Samsung has continued its ‘Fan Edition’ tradition with the new Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, offering a more budget-friendly alternative to the full-fat Samsung Galaxy S24. But how does it compare to last year’s Samsung Galaxy S23 FE?
While it might not look all that different at a glance, the Galaxy S24 FE represents a healthy upgrade over its predecessor. That not only includes a larger screen, but a much-needed boost to processing power and a larger battery for good measure.
However, the Galaxy S24 FE has a slightly higher RRP than the S23 FE did at launch, and the S23 FE is now available for much less. So, which model should you go for?
To make that decision a little easier, we’ve compared the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE to its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, right here.
Pricing
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE is available to pre-order now ahead of release on 3 October, though it’ll set you back £649, complete with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM.
That’s a £50/$50 increase on the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, however, which started at a more affordable £599/$599 and has since dropped in price. It’s available for around £425 on Amazon at the time of writing, and that’ll likely drop further once the Galaxy S24 FE is officially released in early October.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE has a larger screen
One of the most instantly noticeable differences between the Galaxy S24 FE and the S23 FE is the size of the screen; Samsung has decided to increase the display of this year’s model by a whopping 0.3 inches, bringing it to the same 6.7 inches as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus.
It’s not just the sheer size of the screen that’s different; it also boasts a higher peak brightness at 1900nits compared to 1450 nits to boost viewability in daylight, and it’s protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus+ instead of the ageing Gorilla Glass 5 of the S23 FE.
But while the S24 FE’s screen size has increased, its resolution hasn’t, sporting the same 1080 x 2340 resolution as its predecessor. As a result, the older model has a higher pixel density at 403ppi compared to the new model’s 385ppi – though how noticeable this is in real-world use is up for debate.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE should be more powerful
Last year’s Samsung Galaxy S23 FE had a processor split that meant it was powered by a different chipset depending on where you were in the world.
The US variant got access to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the flagship chipset of choice in 2022, while those in the UK, Europe and other regions got Samsung’s home-grown Exynos 2200 chipset.
There’s no such chipset split this year, instead sporting the same Exynos 2400e regardless of where it’s on sale. It’s essentially a slightly less powerful version of the flagship chipset found in the Samsung Galaxy S24 – in the UK, anyway – that should essentially provide a two-year jump in processing power between the devices.
That should translate to a more capable mid-range phone, complete with the same 8GB of RAM as the Galaxy S24, and it has a slightly larger vapour cooling chamber to keep the phone cool when playing games too.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE has a larger battery
Samsung has bolstered its larger Galaxy S24 FE with a larger battery than its predecessor – hey, you’ve got to power that big 6.7-inch screen somehow.
That said, the difference isn’t massive, with the S24 FE offering a 4700mAh battery in place of the 4500mAh cell from last year’s Galaxy S23 FE, complete with the same 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging.
However, we found that the Galaxy S23 FE was already capable of lasting all day with moderate use, so there’s a possibility that the S24 FE could carry you into a second day of use – but that’s something we’ll have to investigate with benchmark testing.
That said, with a slightly larger cell within, expect slightly slower charging speeds than the S23 FE’s full charge which took 97 minutes in our benchmark tests.
Both smartphones offer Galaxy AI smarts
Regardless of whether you opt for the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE or the year-old Galaxy S23 FE, you’ll be getting access to Galaxy AI smarts. While it wasn’t available on the S23 FE at launch, it got access to a range of features as part of the OneUI 6.1 update earlier this year, bringing parity between the two devices.
There is a catch, however; you won’t get the full suite of Galaxy AI features from either of these smartphones, instead offering less processor-hungry AI features like Live Translate, writing tools and the ability to transcribe and summarise audio recordings.
Those who want the full Galaxy AI experience, complete with elements like Sketch to Image that lets you create photorealistic images from basic doodles, will have to go for the flagship-level Galaxy S24 range or recent Samsung foldables.
Early verdict
It’s hard to deny that the larger screen, faster processor and larger battery make the Galaxy S24 FE a more tempting choice compared to the Galaxy S23 FE. However, the much cheaper price tag of the older model – especially with the S24 FE due out next week – could push some to the older device.
