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Forget Galaxy Z Fold 7 — Best Buy just gave the Galaxy S24 Ultra a $500-off instant discount

Forget Galaxy Z Fold 7 — Best Buy just gave the Galaxy S24 Ultra a $500-off instant discount

Tom's Guide16 hours ago
(Image credit: Future)
Samsung's about to launch its new foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Z Fold 7, but you might be swayed by another model. That's because the Galaxy S24 Ultra's getting a sweet discount that brings its cost down to $799.
Normally it sells for a whopping $1,299, but Best Buy's giving it a $500 off instant discount that brings its cost down to $799 at checkout — which comes out to be a 38% off discount. Another reason why I like this deal is because it's for an unlocked model. Meaning, you can activate it on any carrier of your choice.
Now, you may be wondering why you should get this over the newer Galaxy S25 Ultra that launched earlier this year. First of all, you're still paying $1,299 for that phone. With this Galaxy S24 Ultra deal, you're saving $500 that can be put towards the cost of something like a new Nintendo Switch 2.
Secondly, I suspect the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be getting the new One UI 8 software as well. Although it's unknown if it'll get all the features of the new software, like the Now Bar and Now Brief, there's a strong chance it will because of Samsung's track record with previous software releases.
When you also look at the hardware, you'll notice how the Galaxy S24 Ultra essentially packs the same cameras. I've put the Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra through a 200 photo shootout, only to determine that the camera performance gap between the two phones is minimal. Yes, the Galaxy S25 Ultra came out on top, but the difference was miniscule.
These are just some of the big reasons why this is an excellent deal. Rather than paying for that new phone price, you're getting a solid best phone contender while saving money. I always give the advice that you should never pay full price for a new phone and this is proof of that yet again.
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Again, the updated ProVisual Engine of the Z Flip 7 is working its magic in the portrait shots I captured of myself above. You might think the results are identical, but there are clues in the details that make the Z Flip 7's shot look more realistic. If you take a look at the strap on my shoulder, you'll notice that some parts of it blurred out — whereas the Z Flip 6 keeps it all in focus. The reason why the Z Flip 7 does this is because it replicates the behavior of an actual camera whose focus is squared on the face. It's exactly the look I'd get from using my mirrorless camera. Zooming is done through their respective main cameras, as they lack the dedicated telephoto shooters that other phones offer. The difference boils down to the enhancements made by the ProVisual Engine of the Z Flip 7, which gives more definition to the sign in the middle of the shot and the chain link fence in the background. Low light is where the updated ProVisual Engine really flexes its muscles. While both shots are bright given that they were shot in near pitch dark conditions, the Z Flip 7 benefits from capturing more definition all around the tree. When I zoom to it, I can make out the finer details of the tree's bark and its textures. They look softer and muddy with the Z Flip 6. Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7 Out of all the categories I'm judging, this is the one I'm most interested in because of Samsung's decision to ditch Qualcomm for the Z Flip 7. It's powered by an Exynos 2500 SoC and paired with 12GB of RAM, versus the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 12GB of RAM in the Z Flip 6. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Chipset Exynos 2500 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Geekbench 6 (single/multicore) 2286 / 8079 2091 / 7022 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited (fps) 114.64 113.4 Adobe Premiere Rush video transcode (Miins:Secs) 1:04 0:46 While I don't see a huge difference in how they perform with my day-to-day tasks, like checking emails, surfing the web, gaming, and checking out my social feeds, their benchmark performance scores show something different. The Exynos 2500 barely beats out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in GeekBench 6, but their graphics processing performances are almost identical. In a strange turn of events, the Z Flip 7 renders video slower with the Adobe Premiere Rush test. Really, I was hoping for a wider gap — but this isn't the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 gets a technical win here, but it really exposes how there's not a huge improvement. Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7 There's a relationship between a phone's chipset and its battery life, so given the minor performance boost of the Z Flip 7, I wasn't expecting much in terms of its battery life. Thankfully I'm proven wrong because it seems as though Samsung invested more on making the Exynos 2500 power efficient, which could also be aided by the optimizations of One UI 8. Average Battery life (Hrs:Mins) Charging % in 15 minutes Charging % in 30 minutes Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 12:24 29% 55% Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 11:01 27% 55% Regardless, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 cruised to the finish line with its time of 12 hours and 24 minutes on our battery drain test. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 ran the same exact test, but falls a bit behind with its 11 hours and 1 minute clocked time. But to be fair, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 has a larger 4,300 mAh battery — whereas the Z Flip 6 has a smaller 4,000 mAh. Over on the recharge side, the Z Flip 7 gets the same 25W wired and 15W wireless speeds as the Z Flip 6. Yet, it charges a smidge faster after 15 and 30 minutes in our testing. Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7 On the surface, their interfaces may not look or feel all that different, but there are features that give the Z Flip 7 the more compelling software package. For starters, it benefits from having the latest One UI 8 software on top of Android 16. Visually it's not a huge departure, but new additions like the Now Bar and Now Brief are helpful. There's also the cross actions apps feature with the Z Flip 7, which makes it even more intuitive to perform complex actions all through voice commands. While it's only a matter of time before the Z Flip 6 gets the new One UI 8 software, which should bring the Now Bar and Now Brief, I'm not confident it'll get cross app actions. When it comes to AI features, the Z Flip 7 introduces a few new things. The most notable, of course, is the multimodal AI experience with Gemini Live. This allows me to tap into the Z Flip 7's cameras to allow Gemini see what I see, then ask it questions or make commands. I've actually used it to help me with a problem with my electrical breaker, which I know I couldn't do on my own. Secondly, there's the Audio Eraser feature that lets me remove unwanted noise in my videos. It's a handy tool that lets me tweak the audio on the device, rather than using software on my computer. And finally, Samsung finally brings DeX support to the series for the first time with the Galaxy Z Flip 7 — and I couldn't be happier about this. That's because Samsung DeX means I can now connect the Z Flip 7 to a monitor and essentially have access to a desktop PC-like interface. In some ways, it can replace my laptop because of how well it multitasks apps. I'm not surprised by how this Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 face-off turned out. The new Galaxy Z Flip 7 wins every category, with a few where there's a substantial improvement. Not only do I love the larger and brighter displays of the Z Flip 7, but I think its updated software also helps out. Both Samsung DeX support and multimodal AI Gemini Live are two big features you're not going to get with the Z Flip 6, which also helps when its price remains unchanged. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

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