Samsung Galaxy S24 FE hands-on

The Samsung Galaxy S FE was once a will-they-won't-they affair, but it is now an established early autumn release by Samsung that is hotly anticipated by Galaxy fans (especially those in North America).

2024's model brings upgrades in display, battery, and processing power that in turn opens the door for AI. And now that we spent some time with it here are our first impressions.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Galaxy S24 FE looks like the Galaxy S24 and S24+. It packages a flat aluminum frame between two layers of Corning Gorilla Victus+. The three independent camera rings on the back, and the volume and power buttons on the right side are the only protruding items on the phone.

There are four colors to choose from - Graphite, Mint, Yellow, and Blue. Samsung went with a glossy back panel and a matte frame - whereas the Galaxy S24/S24+ is matte all around - a better choice in our book.

The colors of the Galaxy S24 FE are also a bit dull compared to the earlier S24 models - we would've welcomed a more vivid selection.

While the 6.4-inch Galaxy S23 FE sat in between the 6.1-inch Galaxy S23 and 6.6-inch Galaxy S23+, the 6.7-inch Galaxy S24 FE matches the Galaxy S24+ size-wise. Technology-wise, the S24+ still has a higher resolution and more efficient LTPO panel though.

The Galaxy S24+'s advantages over the Galaxy S24 FE go beyond these minor details, but given the two phones' price difference they seem well justified. More on that in the outro.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE handles fine. Its flat sides make for a comfortable grip and the rounded corners are easy on your palms in longer sessions with the phone.

How the Galaxy S24 FE handles

Samsung bumped the battery up by 200mAh to 4,700mAh, but you're still stuck with the outdated 25W wired charging speed. There's 15W wireless as well. The Galaxy S24+ is once again superior with a 4,900mAh power pack that does theoretically faster 45W charging, though it's not a huge difference with Samsung's charging curves.

There's just one choice of chipset with this year's FE - the 4nm Exynos 2400e. That's a slightly different chip to what the international Galaxy S24+ gets - the Exynos 2400. The main difference is that the prime Cortex-X4 core runs as high as 3.1GHz, instead of 3.2GH on the regular chip. The other CPU clusters are the same - 2x Cortex-A720 @ 2.90GHz, 3x A720 @ 2.59GHz and 4x A520 @ 1.96GHz. We have a dedicated benchmark test of the Galaxy S24 FE right here.

Rather cruelly, Samsung capped the Galaxy S24 FE at 8GB of RAM - the Plus goes up to 12GB. This would make some difference in day-to-day speed and multitasking. Still, we'd expect that for most intents and purposes, the Galaxy S24 FE is just as capable as the Galaxy S24+.

The odds and ends

Samsung kept the camera system unchanged from last year's Galaxy S3 FE but used the new chipset to bring the ProVisual Engine from the flagship S24 series - it brings Nightography, the object-aware engine that optimizes colors in Super HDR, and better quality 2x pics.

We'd expect stellar shots from all four cameras on the Galaxy S24 FE but would be interested to see if it differs from the Galaxy S24+. The two have very similar overall camera specs, with differing 3x zoom modules - an 8MP 75mm tele on the Galaxy S24 FE and a 10MP 67mm camera on the S24+.

The Galaxy S24 FE is available from today. In the US, it starts from $650, whereas in Europe, it's €750 - both for the 8/128GB model. In India, the base model S24 FE is INR 59,999.

This means that the Galaxy S24 FE is either a very interesting proposition or a phone no one should buy - depending on the region. In Europe, you're better off getting the Galaxy S24+, which has gotten down in price and is close enough to the Galaxy S24 FE that you should just buy it. The Plus has more RAM, a bigger battery, a better display, and a nicer body.

However, in India and the States, the Galaxy S24 FE is priced meaningfully lower than the Galaxy S24+ and is a superb entry into the high-end world of Samsung Galaxy. You get nearly all of the performance and smarts, a nearly identical look and feel, and a great starting price.