Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: A big upgrade

Samsung unveiled its newest flagship smartphone—Galaxy S24 Ultra—at its Galaxy Unpacked event on January 17. It is the best smartphone the company has ever built, with ultra-premium design and features.

If you already have a Galaxy S21 Ultra and want to upgrade to a newer phone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra could be a significant upgrade. Let us look at how they compare in terms of design and specifications.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a faster processor, a brighter screen, better cameras, faster charging, and a built-in S Pen.

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Galaxy S21 Ultra: A lot has changed

The Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Galaxy S24 Ultra have 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x screens with QHD+ resolution, but the one on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is stronger (thanks to Gorilla Glass Armor) and flatter and has substantially less reflections/glare. Unfortunately, it's also wider, which can mess with comfortable one-handed use.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a brighter screen capable of going as bright as 2,600 nits. While the Galaxy S21 Ultra is compatible with an S Pen, it doesn't have a built-in slot. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a built-in S Pen slot, just like Galaxy Note series phones.

While both phones have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a stronger titanium frame. The Galaxy S21 Ultra uses an aluminum frame.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra features a much more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which means you can play high-end games at even smoother frame rates and see even fewer hiccups while multitasking. They both have 12GB RAM and 256GB/512GB storage, but the RAM and storage on the Galaxy S24 Ultra are faster. It also comes with a 1TB storage option.

The new phone will also get Android OS and security updates for up to a whopping seven years, which means it will get updates up to Android 21 in the year 2030. It comes with several AI-powered features, such as real-time language translation, message summaries, language suggestions, image editing, wallpaper generator, and more.

In terms of cameras, you get a massive upgrade with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It has a 200MP primary camera with OIS, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS, and a 50MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom (and up to 10x optical quality zoom with in-sensor cropping).

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 108MP primary camera with OIS, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 10MP telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom. The newer phone also has a 12MP selfie camera compared to the Galaxy S21 Ultra's 10MP selfie camera.

While both phones can record 4K 60fps videos, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can switch between all its cameras while recording 4K 60fps videos. Moreover, it can record smoother 8K videos at 30fps (compared to Galaxy S21 Ultra's 8K 24fps videos) and 4K videos at 120fps. It also supports 8K recording at 5x zoom.

Both phones have a 5,000mAh battery, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra has faster 45W charging. Both phones have 15W wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. They both have 5G, Ultra Wideband (UWB), NFC, and USB 3.2 Type-C connectivity, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra has Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 for faster wireless connectivity.

Samsung
Galaxy S24 Ultra

Select model SM-S928B SM-S928N SM-S928U SM-S928U1 SM-S928W SM-S9280 Buy Full specs

Samsung
Galaxy S21 Ultra

Select model SM-G998B SM-G998U SM-G998U1 Buy Full specs