Samsung Galaxy S24 FE review: The full Galaxy AI experience for less

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy S24 FE

When prices of the Galaxy S series started to skyrocket, Samsung decided a few years ago to release a slimmed-down version, with all the key features and the latest software version, at a more reasonable price. They called them FE, which is short for Fan Edition.

The timing was a bit odd at times, they tended to come just before the new year’s top phones were released. The Galaxy S23 FE went on sale in November 2023, before its successor arrived almost a year later.

But is it any good? I tested the Galaxy S24 FE to find out.

Design & Build

The Galaxy S24 FE is heavier and slightly larger in dimensions than the already sturdy Galaxy S24+. It has the same size screen – 6.7 inches – so the extra millimetres are about a more simply built device that doesn’t have the same thin screen bezels.

Build quality is still high, with an aluminium frame and glass front and back. There’s Gorilla Glass Victus Plus in the screen and Gorilla Glass 5 on the back instead of Victus 2, so the aluminium chassis isn’t of the extra durable type used in the S24+.

This makes it slightly less scratch and scuff-resistant, but it’s still better than many other top-end mobiles. Of course, you also get dust and water resistance with an IP68 rating.

Specs & Performance

The system circuit is a brand new variant, the Samsung Exynos 2400e, which is very similar to the Exynos 2400 from the S24 and S24+ in Europe, but it has a marginally lower clock rate on some of the cores.

That seems to be the only difference, and it’s so minimal that it’s not crucial. It’s the same graphics, the same connectivity support and the same NPU.

In short, it’s true premium performance. Even if it doesn’t deliver record numbers in any benchmarks, it doesn’t lag behind. The circuit seems to be slightly harder to overheat than the S24+, but that may also have to do with the chassis design and internal cooling solution.

With a powerful NPU providing the same power for the S24 series’ many great AI features, it’s just a matter of giving thanks and receiving. You don’t lose out on any of them here, except for the Notes-specific features you only get on the S24 Ultra and the latest Galaxy S10+ and S10 Ultra tablets.

Display

The 6.7-inch screen is a 1080p AMOLED that doesn’t quite get up to the sharpness and peak brightness of the top models, but it doesn’t make a fool of itself.

Good anti-glare protection in the screen surface and Samsung’s Vision Booster technology for its 1,900 cd/m2 peak brightness mean there’s never a problem with readability in sunlight, although the image will be less attractive for displaying video.

But it’s certainly a downgrade from the S24+, which has 2,600 cd/m2, 1440p resolution and genuine LTPO technology to control the screen refresh rate. It’s still dynamic here, though it can only automatically switch between 60- and 120Hz rather than going all the way down to 1Hz.

Battery Life & Charging

You can also set the display to a fixed 60 Hz, but why would you do that? It doesn’t save enough battery to be conclusive – I get the same results in my battery life measurements in both modes.

Rather, what puts the Galaxy S24 FE at a disadvantage is that the battery is actually smaller, 4700mAh versus 4900mAh in the S24 Plus. Something else must also affect the power consumption, because it is higher here, and in active work, the battery lasts for 13 hours instead of 16.

Is it underpowered? Not at all, and in more sporadic use with periods in your pocket, some photography during the day and video streaming in the evening, it can still last a couple of days between charges. Overall, Samsung and the One UI system are good at conserving energy.

However, charging is questionable – at best you can get up to 25W via USB-C and you need, as usual, to provide your own compatible charger.

My two 65W universal chargers end up a little below 25W in power and the result is patience-testing semi-fast charging. Without a charger in the box or good guidance in the store for a suitable charger (not even on Samsung’s own online store), there may be problems getting the right charging speed.

I don’t understand why this should be so difficult. No manufacturer is consumer-friendly in this area. Now I actually get almost as fast battery charging wirelessly. The S24 FE supports up to 15W that way. And yep, it supports reverse charging so you can put your Galaxy Buds on it to charge.

Cameras

The third big thing that is scaled down is the cameras. At least a couple of them, the zoom on the back and the selfie camera have got smaller sensors, 8Mp instead of 10.

The wide angle with its 12Mp and the main camera’s 50Mp, so looks to match the S24 and S24+. I don’t notice any difference in the end result of photos, which in daylight gives good white balance, strong dynamic range and accurate colours – including natural skin tones.

All three lenses at the back match each other on that point, and as long as I don’t digitally zoom beyond the 3x that I get optically with the zoom lens, it’s sharp and easy to shoot.

In evening light I get occasional problems with vague noise in dark areas, and even the colour balance can be off with the wide angle and zoom cameras. All three cameras lose some detail, but as long as you don’t zoom in too much in post-processing the photos look sharp.

The camera shoots steadily with reliable colour and light handling and smooth autofocus. You can shoot at up to 120Hz at 4k and it can also capture 8k video. I wouldn’t recommend making a habit of it though, both modes are huge battery drainers. The microphones in the phone are of a high standard and intelligent noise cancellation does a good job.

Price & Availability

The Galaxy S24 FE starts at £649 in the UK, where it’s available from the likes of Samsung and Amazon,

On contract, it’s available on the following networks:

In the US, the phone starts at $549.99, and can be found at the likes of Samsung and Amazon. On contract, see below:

Should you buy the Galaxy S24 FE?

In this review, I’ve compared a lot to the S24+, because the S24 FE mostly seems to be based on it. And the list of compromises to keep the price down is long, but not extreme.

There are a lot of little things that don’t make a significant difference in everyday life, like slightly worse cameras, slightly lower performance and an optical fingerprint reader instead of the faster ultrasonic reader.

But also others that may determine more, like the battery life, dimmer screen and even larger dimensions, higher weight and no option with much storage. But since you don’t have to pay nearly as much for it, it might be worth it, especially if you want the full Galaxy AI experience without buying a flagship.

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy S24 FE