Samsung Galaxy S24 FE review: Fan-tastic!

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Pros

Great image quality
Impressive battery life
Solid performance

Cons

A bit chunky
AI features underwhelm

Samsung has a phone for pretty much everyone across its different categories. There’s the A series, which is targeted towards the more affordable end of the market, and the Z series, which is all about foldable.

But the S series is where the flagship tech ends up. The S24 Ultra is arguably still the best phone you can buy in Australia today.

But what happens when Samsung carves out some specs of the S24, improves others, and cuts the RRP by $200?

You end up with the Galaxy S24 Fan Edition, a device that is arguably better than the core S24 model.

However, given where it comes in the life cycle of Galaxy phones, is it worth buying? It’s a complicated question I’ll do my best to answer in this review.

What is the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE offering?

While the “FE” in this phone officially stands for “Fan Edition”, Samsung told us during the launch that internally they say it’s about a Galaxy S phone “For Everybody”.

That means cutting the cost. The standard Galaxy S24 with 256 GB has an RRP of $1,399, but you can pick up a 256 GB S24 FE for $1,199. Opt for just 128 GB of storage (which isn’t an option for the S24) and you can pick up an FE for just $1,099.

Naturally, cutting costs means cutting specs. Most notably, that comes in the form of the cameras. You still get a triple lens array with a 50MP main camera, but the telephoto lens has a lower resolution in the FE model.

The selfie camera also has a drop in resolution from 12MP to 10MP.

The processor has had a slight change, powered by the Exynos 2400e in the FE, vs the Exynos 2400 in the standard S24. Both phones have 8 GB RAM standard.

There are some other minor sacrifices, like a traditional optical fingerprint scanner vs an ultrasonic scanner in the S24. But they are minor and not something you’ll notice too much in day to day use.

What you will notice is that the S24 FE is much bigger and bulkier than the S24. With a screen size of 6.7 inches, it’s closer in size to the S24 Plus. However, it maintains the same FHD+ resolution of 1080 × 2340 as the Galaxy S24.

It weighs a pretty hefty 213 grams, which is a big step up from the S24 Plus’s 196 grams. At 8 mm, it’s also thicker than the S24 Plus’s 7.7 mm.

That extra bulk does get you a bigger battery. Samsung has packed in a 4,700 mAh battery for the FE, which is a big step-up over the S24’s 4,000mAh.

All this leads to a phone that seems like a bit of a blend between the S24 and S24 Plus in a way that makes it cheaper than both.

What does the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE do well?

The list of pros and cons for the S24 FE are remarkably similar to those of the S24 and S24 Plus.

When I reviewed the S24 and S24 Plus, I was given a pre-production model to test and couldn’t actually benchmark the devices.

There was no such limitation on the S24 FE, however, which is a great way to see that (from a benchmarks' perspective, at least), the Exynos processor can’t quite compete with the SnapDragon 8 Gen 3 in terms of performance.

That doesn’t mean it’s a slouch, by any means, as you can see:

Real-world experience backs that up – there wasn’t anything I found the S24 FE struggled to do. Whether I was playing Diablo Immortal on the highest settings, or translating a conversation into French in real time, the phone is quick and responsive.

Which is an interesting place to be. In Australia, the S24 and S24 Plus are both powered by Exynos processors, but in other regions they have the SnapDragon 8 Gen 3 chip. I think if the FE was going up against the Snapdragon version of the S24/S24 Plus in Australia, it might be a tougher sell.

The flip side, of course, is battery life, and the Exynos chips are good at sipping at the battery.

I got a couple of days of mid-level use out of the FE.

Playing Diablo Immortal on the Galaxy S24 FE

The camera is still solid

Samsung has been one of the best smartphone camera manufacturers for a few years now, so it’s hardly a surprise to see the S24 FE do an admirable job on the photography front.

Images are crisp and clear in good lighting conditions, while even nighttime shots look pretty good.

The lower megapixel count on the selfie camera doesn’t really make much of a visible impact to my reckoning, either.

A collection of photos taken on the Galaxy S24 FE

What could the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE improve?

This year, my feedback on Samsung’s AI functionality has evolved from “it’s okay but kind of hidden” to “there’s some really useful features here” to “it’s there, but why?”

When it comes down to it, I think most of the features being pitched as reasons to buy an AI phone aren’t actually useful. Unlike many reviewers, I don’t care that the iPhone 16 phones didn’t ship with Apple AI.

There are a few features that are actually useful. Being able to interpret your conversation in real time is one of them. Being able to transcribe notes automatically is another (though you still need to carefully edit those transcriptions).

But anything that “creates”, from writing to art, is a useless feature you may use once to experiment with before you forget it exists.

The Galaxy FE holds true to this. It has the Interpreter function, and you can transcribe your notes easily enough.

But sketch to image? Ugh. Writing an email for me? No thanks, it reads like a high school student wrote it.

Aside from first testing it, I’ve never used circle to search, either.

Yet despite all that, it’s important to remember that all the AI features are optional. You don’t have to use them. So even though they underwhelm, it’s not something you really need to worry about.

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Verdict

The fact that AI is optional is a good reminder of what is actually critical when it comes to buying a premium smartphone.

You need a device with a nice screen, solid battery life and strong cameras. If you enjoy playing the odd game, you’ll need a pretty good processor with a decent chunk of RAM, too.

Ideally, you’ll want a phone that will last for a few years, so a commitment to a good number of OS updates is a good feature to look for.

You don’t need software that will hack away at your photos to make them look bad, or the ability to convert a portrait shot into an average illustration.

So with that in mind, the Galaxy S24 FE is a top-tier phone. It delivers on what matters.

It’s the best value S24 model on the market. While I would suggest the S24 Ultra for anyone after the best of the best, the only reason you should pick the S24 over the FE is for the smaller screen.

Even then, given we typically see new Galaxy S devices in the first quarter of the year, I feel we’re at the point you’re better off waiting for the S25 than buying the S24.