I'm upgrading to the S24 Ultra for this one super feature

I'm a long-time Samsung Galaxy smartphone and I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the S24 . Now while I'm a fan, I'm not such a fan girl that I'm just throwing wads of cash at Samsung for every new flagship. No, ladies, gentlemen and gentlethems, I like to wait for the reviews to come out, particularly ours and our sister sites.

And so far, so good, the S24 Ultra is living up to expectations. (Stay tuned for our full review.) Upgraded cameras, snazzy new AI features, powerful performance – it's all there. But that's not why I'm planning to plunk down $1,699.99 for a 1TB Titanium Violet S24 Ultra. Nope.

The answer lies in the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing over WiFi at 150 nits of brightness) which after being run several times has delivered over 16 hours of battery life. That's 16:46 on adaptive settings and 16:12 at standard. That's four hours longer than its predecessor, my current smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S23 (12:22) that beat out the Galaxy S22 (10:18) by two hours.

But a new model smartphone is supposed to perform better than its ancestors. How does the S24 Ultra fare against the competition? In the case of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, our sister site Tom's Guide saw a time of 14:02. That's great, although it's a safe bet that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will raise the endurance bar. For now, I'm going to enjoy this win, no matter how fleeting. The S24 Ultra also outlasted the OnePlus 11 which tapped out after 12:48.

Now I could sit this generation out and wait until 2025 to upgrade and get the Galaxy S25. I can still get about 10 hours out of my S23 Ultra. But Samsung has crammed enough compelling features that when paired with over 16 hours of battery life, I've got to see what all the buzz is all about. Plus, purple is one of my favorite colors.