The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE arrives with a larger 6.7” display, a larger battery to match, a focus on improved performance and introduces the ProVisual engine to the FE series. This year, there will be no regional variation in chipsets - the S24 FE is powered by the Exynos 2400e. While Samsung didn’t spell out the details, but the prime Cortex-X4 core should be running at a lower clock speed.
That might affect peak performance, but
sustained performance is in for a boost with a new vapor chamber that is 1.1x
larger than the last one. Since there was no Exynos 2300, last year’s S23 FE
had to use a mix of Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (both chips from 2022).
The performance upgrade from S23 FE to S24 FE should be massive.
Anyway, Samsung equipped the phone with
just 8GB of RAM – that’s as much as the vanilla Galaxy S24 has. There will be
versions with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage. The RAM capacity doesn’t affect
the phone’s ability to run Galaxy AI, more on AI later. The Samsung Galaxy S24
FE has a 6.7” display, 0.3” larger than its predecessor. This puts it at the
same diagonal as the S24+, however, this one is an FHD+ OLED panel instead of
QHD+ LTPO. Still, the FE will stand as a cheaper alternative to the plus (more
on pricing in a bit). The display can run at 120Hz or 60Hz and has Vision
Booster for bright, sunny days.
Samsung has brought the ProVisual engine
from the flagship series to the FE line. This combines Nightography (AI ISP
that improves low-light shots) with an object-aware engine that optimizes
colors in Super HDR. Additionally, the system provides an optical-quality 2x
zoom. This comes from the 50MP main camera (f/1.8). An extra step of zoom is
available with the 3x 8MP telephoto module (f/2.4) or you can go wider with the
12MP 123° ultra wide lens (f/2.2). The selfie camera has a 10MP sensor. This
appears to be the exact same hardware as last year, except this time it has
more processing power and the ProVisual engine at its back.
We mentioned that the battery got bigger
and it did – it now has 4,700mAh capacity (+200mAh compared to the S23 FE).
However, charging rates remain the same, i.e. 25W wired (0-50% in 30 minutes)
and 15W wireless. The S24 FE measures 162.0 x 77.3 x 8.0mm and weighs 213g.
That’s 4mm taller, less than a millimeter wider and a hair thinner than the S23
FE. It has also gained 4g compared to its predecessor. The Galaxy S24+ is
narrower thanks to slimmer bezels and 17g lighter, while having a battery with
200mAh more capacity.
Connectivity includes 5G, Wi-Fi 6E
(802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.3. Like before, the body is rated IP68 for dust and
water resistance (1.5m/5ft underwater for 30 minutes). The Galaxy S24 FE is
launching with Android 14 and OneUI 6.1 out of the box (not great timing as
Android 15 is around the corner). The good news is that the FE is getting the
flagship treatment and will be updated through 7 OS generations and will
receive security patches for 7 years.
The AI features include the usual Galaxy
AI options. Circle to Search is a handy way to look things up on Google
(long-press the home button and circle the thing you are interested in). Live
Translate is a voice translation for calls and is now supported in select
third-party apps. Interpreter is what you use when you need translation in
person. Composer is a Samsung Keyboard feature that can write email and social
network posts for you based on a few keywords. Note Assist automates formatting
of notes, transcription and summarization of voice recordings and can translate
PDFs.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE goes on
pre-order starting today and will be available from October 3. The price for
the base model is US$ 650. Note that the 512GB storage option is not available in
some regions.
