Samsung Galaxy S24 Cameras Decoded: A Forceful Charge for the Best Mobile Photography of 2024

The smartphones from Samsung’s Galaxy S24 family have arrived, faithfully keeping their annual appointment with us all. The introduction of the new Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra officially kicks off the wave of mobile phones getting ready to storm the shelves this year. Yes, many features of these devices have been leaked in recent weeks, but quite a few have remained shrouded in absolute secrecy until now.

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Regardless, as we are about to explore, these smartphones come ready to battle in the high-end range. Some of their features clearly set them apart from their predecessors, especially the most ambitious of the three, the Galaxy S24 Ultra. This phone will have to compete with the best from Apple, OPPO, Sony, Xiaomi, among many other brands, and in this competition, either you give your best, or you’re lost. Let’s see what these mobile phones promise us in the realms of photography and video.

Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra: Technical Specifications

Innovations in Hardware Guided by the ProVisual Engine

Before we delve into the role of software, and, in particular, the algorithms of artificial intelligence, let’s take a look at the hardware of their cameras. The front unit is identical across all three devices: it relies on a 12-megapixel Dual Pixel sensor that works in tandem with an f/2.2 aperture lens and an 80-degree field of view. At first glance, these specifications are identical to those of the comparable terminals in the Galaxy S23 family. Nevertheless, I have no objections.

Now, let’s move on to the rear cameras. The ultra-wide-angle unit of the S24 and S24+ models offers a 12-megapixel sensor that works hand in hand with a lens with an aperture value of f/2.2 and a field of view of 120 degrees. This hardware is theoretically very similar to what the Galaxy S23 and S23+ proposed last year in their ultra-wide-angle camera. The S24 Ultra, on the other hand, incorporates a main camera equipped with a 200-megapixel sensor and a lens with an aperture value of f/1.7 (no objections to its brightness), as well as an ultra-wide-angle unit that has exactly the same features as the comparable camera in the S24 and S24+ models.

It’s time for the telephoto lenses. All three Galaxy S24 devices offer two cameras of this type, but one of those incorporated into the Ultra model is different from those of its “smaller” siblings. The Galaxy S24 and S24+ opt for a stabilized telephoto lens equipped with a 50-megapixel sensor and a lens with an aperture value of f/1.8. Nothing to object to at first. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, however, replaces this telephoto lens with a unit equipped with a 50-megapixel sensor and a lens with an aperture value of f/3.4 to put a 5x optical zoom in our hands. It will be interesting to thoroughly test it to evaluate its quality.

The SoC of the S24 and S24+ is a Samsung Exynos 2400 chip, while that of the S24 Ultra is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so its ISP is different

The second telephoto lens is identical in these three mobile phones. It incorporates a 10-megapixel sensor that works in tandem with a lens with an aperture value of f/2.4 and a field of view of 36 degrees to deliver a 3x optical zoom. An interesting note before we move forward: the SoC of the S24 and S24+ is a Samsung Exynos 2400 chip, while that of the S24 Ultra is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

In the aspect that interests us in this article, this means that its ISP is different, so when we analyze them, we will do our best to evaluate its impact on the photographic capabilities of these mobile phones (in this article, we explain what the function of this component of the SoC is).

Finally, let’s move on to the software. Artificial intelligence algorithms have been present in mobile phones for many years now, but with each new generation, they become more relevant. The Galaxy S24 family proves this. Within these three smartphones, the heart of their photographic software is the ProVisual Engine, which is nothing more than a set of tools endowed with artificial intelligence that, according to Samsung, aims to put more creative options in the hands of users and increase the quality of our snapshots (especially in the most unfavorable shooting scenarios).

In the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the night mode, baptized by Samsung as ‘Nightography,’ takes advantage of the 1.4 µm photodiodes of the main camera sensor. In fact, this sensor is 60% larger than that of the comparable camera of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. However, after taking a snapshot in conditions of low ambient light, AI processing takes care of minimizing noise, correcting color, and recovering the maximum level of detail possible in the three Galaxy S24. We are eager to put this shooting mode to the test to see if it really represents a significant advance compared to the performance of the comparable mobiles in the Galaxy S23 family.

In any case, in these phones, artificial intelligence is not involved only in the post-processing of our images; it also intervenes in the editing tools that Samsung offers us to touch up our photographs. The Edit Suggestion function suggests to us what retouches are worth introducing into a particular snapshot, while Generative Edit allows us to fill in some parts of the background of any photograph with objects that are not there through a generative artificial intelligence algorithm. One last note: the Super HDR mode shows us a preview of the photograph we are about to take even before we activate the electronic shutter.

Artificial Intelligence Comes (Now More Than Ever) to the Rescue of Video

When we are about to record video with one of the new Galaxy S24 devices, the ISP of the SoC is responsible for analyzing in real time the flow of images we are capturing with the purpose of minimizing noise. This recording strategy is associated with both the front camera and the main camera of the rear module. In addition, an artificial intelligence algorithm is responsible for identifying the natural movement of the person who is recording to separate it from the movement of the people who appear in the images.

This “intelligent” feature is useful, at least on paper, to reduce noise and increase the level of detail, especially when recording video in low ambient light. One last note to conclude: the Instant Slow Mo tool allows us to generate additional frames from a detailed analysis of the original frames in order to help us obtain higher quality slow-motion videos with a greater level of detail. It doesn’t sound bad at all. We are very eager to thoroughly test this technology.