Samsung Galaxy S24 – how big’s the difference between Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3?

Last year, all was well in the world of Samsung. Models all equipped with the same processor were shipped around the globe. This was after years of Samsung putting European customers at a disadvantage by using a chip that was significantly worse in some cases. A move that was met with plenty of criticism.

Now, with the new S24 series, Samsung’s two-tier system is back. While all three models are equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for the USA and Asia, Samsung is using its own Exynos 2400 for the S24 and S24 Plus in Europe. In our part of the world, it’s only the S24 Ultra that features a Snapdragon processor.

But does that even matter? I took a closer look and compared the following three aspects: performance, battery life and heat development.

Performance: advantages for the Snapdragon

The good news is that you won’t notice any difference between the two in everyday life. Both the Exynos 2400 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can even run graphics-heavy games without stutters or dropouts. The same goes for navigating menus or starting apps.

However, there are definitely differences in the benchmarks. I ran a single-core and a multi-core test with Geekbench 6. The Ultra version with the Snapdragon performed slightly better than the S24 Plus and the S24. But we’re talking small differences.

Comparing last year’s model, the S23 Ultra and the S23, both equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, is exciting. It performed significantly worse than the Exynos. Turns out, the concern that the new Exynos is less good than the old Snapdragon was unfounded. This became particularly clear during the multi-core test, where the clear advantages of the three new S24 models were revealed.

I included the Redmagic 9 Pro in the comparison because it’s the only other smartphone with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 we’ve tested so far. It performed even a little better than the S24 Ultra.

And last but not least, you can see how the S24 fared against the biggest competition in the overview. The iPhone 15 Pro was the clear leader in the single-core comparison. When using multiple processing cores, the S24 Ultra was only slightly behind, and the Redmagic 9 Pro with the same processor even overtook the iPhone.

Heat development: the new processors fare better than the old ones

For our tests, we put all devices under quite a lot of strain – think calculating benchmarks and hours of video streaming. I also played the racing game Asphalt 9 on them. And yet, the S24 models never became noticeably warm.

The measurements confirmed this. The three new Samsung phones were all about the same temperature after two hours of video streaming and the benchmark test. The differences are marginal. If any, there was a slightly higher heat development with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with its slightly better performance.

The heat development was definitely more pronounced in the previous year’s models. In other words, the new processors either generate less heat or the cooling’s improved.

Battery life: the Exynos has no problem keeping up

For our battery test, we subjected the five Samsung models to extreme YouTube streaming. We wanted to find out which model would last the longest. It didn’t take long to realise that last year’s models didn’t stand a chance. The S23 was the first to run out of power, but still managed 12 hours and 15 minutes.

The S23 Ultra only lasted 15 minutes longer. After that, it was back to waiting, because the battery in the new S24 models lasts significantly longer. The regular S24 only died after 17 hours and 45 minutes. An amazing result!

Although the S24 also has a slightly larger battery, it’s only 2.5 per cent larger than last year. However, the battery runtime is almost 40 per cent higher compared to the S23.

The S24 Plus and S24 Ultra have larger batteries again and therefore keep on going for even longer. The S24 Plus managed a full 20 hours; the S24 Ultra 20 hours and 45 minutes.

So the difference between Plus and Ultra wasn’t particularly big – which also shows that the Exynos in the Plus version works just as efficiently as the Snapdragon in the Ultra. All new models have significantly longer battery life than those from the previous year, which is great news for potential buyers.

Conclusion: better than expected, but only just equally good

Overall, the Exynos 2400 did almost as well as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in our test. The only measurable difference became visible in the benchmarks. But it’s not a huge either. So the fact that customers can only buy the S24 and S24 Plus with Samsung’s own processor from us isn’t much of a disadvantage.

Nevertheless, this decision poses an image problem for the Korean manufacturer. Why do European customers have to bite the bullet again after the bad experiences they had with the S22 or S21? Why aren’t all models simply equipped with the same processors? Why didn’t Samsung divide things differently worldwide? For example, equipping all S24s with Exynos and giving the more expensive models S24 Plus and S24 Ultra the well-known and established Snapdragon?

At processor suppliers, there shouldn’t be the same delivery problems this year as last year, when the different variants were not available for weeks immediately after the sales launch.

You can read more about the new Samsung Galaxy S24 models here:

What do you make of Samsung’s decision? Do you even care which processor’s installed in your phone? Let me know in the comments!