Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra First Look and Unboxing – First impressions of the awesome Titanium Titan

At the latest Galaxy Unpacked 2024 show, Samsung unveiled their latest generation Galaxy S24 series that are their first ever phones to feature their signature new Galaxy AI spearheaded by their top of the line Galaxy S24 Ultra which is not only larger than its smaller siblings the baseline Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ but also has the most powerful rear camera setup of the lot along with a host of other upgrades including its signature S Pen stylus to make it the most powerful phone out of the Galaxy S24 series but also puts it in the running as potentially one of the best Android phones of 2024. 

We managed to get our hands on a sample fresh from its latest local launch where they announced its prices and preorder specials for the Malaysia market. Here’s our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra first look and unboxing where we pop open a factory fresh sample of the phone and see what’s in the box while sharing our first impressions of their titular titanium titan.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra First Look and Unboxing – What’s in the box

In keeping with its predecessor the Galaxy S23 Ultra, our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample has a minimum of additional kit bundled with the box. Unboxing it revealed the phone itself inset into a cardboard tray made of recyclable paper with the display itself protected by a protective matte black sticker.

Folded into a cardboard sleeve in the box, you get the usual warranty and quick start literature, a SIM eject pin and a USB-C to C cable for charging the phone. 

Aesthetically speaking, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is similar to the Galaxy S23 Ultra and retains roughly similar dimensions and design including the double stacked rear triple-double row camera array though closer inspection reveals that the front 6.8-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X LTPO display itself is now, for the first time in ages, completely flat without irksome curved edges that got in the way when using the bundled S Pen stylus.

Bar the slightly curved sides that have been retained for ergonomics, the screen itself is a wonderfully flat pane that stretches out all the way to each edge..

When compared side by side with the earlier Galaxy S23 Ultra with a scale and measure, our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample is about 1g lighter at 233g while being 0.3mm thinner at 8.6mm thin.

This doesn’t seem all that impressive on paper but those that are more informed will appreciate the fact that these size and weight savings were achieved while being tougher and more durable than its predecessor.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra uses a titanium chassis along with a new, tougher grade of glass referred to as Corning Armour Glass that is rated to be even tougher than the prior Gorilla Glass Victus 2 used in the smaller Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+. As it stands, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the first ever Samsung phone to use titanium in its construction, offering 56% enhanced resistance to drops, nicks and scratches compared to its predecessor which is substantial indeed. 

At Galaxy Unpacked 2024, it was stated that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the first ever phone in the market to use Corning Armor Glass which is also its toughest protective display glass yet with four times more scratch resistance than competing glass options in the market. That’s a lofty claim that we’ll put to the test soon in our full review. That’s not all, Corning Gorilla Armor glass is also stated to reduce reflections by up to 75% which makes the screen much easier to see.

With its enhanced toughness and new materials, our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample feels even more premium than its predecessor with a premium, even heft and a luxurious feel on account of its satin finish while retaining the design language of its predecessor with a flattened top and bottom and rounded corners. 

In terms of ergonomics, our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample is an easy step up for those used to the button placement and tactility of the Galaxy S23 Ultra with a power button and volume rocker placed on the phone’s right side within easy reach of the thumb, a USB-C port in the base with the S Pen stylus well on the left edge of the base and a speaker grille with the top featuring an antenna band. The left side of the phone is mostly unadorned. 

Up front, you get the aforementioned 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display sheathed in Corning Armor Glass which has slightly denser and better 1,440 x 3,120 pixels resolution, a wider 19.5:9 aspect ratio while offering better brightness at a 2,600 nits peak brightness in daylight conditions as well as a 120hz dynamic refresh rate.

The lower quadrant has an ultrasonic fingerprint reader for biometric authentication and the top hosts a single 12MP selfie camera inset into a punch hole capable of up to 4K@60fps video. There is also tiny slit for a speaker and earpiece for calls.

The rear hosts the signature camera array inset into a corner with our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample in Titanium Gray looking especially classy.

The new rear camera array is somewhat similar to its predecessor with a primary 200MP F/1.7 camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS) as well as a 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera with the biggest upgrade being that the dual telephoto camera array that swaps out one of the two 10MP telephoto camera sensors for a beefy 50MP F/3.4 telephoto camera capable of lossless 5X zoom along with OIS with the original 10MP telephoto camera retaining 3X zoom. 

This enables the phone to capture up to a whopping 100X Space Zoom but this time around, the addition of Galaxy AI ensures more stable, cleaner shots as well as lossless 10X zoom. Video capture maxes out at 8K@30fps but this enhanced array allows for up to 5x lossless zoom even in 8K resolution which is impressive.

Under the hood, our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample hosts the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor which is clocked faster than a stock model paired with 12GB RAM paired with 256GB RAM for our unit though 512GB and 1TB variants exist in Malaysia.

The phone itself runs the latest Android 14 with One UI 6.1 though the latest stated guarantee of up to 7 years of OS and security updates means that it will continue remaining relevant all the way until Android 21 and all the way to 2031.

One thing to note is that unlike its lesser siblings, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will run the Snapdragon chipset across the board for all countries and all variants. The special sauce that Samsung has for the phone though is its larger vapour chamber that’s bigger by 1.9x compared to its predecessor for higher sustained performance without cooking off.

Keeping the phone powered is a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired fast charging, 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging support which is akin to its predecessor.

Stated as the cornerstone of the new Galaxy S24 series experience, the Galaxy S24 Ultra also hosts Samsung’s Galaxy AI that is currently free to use for the immediate future and which offers a number of life-changing features, some of which may require data to use like live conversation translation, note translation and tone modification,  image remastering and even a Circle to Search with Google feature to find text or stuff by simply circling it onscreen.

At launch, the base 256GB model which is what our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look sample is, retails for RM6,299 with the 512GB model available for RM6,799 and the 1TB variant costs RM7,799. If you’re looking at getting the rarer online exclusive colourways Titanium Blue, Titanium Orange and Titanium Green or are keen to acquire the 1TB variant, you’ll have to acquire them at the official Samsung online store in the following link: https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-s24-ultra/buy/

Stay tuned for our full review when we put this beautiful phone through its paces!