Also, many of the AI features that debuted with the S24 Ultra relied on cloud connectivity, which is something the new Gen 5 chip in the S26 Ultra should resolve.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Cameras

While the resolution of all the cameras are the same as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the S26 Ultra gets wider apertures for two important cameras. The main sensor is still 200MP but it now has a f/1.4 aperture and the 50MP 5x telephoto camera gets a f/2.9 aperture. The Galaxy S24 Ultra's main and telephoto had an f/1.7 and f/3.4 apertures respectively. What does this mean in the real world? These two sensors in S26 Ultra should be able to collect more light which translates to brighter images with less noise in low light and sharper burst shots withouth compromising on exposure.

You should also expect some software trickery and new GalaxyAI features in the camera app of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. In all honesty, the Ultra series has always had the best cameras in the lineup, so it's hard to top that.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra's cameras can still give stiff competition to today's flagship phones. Zoom performance is really impressive, and low-light images and video recording looks great. The only issue we really faced was that the camera has a tough time capturing sharp-looking motion shots of moving kids or pets. Although Samsung did try and rectify it in 2024 by issuing a patch, it still wasn't perfect when compared to its peers.

If you go pixel-peeping, you may spot a bunch of differences between shots taken with the Galaxy S26 Ultra and S24 Ultra. Other than that, I don't see the cameras in the upcoming Ultra to be drastically different.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Is it worth the upgrade?

If you currently own a Galaxy S24 Ultra and are looking for something new with a stylus, the Galaxy S26 Ultra should be worth trading it in for. If not the new features or better performance, the slimmer and lighter design itself should be worth the upgrade. Keep in mind that the S Pen in the S26 Ultra does not have Bluetooth (just like the S25 Ultra), so be prepared to lose that feature.

Buying a new Galaxy S24 Ultra in 2026 does not make a whole lot of sense unless you score some crazy deal and get the 512GB variant for under $800. Even then, I'd take a second look at all the best Android phones in the market before taking the plunge. The Galaxy S26 Ultra might not be the most exciting of upgrades when compared to the S25 Ultra, but it does offer a few compelling reasons for an S24 Ultra user to consider trading up.