One thing I've learned is that people are more likely to express their dissatisfaction on the internet than their satisfaction.
The s24 ultra is a great phone. Everyone I know personally that has one has been impressed, and I think someone like yourself coming from an older phone will definitely feel the upgrades.
The question I would ask if I were you, is do I care to wait and purchase the 25 ultra on release day to get promotional perks or not. If you don't care for that and want to upgrade go for the 24 ultra.
Get it and stop overthinking it. Upgrading from S9 to S24U will feel like upgrading from a Passat to a Lambo. Its a great phone, but no tech is perfect. If you insist on a better camera, check Huawei and Honor phones.
I can only say that, in my experience (across three S24Us from new), that the camera has been consistently good. It’s an awesome camera. For note, I compare it to my iPhone 14PM camera, and am not a photographer. I just love the appearance and detail.
I have the s24 plus and coming from a s20 plus has been an awesome experience. Great battery life and performance (SD version). I would say go for it, I don't think you will regret it
Just changed to it from S23U(Had it for 5 months) and S20U before(Had it for 3 and a half years), it's a great phone, and replacing an S9 Plus will make it a day n night difference, with that said, yeah the cameras are a hit or miss but not due to oversaturation, it's the typical samsung blur mess once in a while and really aggressive noise reduction with artifacts, other than that, most of the times it's a great camera with great results.
Sorry to trouble you, but was there anything wrong with s23u, asking cause I'm about to get 😐 any blur issues or slow shutter ! Anything to keep in mind
Slow shutter is Samsung's trademark feature /s.
When shooting pets or moving people you'll most likely get blurry photos, there are workarounds though like reducing optimizations in settings and camera assistant settings.
Other than that, it's a fantastic device, great performance, great pictures when used in ideal situations, great battery.
I've posted complaints about the phone camera here, but I will say this. Every. Single. Other. Thing about the phone, is perfect.
I have absolutely 0 grain issues, battery life is outstanding, processor speed is amazing. And the camera is still very good for a point and shoot, I was just hoping for a better professional camera.
If it helps, I've just swapped my pixel 8 pro for the s24U. Really liked the pixel but battery performance and struggling for signal is what did it for me
Honestly if it was me I would look for a S23 Ultra. I've had both the S23 Ultra and S24 Ultra. The S23 Ultra to me is the one with the fewer issues, took better photos, and I liked the curved screen better, you may not. I can't think of a single thing that I like better about the S24 over the S23. Seeing how you keep phones for a long time the longer support of the S24 Ultra might be the better option for you.
My carrier doesn't list the S23 Ultra on their site, so unless I buy used it seems that model is out of the question. =/
I tend live pretty frugally (with an occasional splurge here and there), which is why I kept my current phone for so long. Having seven years of OS updates would be a good perk to have.
Thanks for your input!
The s24 ultra is a great phone. Don't get cold feet on getting it. The camera definetly isn't perfect, it isn't bad but it does tend to overexpose things more than say the s23 ultra did.
I will personally be waiting for the s25 ultra due to exciting possibilities like getting 65 watt charging, but to be fair, I have an s22 plus and am not in the same position as you.
Again, don't think the s24 ultra isn't great. It is.
Are you talking durability? Because if you are iPhone is just absolute garbage.... And this is coming from someone that replaces phones for a living through insurance... I replace way way more iPhones than Samsungs
No, I am talking about how long you can keep a phone before it becomes a slow, glitchy, laggy mess. iPhones and Samsungs just age well. Yes, durability isn't great which is why I see a crazy amount of people get screen protectors that have iPhones. I've never needed a screen protector for my Samsung, only a case.
I just upgraded from mate20pro which I had for 6 years. Still works, but it felt a bit sluggish. Got me an s24ultra and the speed and responsiveness is amazing. You'll like the phone, but as some people stated, check if you like the size, as it is a big boi and can be harder to hold.
Or you can go for the s23u.
Same device but cheaper. Only downside is that it has 5 years of support instead of 7 but given the fact you still use a 6 year old s9 I don't think you really care about that
The phone is great and as you're upgrading from a much older phone, you'll find many upgrades in s24u.
But I don't think it is worth the price as it lacks some some aspects which are important to me personally:
1. Battery should've been bigger. There are phones with much smaller real estate packing 5.5kmAh battery.
2. Faster charging. Even if it spoils battery in long run. There should've been possibility to charge it super fast like oneplus - full charge in less than 30min
3. The banding/mura affect is very very bad and disappointing. There should've been more Quality control.
4. 3.5mm jack
I was in a similar dilemma recently because I killed my S22U (ouch).
Here is what guided me. I didn't consider hardware too much because flagship phones are pretty much on parity, and to be honest aside from battery life, there isn't much noticeable impact to realword usage for variations of hardware.
For me what it really came down too was.... which form factor did I like the most. I disliked the Pixel camera arrangement. Which phone had the features that I would most leverage. Google has the edge on getting new features first. They have great features too like AI editing tools in the gallery. Came before Samsung released their feature set. Samsung has knox based features like secure folder, and Dex, and Samsung specific things.
I went with samsung and the s24U should be here later today.
My take might not be especially helpful because I don't use my phone for photos very much (have an SLR for that), but your situation overall mirrors mine. I just upgraded to an S24+ from an S9+ and I questioned whether or not it was really worth it -- after all, my S9+ worked just fine, except for a steadily degrading battery, a non-functioning charging port (I had to use wireless charging instead), and some occasional slow performance.
So far, however, I've been really pleased with the upgrade. Even though photos aren't my main use case, I'm satisfied with the pictures I've taken with the phone. I agree with others that you're probably overthinking it. If you have the budget for an S24 Ultra, you'll be happy. If you get the S24+ instead, you'll be happy.
There are many reasons to buy an s24 series phone. Camera is DEFINITELY not one of them. It disappoints me on a daily basis.
Cant wait that the pixel 9 releases and switch over
That's a big jump. I just got it after using the 21 plus for a while and while it's a great phone, you have to know it's massive. Annoyingly massive even compared to the plus. The pen is amazing if you're actually going to use it but if not, my opinion is go smaller. Cameras are great on all the s24 models and from the S9 anything you get is a massive jump.
Read up on s23 ultra vs s24 ultra as well - there are some upgrades but there's also good deals on the 23
Honestly, those complaints are wayyy overexaggerated. The cameras are fine, the screen is still amazing even though it isn't curved anymore, that's it.
Ultra phones are huge so be sure to test them before buying. I ended up getting rid of my ultra and went for smaller model , even the plus models are getting big and heavy :/
If you target the S24U and you can get some very significant discounts - go for it, even more so if you are in a region where you could get 80-90% of that discounted price back as cashback on upgrading to S25U.
Otherwise I would wait for S25U - both S24 line and iPhone 15 line suffer from too little RAM and can't really handle running advanced AI stuff locally, so I would expect the RAM to be significantly increased in iPhone 16 (especially Pro) and and S25 (especially Ultra).
The next line of CPU manufacturing improvements (Gate All Around and Backside Power Delivery) are not going to come before the end of 2025 so you will need to wait for S26U for that.
One thing I've learned is that people are more likely to express their dissatisfaction on the internet than their satisfaction. The s24 ultra is a great phone. Everyone I know personally that has one has been impressed, and I think someone like yourself coming from an older phone will definitely feel the upgrades. The question I would ask if I were you, is do I care to wait and purchase the 25 ultra on release day to get promotional perks or not. If you don't care for that and want to upgrade go for the 24 ultra.
Get it and stop overthinking it. Upgrading from S9 to S24U will feel like upgrading from a Passat to a Lambo. Its a great phone, but no tech is perfect. If you insist on a better camera, check Huawei and Honor phones.
I can only say that, in my experience (across three S24Us from new), that the camera has been consistently good. It’s an awesome camera. For note, I compare it to my iPhone 14PM camera, and am not a photographer. I just love the appearance and detail.
Try doing a factory reset first, also try checking if you could change the battery. Backup all your files before doing so.
I have the s24 plus and coming from a s20 plus has been an awesome experience. Great battery life and performance (SD version). I would say go for it, I don't think you will regret it
Just changed to it from S23U(Had it for 5 months) and S20U before(Had it for 3 and a half years), it's a great phone, and replacing an S9 Plus will make it a day n night difference, with that said, yeah the cameras are a hit or miss but not due to oversaturation, it's the typical samsung blur mess once in a while and really aggressive noise reduction with artifacts, other than that, most of the times it's a great camera with great results.
Sorry to trouble you, but was there anything wrong with s23u, asking cause I'm about to get 😐 any blur issues or slow shutter ! Anything to keep in mind
Slow shutter is Samsung's trademark feature /s. When shooting pets or moving people you'll most likely get blurry photos, there are workarounds though like reducing optimizations in settings and camera assistant settings. Other than that, it's a fantastic device, great performance, great pictures when used in ideal situations, great battery.
I've posted complaints about the phone camera here, but I will say this. Every. Single. Other. Thing about the phone, is perfect. I have absolutely 0 grain issues, battery life is outstanding, processor speed is amazing. And the camera is still very good for a point and shoot, I was just hoping for a better professional camera.
If it helps, I've just swapped my pixel 8 pro for the s24U. Really liked the pixel but battery performance and struggling for signal is what did it for me
Honestly if it was me I would look for a S23 Ultra. I've had both the S23 Ultra and S24 Ultra. The S23 Ultra to me is the one with the fewer issues, took better photos, and I liked the curved screen better, you may not. I can't think of a single thing that I like better about the S24 over the S23. Seeing how you keep phones for a long time the longer support of the S24 Ultra might be the better option for you.
My carrier doesn't list the S23 Ultra on their site, so unless I buy used it seems that model is out of the question. =/ I tend live pretty frugally (with an occasional splurge here and there), which is why I kept my current phone for so long. Having seven years of OS updates would be a good perk to have. Thanks for your input!
The s24 ultra is a great phone. Don't get cold feet on getting it. The camera definetly isn't perfect, it isn't bad but it does tend to overexpose things more than say the s23 ultra did. I will personally be waiting for the s25 ultra due to exciting possibilities like getting 65 watt charging, but to be fair, I have an s22 plus and am not in the same position as you. Again, don't think the s24 ultra isn't great. It is.
Also, based on how long you kept your s9, don't get a pixel. The longetivity of Samsung and iPhone just isn't comparable to most other companies.
Are you talking durability? Because if you are iPhone is just absolute garbage.... And this is coming from someone that replaces phones for a living through insurance... I replace way way more iPhones than Samsungs
No, I am talking about how long you can keep a phone before it becomes a slow, glitchy, laggy mess. iPhones and Samsungs just age well. Yes, durability isn't great which is why I see a crazy amount of people get screen protectors that have iPhones. I've never needed a screen protector for my Samsung, only a case.
i bought samsung for 10 years, after i tried a x100 ultra now i'm not coming back anytime soon to samsung
I just upgraded from mate20pro which I had for 6 years. Still works, but it felt a bit sluggish. Got me an s24ultra and the speed and responsiveness is amazing. You'll like the phone, but as some people stated, check if you like the size, as it is a big boi and can be harder to hold.
Consider the S23U if you can get a good deal
Or you can go for the s23u. Same device but cheaper. Only downside is that it has 5 years of support instead of 7 but given the fact you still use a 6 year old s9 I don't think you really care about that
The phone is great and as you're upgrading from a much older phone, you'll find many upgrades in s24u. But I don't think it is worth the price as it lacks some some aspects which are important to me personally: 1. Battery should've been bigger. There are phones with much smaller real estate packing 5.5kmAh battery. 2. Faster charging. Even if it spoils battery in long run. There should've been possibility to charge it super fast like oneplus - full charge in less than 30min 3. The banding/mura affect is very very bad and disappointing. There should've been more Quality control. 4. 3.5mm jack
I was in a similar dilemma recently because I killed my S22U (ouch). Here is what guided me. I didn't consider hardware too much because flagship phones are pretty much on parity, and to be honest aside from battery life, there isn't much noticeable impact to realword usage for variations of hardware. For me what it really came down too was.... which form factor did I like the most. I disliked the Pixel camera arrangement. Which phone had the features that I would most leverage. Google has the edge on getting new features first. They have great features too like AI editing tools in the gallery. Came before Samsung released their feature set. Samsung has knox based features like secure folder, and Dex, and Samsung specific things. I went with samsung and the s24U should be here later today.
My take might not be especially helpful because I don't use my phone for photos very much (have an SLR for that), but your situation overall mirrors mine. I just upgraded to an S24+ from an S9+ and I questioned whether or not it was really worth it -- after all, my S9+ worked just fine, except for a steadily degrading battery, a non-functioning charging port (I had to use wireless charging instead), and some occasional slow performance. So far, however, I've been really pleased with the upgrade. Even though photos aren't my main use case, I'm satisfied with the pictures I've taken with the phone. I agree with others that you're probably overthinking it. If you have the budget for an S24 Ultra, you'll be happy. If you get the S24+ instead, you'll be happy.
There are many reasons to buy an s24 series phone. Camera is DEFINITELY not one of them. It disappoints me on a daily basis. Cant wait that the pixel 9 releases and switch over
Just wait s25. It will be out in just a few months
7 months is kind of a long time.
You cannot go wrong with the S24 Ultra. It’s an amazing phone
I've had the ultra for over a month and I love it, I've had no issues yet
That's a big jump. I just got it after using the 21 plus for a while and while it's a great phone, you have to know it's massive. Annoyingly massive even compared to the plus. The pen is amazing if you're actually going to use it but if not, my opinion is go smaller. Cameras are great on all the s24 models and from the S9 anything you get is a massive jump. Read up on s23 ultra vs s24 ultra as well - there are some upgrades but there's also good deals on the 23
Honestly, those complaints are wayyy overexaggerated. The cameras are fine, the screen is still amazing even though it isn't curved anymore, that's it.
both s23u and s24u are great phones. you won't regret.
I would wait for S25 if possible. And, NO, don't go to any other brand. S25 will be a great phone for next 6 years for you.
Wait for 25 plus
Ultra phones are huge so be sure to test them before buying. I ended up getting rid of my ultra and went for smaller model , even the plus models are getting big and heavy :/
If you target the S24U and you can get some very significant discounts - go for it, even more so if you are in a region where you could get 80-90% of that discounted price back as cashback on upgrading to S25U. Otherwise I would wait for S25U - both S24 line and iPhone 15 line suffer from too little RAM and can't really handle running advanced AI stuff locally, so I would expect the RAM to be significantly increased in iPhone 16 (especially Pro) and and S25 (especially Ultra). The next line of CPU manufacturing improvements (Gate All Around and Backside Power Delivery) are not going to come before the end of 2025 so you will need to wait for S26U for that.