I am a long time user of S series. I had S1, S3, S6 and S10. This year I need to buy a new phone, since the battery in S10 is dying.
However, it seems there is no suitable phone for me in the S series anymore. Why? Because I am a photographer (with a normal camera, not with a phone, of course). I have around 30000 photos and the whole library takes around 300GB. In my S10 I used an external SD card inserted.
It seems the last S phone that supported micro SD cards, was S20. Newer ones don't have an option anymore.
So, what is going on? How can I buy a Samsung S phone, that allows me at least 300GB free storage space? The only option for S24 is 256GB, which sucks. Stupid. As this means < 150GB of free space.
And please don't tell me to use an online cloud. That's absurd. I am traveling around the world, in the deserts, jungle etc., where there is no mobile signal, but even with a mobile signal, expensive roaming is in place. Also, my photos are my own, I want to have them with me all the time. I have them backed up on at least 4 different places, so I am not afraid of loosing them.
The only option currently seems Samsung A54, as it still has a slot for a micro SD card.
What do other photographers or video producers do in my situation?
The lack of an SD card slot was annoying for me when they first removed it. I forget how many years ago that was, but back then internal storage was much smaller. 128 GB was the largest storage option, and at a very high price point.
I was in the small minority of people back then (like you are now) who needed an SD card. Since you're still in that minority, you will always have few options and will have to compromise. Either shell out lots of money for the 1TB as previously suggested, or buy a different phone that offers an SD card slot. You're simply in a niche group of users that Samsung is not catering to with the Galaxy S series anymore.
As for the reason, we'll never know for sure. I've heard many theories like programming firmware for internal and external storage causing technical issues and OS/app instability; battery is bigger - and thus battery life is better - since without the slot there's more volume in the phone for all the other internals. Or maybe supporting the SD card slot just costs too much when you consider the number of people who actually need it. Since we will probably never know for sure, you might as well move on like I did.
I have the Galaxy S20 FE 5G and using a 512 GB microSDXC. I am not going to upgrade until I find a suitable alternative that is reasonably priced, I share your views.
I wonder If the EU proposes another law for external memory card support on the flagship phone. They already passed the law for usb type C ports for iPhones, and the next one is the swappable battery.
