Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S24 FE this week, alongside two premium tablets. But are any 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 in trade-in credit. Plus, you can get other FE gadgets, the Galaxy Watch FE and Galaxy Buds FE, for half price. We’ll look at the accessories in a moment.
The FE receives 7 OS updates and 7 years of security patches. Will a device with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage still be usable in 7 years? Who knows, Android may not be as slim as it once was and may not be getting any slimmer. Not all apps either.
The Samsung Galaxy S24+ also has a 6.7-inch 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 17 grams lighter, despite having a battery that’s 200 mAh larger. The Plus also wins the charging race with 45W over a wire versus 25W. Instead of the Exynos 2400e, you get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it comes with 12 GB of RAM.
Without a trade-in, the Galaxy S24+ gets a $200 discount, so the base 12/256 GB model drops to $800 – not that far off from the $710 8/256 GB S24 FE. However, an old S21+ gets a $710 discount. 400 due to a promotional campaign that increases the resale 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 that doesn’t make much sense: the Galaxy S23+ starts at $770 for an 8/256GB device. However, the trade-in offer here is even better. 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, best if you have a cheap old device to send.
Or you can grab a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Prices start at $920 and the trade-in offers aren’t that good, but a damaged Galaxy A13 will still get you $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 normally costs $200 for the Bluetooth model (currently it’s discounted to $20). However, Samsung is also launching an LTE version of this watch, which costs $250. Please note that the Watch FE is only available in 40mm size. That’s not a big problem for what could be the main target group 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 unlike the Galaxy Buds3 and Buds3 Pro, are voiceless. These cost $100 (their MSRP) and we’ve certainly seen quite a few discounts for them, but $50 is a great price (when purchased with the S24 FE).
If you decide to go for a Galaxy S24 FE, here are some official cases to consider:
Samsung also introduced new flagship tablets, but this time only 12.4” and 14.6” models. Both use a Dimensity 9300+ chipset instead of a Snapdragon and have a strong focus on AI – the optional keyboard cover even has a dedicated button for the Galaxy AI Assistant.
Speaking of which, 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 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 no slouch either.
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