Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra

The ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra launched quite recently, and we’re here to compare it to one of the most popular Android smartphones on the planet. We’ll compare the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra. Two ‘Ultra’ phones go at it, the most powerful smartphones from their respective companies. These two phones are both large, and powerful, but also quite different, so comparing them should be interesting.

As per usual, we’ll first list the specifications of both devices and will then get around to comparing them across a number of categories. We’ll compare their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio performance. There’s plenty to talk about here, so let’s get to it!

Specs

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra, respectively

– Screen size:
6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (flat, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2,600 nits max brightness)
6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED 2X (flat, 144Hz, 2,500 nits max brightness)
– Display resolution:
3120 x 1440
2400 x 1080
– SoC:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
– RAM:
12GB (LPDDR5X)
12GB/16GB (LPDDR5X)
– Storage:
256GB/512GB/1TB (UFS 4.0)
256GB/512GB (UFS 4.0)
– Rear cameras:
200MP (wide, f/1.7 aperture, OIS, multi-directional PDAF, 0.6um pixel size), 12MP (ultrawide, 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF 1.4um pixel size), 10MP (telephoto, f/2.4 aperture, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF, 1.12um pixel size, 3x optical zoom), 50MP (periscope telephoto, OIS, PDAF, 5x optical zoom)
50MP (wide, 24mm lens, gimbal OIS), 13MP (ultrawide, 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, 32MP (telephoto, 3x optical zoom, f/2.4 aperture)
– Front cameras:
12MP (wide, f/2.2 aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF, 22mm lens)
32MP (wide, f/2.5 aperture)
– Battery:
5,000mAh
5,500mAh
– Charging:
45W wired, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless (charger not included)
65W wired, 15W wireless, 10W reverse wired (charger not included)
– Dimensions:
162.3 x 79 x 8.6mm
163.8 x 76.8 x 8.9mm
– Weight:
232/233 grams
224 grams
– Connectivity:
5G, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.3/5.4
– Security:
In-display fingerprint scanner (ultrasonic)
In-display fingerprint scanner (optical)
– OS:
Android 14 with One UI 6.1
Android 14 with ZenUI
– Price:
$1,299+
$899+
– Buy:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (Best Buy)
ZenFone 11 Ultra (Amazon)

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra: Design

The moment you look at these two phones, you’ll realize that there are quite a few visual differences. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has sharp corners, while the ZenFone 11 Ultra does not. The top and bottom sides of the Galaxy S24 Ultra are flat, while its sides are not. The ZenFone 11 Ultra has a flat frame all around, though. Both phones have flat displays, with a centered display camera hole.

The physical buttons sit on the right-hand side on both devices. When you flip the two phones around, you’ll notice even more differences. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has four cameras on the back and five circular cutouts. Each of those cutouts is a separate entity on the back. The ZenFone 11 Ultra has three cameras, but all are part of a camera island that sits in the top-left corner. The phone’s LED flash is also placed there.

Both smartphones are made out of metal and glass, by the way. The Galaxy S24 Ultra also includes an S Pen stylus, which is tucked away on the inside, and accessible from the bottom. The two phones are very similar in terms of height, while the ZenFone 11 Ultra is the narrower of the two, but both are quite wide. They’re also very similar in terms of thickness. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is slightly heavier at 232 grams compared to 224 grams of the ZenFone 11 Ultra.

You’ll be glad to hear that both smartphones do come with an IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. They both feel very premium in the hand, and the build quality is good. You’ll quickly realize that both devices are very slippery, though. Using a case is always a good idea, and especially when phones are made out of metal and glass.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra: Display

The Galaxy S24 Ultra features a 6.8-inch QHD+ (3120 x 1440) Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display. This panel is flat, and it offers an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz (1-120Hz). The display supports HDR10+ content, and its peak brightness is 2,600 nits. The display aspect ratio here is 19.5:9, and the screen-to-body ratio is around 88%. The Gorilla Armor from Corning protects this display.

The ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra, on the flip side, has a 6.78-inch fullHD+ (2400 x 1080) LTPO AMOLED display. This panel is flat, and it also offers an adaptive refresh rate, and it goes up to 144Hz. That refresh rate is only accessible for some games, the ones that support it. The display will usually run at 120Hz. HDR10 content is supported, while the maximum brightness is 2,500 nits. The display aspect ratio is 20:9, while the screen-to-body ratio is around 88%. The Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protects this panel.

Both of these displays are great. They’re vivid, sharp, and have great viewing angles. The blacks are deep, and the touch response is good. They’re similar in terms of brightness as well. The Galaxy S24 Ultra does have two advantages, though. It offers a higher resolution, which is not something many people will notice, but it’s there if you care. More importantly, however, it includes Gorilla Armor, which helps with reflections a lot. It’s the best protection of the display that also doubles as an anti-reflective layer. Don’t get me wrong, the ZenFone 11 Ultra’s display is not super reflective or anything like that, but once you try out Gorilla Armor, your perspective changes.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra: Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy fuels the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. In addition to that chip, Samsung also included 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage. The ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, while it has up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and it also uses UFS 4.0 flash storage. Neither of the two devices supports storage expansion, by the way.

The performance on both ends is very, very good. The software on the ZenFone 11 Ultra is much closer to stock Android, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a ton of added software features that many of you could find useful. ASUS does add plenty of those too, on top of stock Android. Both devices offer great performance, and you can throw whatever you want on them, pretty much. They’re fast when it comes to multitasking, browsing, processing images, consuming multimedia, and basically everything else.

What about gaming? Well, they can handle any game you can find in the Google Play Store, even Genshin Impact. Both of them did great with it. The ZenFone 11 Ultra did heat a lot in benchmarks (3D Mark’s extreme stress test), though, which was a bit odd, but it performed well when we actually tested it in-game. It also didn’t heat up all that much when you put pressure on it with general use, so… there’s seemingly nothing to worry about. Both devices did great in the performance department, at least for us.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra: Battery

Samsung’s flagship comes with a 5,000mAh battery. The ZenFone 11 Ultra includes a 5,500mAh battery on the inside. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is still one of the best-performing flagship smartphones that we’ve tested, in terms of battery life. The ZenFone 11 Ultra does have a larger battery pack, but in our experience, it does not offer better battery life. Don’t get me wrong, both devices are great in that regard, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra did last longer in our testing.

We were able to cross 8-9 hours of screen-on-time with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, while the ZenFone 11 Ultra was closer to 7-7.5 hours of screen-on-time. There were off days for both smartphones, and our usage was different on some days, which resulted in different numbers. Still, the Galaxy S24 Ultra had the upper hand, but both of these smartphones have great battery life, pretty much. They’re also quite consistent too. Your mileage could vary, though, of course.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra supports 45W wired, 15W wireless, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. The ZenFone 11 Ultra supports 65W wired, 15W wireless, and 10W reverse wired charging. Neither smartphone includes a charger in the box, but the ZenFone 11 Ultra does charge faster with the compatible charger. Both support PD3.0 charging, by the way.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra: Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra features a 200-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera (120-degree FoV), a 10-megapixel telephoto camera (3x optical zoom), and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto unit (5x optical zoom). The ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra, on the other hand, has a 50-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV), and a 32-megapixel telephoto camera (3x optical zoom).

The performance of these camera setups is different, of course. The thing is, both smartphones do tend to process images quite a bit, and both have a tendency to go a bit overboard with sharpening in some scenes. The ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra is way worse in that regard, however, as Samsung toned down on the sharpening quite a bit. The Galaxy S24 Ultra leans more towards warmer tones than the ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra.

We preferred the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s output in low light, and that goes for pretty much all of its cameras. In good lighting, the results are a lot more similar in terms of quality, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra does win in low light, at least in our opinion. Still, the ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra has a capable camera setup, that’s hard to deny. It could use more optimization, though, plus the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a lot more camera features.

Audio

There is a set of stereo speakers on both of these smartphones. The ones on the Galaxy S24 Ultra are noticeably louder, though. Don’t get me wrong, the ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra has good speakers, but in direct comparison, the Galaxy S24 Ultra speakers pack more punch. Both sets are well-balanced, though.

There is no headphone jack on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra does include it. If you prefer wireless connectivity, the Galaxy S24 Ultra offers Bluetooth 5.3, while the ASUS ZenFone 11 Ultra comes with Bluetooth 5.4.