The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a lot going for it just in terms of the smorgasbord of AI software it’s packing, but under the hood, it’s also a very interesting specimen. It didn’t take long before the first DIYers pried back the shell on Samsung’s latest premium phone, and from the looks of things, the South Korean tech giant has made strides in terms of its device’s cooling capabilities and—most importantly—how easy it is to repair.
Our first look inside the S24 comes from PBKreviews YouTube channel. As expected, it’s a tightly packed device with little to no room to spare. By themselves, hardware teardowns are a fun way of getting a little more intimate with your devices. Still, they can also offer a better idea of what priorities companies like Samsung had with its latest release. Judging by what’s inside, the S24 Ultra put a premium on cooling with a bigger vapor chamber, likely to deal with the extra heat from the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
For starters, getting down to the mainboard is relatively easy after removing a few screws, flex cables, and speaker assemblies. What’s also notable is the 5,000 mAh battery is relatively easy to replace, as it comes with a strip of tape made for excising the unit from its housing.
PBKReviews gave it a very good score just in terms of its overall ease of repairability. It takes a rather similar approach to last year’s S23 Ultra, and it’s a good sign that Samsung isn’t retreating from this modular design ethos. The Ultra variant may be $100 more expensive than the Galaxy S23 Ultra at launch, owing mostly to the change in materials, but at the very least, taking it apart is easy enough. You don’t need deep tech experience to dig into the phone’s guts.
Samsung made a big deal about the Ultra’s new titanium frame and flat screen. The Ultra variant is also using Corning Gorilla Armor for the screen. This ostensibly should mean the phone is a bit more structurally protected than previous Galaxy phones, though The same YouTube conducted a few drop and scratch tests. Drop tests aren’t exactly the most scientific assessments for overall integrity, but the new titanium frame did hold up relatively well. The Gorilla Armor was saved from most scratches, though it did crack after a tumble. The new Corning’s biggest boon may be that it’s far less reflective than previous Corning-brand protectors.
Samsung has yet to reveal any self-repair guides or parts pricing for the S24 Ultra, though thanks to a few early leaks, we have some idea how much a new screen could cost in Europe. A new Ultra screen and glass replacement could cost about as much as they currently do for the S23 Ultra. The backplate or other parts could end up being more expensive due to the new titanium frame, but we’ll need to wait and see. It took Samsung until this month to start offering official self-repair guides and parts for its foldables, and some of those pieces are already pretty damn pricey.
