Samsung Galaxy S24: Exynos vs Snapdragon Tested

There’s a fundamental difference between Samsung’s latest flagship phones in Europe and North America, but it’s nowhere near as important as you might have heard.

While the Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy everywhere, the cheaper Galaxy S24 and S24+ only get it in the US, Canada, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the UK and Europe, these phones use Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chipset instead.

Much has been made of this move, with the consensus that UK and European buyers are getting a worse experience as a result. But is that actually true? To find out, we’ve extensively tested both the Exynos and Snapdragon versions of the Galaxy S24+, including running CPU, GPU and battery benchmarks.

Our conclusion? The Snapdragon model is better overall, but not by much. If you’re based in the UK or Europe, there’s no need to try and important one from the US or elsewhere. It’s simply not necessary.

Even for power users who demand the absolute most from their smartphone, you’re unlikely to notice the difference in the real-world. Both versions are among the most powerful Android phones you can buy, going toe-to-toe with the latest iPhones.

Are you playing smartphone Top Trumps with your mates at the pub?

In our usual Geekbench 6 test, which measures CPU performance, the Exynos S24+’s score of 6945 was actually higher than the 6840 of the Snapdragon model.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

There’s a little more variation in GFXBench scores, which analyses graphical performance – we use the on-screen tests for close to real-world results. However, only the most dedicated mobile gamers will notice FPS (frames per second) differences of 12fps or less. Either model is a great choice for mobile gaming.

A chipset isn’t all about performance, though. Much has been made of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s power efficiency, which benefits battery life. So, is this an area where it has the clear upper hand?

No. In PCMark’s battery benchmark, which simulates real-world tasks at 200 nits of brightness (fairly typical for most people), the Exynos 2400 model scored a very impressive 16 hours and 4 minutes.

That’s even better than the 15 hours and 52 minutes recorded on the Snapdragon S24+ and means both rank among the best battery life phones around. For most people, two days of battery life on a single charge is well within reach, regardless of the version you have.

Here are the full results in a handy chart:

S24 Exynos vs Snapdragon: Which is better?

So, there you have it. The Exynos 2400 version of the Galaxy S24+ (and presumably also Galaxy S24) is a small step down in terms of performance compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy model, but nowhere near enough to make it significant. And real-world battery life might actually be slightly better.

Even the rumours of Samsung equipping the entire Galaxy S25 range with Exynos (likely the Exynos 2500) turn out to be true, it shouldn’t be a cause for concern.

As you might expect, the S24 phones top our round-up of the best Samsung Galaxy phones, but there are plenty of great alternatives.