Samsung S26 Series

The Ultra goes down to that price?

Hi all,
I’m currently using the S24 Ultra and, while it’s a great phone overall, I’m finding the cameras a bit disappointing.

The other day I was out with a friend who has the iPhone 17 Pro Max. We tried to take a group selfie on my phone, but it couldn't actually fit everyone in. He took it on his iPhone instead, and seeing the difference in the final result really made me second-guess the S24U's camera quality.

I’m thinking about upgrading to the S26 Ultra, but I'm wondering if the improvements will be too minor to notice. Also, the deals at the moment are honestly terrible, especially with no trade-in for old broken phones or headphones.

Has anyone else felt the S24 Ultra cameras didn't live up to the hype? Is it worth making the switch for the camera alone, or should I stick with what I have?
Cheers!

Shockingly bad if so. Last year I think it cost me approximately €250 to go from S24U to S25U. Almost €600 worse off.

Same for me last year, its not worth much more than €250 extra

You could probably sell for €700 privately, and with the broken phone trade in, it would make it a no-brainer.

The removal of the broken device trade in has to have a massive impact on pre-orders, so I'll wait and see what happens.

Yeah, on the plus side I'm glad I went for the S25U and did the upgrade from the S24U. The last of the good upgrade deals 😆

Same boat - the trade in price is a lot worse than last year. I was getting the S25U and regular buds3 this time last year for €533 (i just double checked as i had a photo of the offer and it was exactly €533) but the difference this year is crazy. Cheapest i can get bundle for Ultra 512GB and Buds 4 pro is €1153 using 15% student discount trading in my S23U 512GB and Buds 3 pro - even knock 100 off for the pro upgrade on last years offer its still a 90% increase in cost.

Update: using the paypal 100 off and 15% discount its coming to €1037 including the buds 4 pro and the samsung silicon magnet case. Better than the regular student discount but have to pay all at once obviously. I pulled the trigger despite the disappointed trade in price.

Im actually not to bothered trading in my Edge and no broken phone trade in. I really like the phone but if the deal was good I might have traded in.

It will probably push me towards another brand. I have itchy feet too try something new like Oppo etc.

Can you stack the healthcare discount code with the current 15% off

Thought the same about the S24U. The forced image optimisation was crap but I think most phones are going that way with AI optimisation. Also suffered with being terrible at capturing moving subjects (animals, kids).

Samsung has been lacking in the camera Sensor tech department in comparison to the Chinese flagships etc. Samsung have effectively been using the same camera sensors since the S22.

Seen the below posted on Reddit about the base model phone cameras.

Keep an eye on the Oppo Find Ultra, Vivo Ultra. All of which have partnered with well known camera brands like Hasselblad, Leica etc. difference in camera Sensor sizes shown below.

S24U 512 here, with the 15%discount + paypal cashback its €733

Cex are also offering €58 more for the S24U trade in, likely to drop though and not as handy if you dont have a spare in the meantime

Its really not worth that much extra

Best to hold off, in previous years , Samsung improved the offers after a couple of weeks due to poor preorders. Not sure last year or year before, they added free buds to the offer a couple of weeks after launch so its made more sense buying it after the preorders were over