I still recommend this older Samsung phone to most people – here’s why

has received a significant discount. Both storage options are currently $150 off the original price.

---

One of the biggest benefits of catching up with friends and family (apart from the obvious) is I get the opportunity to be in touch with “the average consumer”. I am able to gauge interest in new features, understand which ones matter most to people, and know just how much money users are willing to spend on a new handset, headphones, laptop, etc.   

I also do this thing where I pass the latest phone I’m testing around the room and ask people to guess its price. With the new Samsung Galaxy S24 FE

Fortunately, the rest of the S24 FE’s drawbacks — the infrequent stutter, lack of a far-distance telephoto lens, and less durable glass build than flagships — are easier to overlook. While the phone is powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2400 — and not a more tested Qualcomm Snapdragon chip — the processor has proven capable of daily use. We’re in the thick of sports season, so I often play YouTube TV in picture-in-picture mode while on social feeds and Reddit to keep up with commentary. 

This intermixing and swift navigation between apps typically gives me a sense of how well a phone handles multitasking and managing background tasks. Besides a few hiccups, where Threads took a few seconds to load videos, the S24 FE performed gracefully. What impressed me the most was how consistently the 120Hz refresh rate stayed on. 

Also: Samsung Unpacked 2025 recap: 5 biggest product announcements that you might’ve missed

While more manufacturers are aggressively dialing down the refresh rate to preserve battery life (and stabilize performance), the S24 FE remains at 120Hz for most tasks, including scrolling through media-filled webpages.

After all of that, I’m still finishing most of my days with roughly 30% battery left, which is better than most phones I’ve tested, let alone mid-range ones. Now, if only Samsung can speed up the wired charging rate from 25W to at least 45W. That’s a story for another day.