Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S24 FE this week, alongside two premium tablets. But is any one of them actually worth it? Let’s look at the phone first.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE starts at $650 and you can get up to $400 worth of trade-in credit. Additionally, you can pick up other FE gadgets, the Galaxy Watch FE and Galaxy Buds FE, at half price. We will have a look at the accessories in a moment.
The FE will receive 7 OS updates and 7 years of security patches. Will a device with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage still be usable in 7 years? Who knows, Android is not as slim as it once was and it’s not getting any slimmer. Neither are all the apps.
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ also has a 6.7” display, but it’s a QHD+ LTPO panel versus an FHD+ non-LTPO display on the FE. And the Plus is actually a bit smaller and 17g lighter, despite having a battery that is 200mAh larger. The Plus also wins the charging race with 45W over a wire vs. 25W. Instead of the Exynos 2400e you will get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it comes with 12GB of RAM.
With no trade-in, the Galaxy S24+ gets a $200 discount so the base 12/256GB model drops to $800 – not that far off the 8/256GB S24 FE at $710. However, an old S21+ will fetch a $400 discount due to a promo campaign that boosts the trade-in value. That’s a worthwhile upgrade and a good price for a phone that’s three years old.
Samsung also has a certified refurbished program for its older models, but it doesn’t make too much sense – the Galaxy S23+ starts at $770 for an 8/256GB unit. However, the trade-in offer is even better here. Even old, cheap phones with cracked screens are valued at $300 – that’s how much you can get for a damaged Galaxy A13, for example. The S21+ is also valued at $300, it’s best if you have a cheap old device to send in.
Or you can grab a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The prices start at $920 and the trade-in offers aren’t as good, but a damaged Galaxy A13 will still get $150 credit, which is more than it’s worth. An S21+ in good condition can fetch $300.
We mentioned that you can get FE gadgets at 50% off if you buy them alongside the S24 FE. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE, which is normally priced at $200 for the Bluetooth model (currently it has a $20 discount). However, Samsung is also launching an LTE version of this watch, which is $250. Note that the Watch FE is available only in 40mm size. That isn’t a huge problem for what could be the main audience for a Galaxy Watch FE LTE – students who aren’t allowed to bring a smartphone to school.
You can also grab the Galaxy Buds FE, which are stemless, unlike the Galaxy Buds3 and Buds3 Pro. These are $100 (their MSRP) and we’ve certainly seen quite a few discounts for them, but $50 is a great price (when bought with the S24 FE).
If you do decide to go with a Galaxy S24 FE, here are some official cases to consider:
Samsung also introduced new flagship tablets, but only 12.4” and 14.6” models this time. Both use a Dimensity 9300+ chipset instead of a Snapdragon and have a heavy focus on AI – the optional keyboard cover even has a dedicated button for the Galaxy AI Assistant.
Speaking of, here is the Book Cover Keyboard Slim for the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra.
We couldn’t find a good deal on last year’s Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, but we did find a pretty cheap Galaxy Tab S9+. The upgrades for the 2024 generations are fairly minor. Samsung says that the Dimensity 9300+ has an 18% faster CPU, 28% faster GPU and 14% faster NPU. Not bad, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside the Tab S9 series is no slouch either.
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