Samsung S24 Ultra
⬤ From £1,249 ⬤ samsung.com/uk
Samsung’s S series range has been our go-to recommendation for the best smartphone for photographers for quite some time now, so it’s no surprise to see the latest flagship on the list here for landscape photography.
The S24 Ultra follows on from the already impressive S23 Ultra and adds a slew of AI improvements and hardware modifications to make it even better. That said, if you want to save cash, it’s certainly worth looking at the older model – particularly if landscape photography is your main thing, as many of the functions described here are also found on that model. You might also consider the S24/S24+ (without the Ultra moniker) too for another way to save.
First up is the impressively performing ultra-high resolution 200MP ‘main’ sensor, which is fronted by a 23mm f/1.7 equivalent lens. This is joined by three additional lenses for a total of four – that’s one more than the majority of smartphones, so you’ve got even more flexibility there too. You get an ultra-wide, plus two telephotos (3x and 5x). Only the 5x telephoto lens is high resolution though, at 50MP, with the ultra-wide being 12MP and the other telephoto being 10MP. The 5x lens uses the extra resolution to facilitate functions such as 10x super AI, multi-frame and super resolution -– this lens is an improvement from the 10x tele lens found on the S23 Ultra, so if you like to pick out details in scenes it’s great for that.
Like many Android phones, the S24 Ultra has a very well-featured native camera app, which includes the ability to shoot in raw format, a high-resolution mode to take advantage of all those extra pixels, and a pro mode in the native app.
One interesting specification is the inclusion of a stylus which can be used to remotely trigger the shutter – useful if you want to set up the phone on a tripod.