Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 FE this week, alongside two premium tablets. But are any of them really worth it? Let’s look at the phone first.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE starts at $650 and you can get up to $400 in trade-in credit. Additionally, you can buy other FE gadgets, the Galaxy Watch FE and Galaxy Buds FE, for half the price. We’ll look at the accessories in a moment.
The FE will receive 7 OS updates and 7 years of security patches. Will a device with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage still be usable in 7 years? Who knows, Android is no longer slim and no longer sleek. Not all applications.
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ also has a 6.7” display, but it’s a QHD+ LTPO panel versus the non-LTPO FHD+ display on the FE. And the Plus is actually slightly smaller and 17g lighter, despite having a larger 200mAh battery. Plus also wins the charging race with 45W via cable vs. Instead of the Exynos 2400e, you’ll get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it comes with 12GB RAM.
Without a trade-in, the Galaxy S24+ is $200 off bringing the base 12/256GB model down to $800 – not far from the $710 S24 FE 8/256GB. However, the old S21+ will get a $400 discount due to a promo campaign that increases the trade-in value. That’s a worthwhile upgrade and a good price for a three-year-old phone.
Samsung also has a certified refurbishment program for its older models, but it’s not as unreasonable – the Galaxy S23+ starts at $770 for an 8/256GB unit. However, the trade-in offer is better here. Even old, cheap phones with cracked screens are priced at $300 – that’s the price you can get for a broken Galaxy A13, for example. The S21+ is also priced at $300, so you should have a cheap old device to ship.
Or you can buy a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Prices start at $920 and the trade-in offers aren’t that great, but a broken Galaxy A13 will still get a $150 credit, which is more than worth it. An S21+ in good condition can cost $300.
We mentioned that you can get the FE gadget with a 50% discount if you buy it with the S24 FE. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE, which is usually priced at $200 for the Bluetooth model (it’s currently $20 off). However, Samsung is also launching an LTE version of this watch, which is $250. Note that the Watch FE is only available in 40mm. This isn’t a big deal for the Galaxy Watch FE LTE’s primary audience – students who aren’t allowed to bring smartphones to school.
You can also get the Galaxy Buds FE which doesn’t have a stem, unlike the Galaxy Buds3 and Buds3 Pro. It’s $100 (their MSRP) and we’ve definitely seen some discounts on them, but $50 is a great price (when purchased with the S24 FE).
If you decide to go with the Galaxy S24 FE, here are some official cases to consider:
Samsung also introduced its new flagship tablet, but this time only the 12.4″ and 14.6″ models. Both use a Dimensity 9300+ chipset instead of Snapdragon and are heavily focused on AI – the optional keyboard cover even has a dedicated button for the Galaxy AI Assistant.
By the way, here is the Slim Keyboard Cover Book 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+. Improvements for the 2024 generation are quite small. Samsung says the Dimensity 9300+ has an 18% faster CPU, 28% faster GPU, and 14% faster NPU. Not bad, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in the Tab S9 series is also not far behind.
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