Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Titanium Violet 512GB

The S24 Ultra went from overpriced and underpowered to the best value in flagships. At $665, you get elite performance, a top-tier display, and a killer zoom camera. Just don't pay full price.

Whatever was choking this phone before has been exorcised. Our updated benchmarks show the S24 Ultra now runs with the best of them, and user sentiment backs that up with a 92/100 score. The freezing issues that plagued early units are gone, and the chipset that once got outgunned by mid-rangers now trades blows with the iPhone 17 Pro Max and leaves the Pixel 10 Pro XL in the rearview. Galaxy AI features like Circle to Search finally have the horsepower to feel instant rather than like a parlor trick running on a stressed-out processor.

At $665, the S24 Ultra humiliates the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL on price while matching it on camera and crushing it on raw speed. The OnePlus 15 used to be the value king, but Samsung just stole its crown. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is still the smoother software experience, but it costs nearly triple and doesn't offer enough to justify the gap. The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is a fun alternative if you want cleaner software, but it can't touch the Galaxy's zoom or storage. The Motorola Razr Fold is a different beast entirely—buy that if you want a folder, buy this if you want the best slab phone deal on the market.

At $665, this is the easiest recommendation in smartphones right now. You're getting a 99-score flagship for less than most mid-rangers. The catch is the price swings wildly up to $2199, and at that end you're back to getting robbed. Shop the deal, not the MSRP. If you snag this under $800, you're walking away with one of the best phones money can buy for a fraction of what the competition charges.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has pulled off one of the wildest comebacks we've seen. It used to be a $1499 punchline that ranked in the basement for display and performance, but now at $665 it's a completely different animal. Our latest scoring puts it at 99 overall, which means this phone went from bottom-feeder to top dog practically overnight. The screen that once ranked in the bottom 8% now leads its class, and the speed that had us yawning is suddenly elite. Price cuts don't usually fix hardware, but in this case the value shift is so dramatic it forces a total rethink of who should buy this phone.

If you're paying anywhere near $2199, put the credit card down and back away slowly. At full freight, the value evaporates and you're better off with an iPhone 17 Pro Max or waiting for a sale. Also, if battery life is your number one priority, this still isn't the champ—look at the OnePlus 15 for all-day endurance.

Buy it, but only at the right price. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has transformed from a marketing mirage into a genuine heavyweight, and at $665 it's the steal of the year. If you see it creeping past $1200, walk away and wait for a sale. But under $800? This is the phone to beat, and nobody's beating it right now.