The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is officially here with all the AI features you can ask for

Summary

• Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S24 lineup, including the S24 Ultra, S24+, and regular S24, to compete in the smartphone market.
• The Galaxy S24 Ultra features a 6.8-inch QHD+ display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, 1TB storage, and a 200MP primary camera.
• The regular S24 and S24+ offer bigger displays, improved performance, and AI features, with prices starting from $800.

Samsung has been facing stiff competition in the smartphone market — an industry it led by sales volume for 13 years until Apple took the crown in 2023. This was despite the Korean giant’s Galaxy S23 lineup being among the best Android phones of last year, offering great performance, all-day battery life, and excellent cameras. But Samsung is not the one to give up so easily, and so less than a month into 2024, the company has announced its flagship series designed to carry it through the next 12 months: the Galaxy S24 Ultra, S24+, and S24.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

The Galaxy S24 Ultra packs all the yearly upgrades you’d expect from a flagship phone. Samsung claims to use a brighter 2,600 nits 6.8-inch QHD+ AMOLED panel with flat edges. The new Gorilla Armor glass apparently helps reduce reflection by up to 75%. Inside the phone is Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip, with a 1.9x larger vapor chamber helping better dissipate heat.

The build quality is better than ever, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra being the first phone from the Korean giant’s stable to feature a titanium frame. Do note that only the edges are made of titanium, with the chassis, power, and volume buttons using aluminum. Samsung says it is using 40% recycled steel and 100% recycled rare earth elements in the S24 Ultra’s speakers, a minimum of 10% pre-consumer recycled plastic in the power and volume keys, and at least 50% recycled cobalt in the battery.

Samsung claims to have made big upgrades to the S24 Ultra’s camera system. Gone is the 10x 10MP optical shooter, replaced by a bigger 50MP 5x optical zoom lens. Don’t worry —100x digital zoom is still here, despite Samsung doing away with the 10x telephoto sensor. Combined with the 3x optical shooter, the Korean company says the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a Quad Tele System capable of delivering optical-quality zoom performance at 2x, 3x, and 5-10x levels.

Like the Google Pixel 8 Pro, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can capture HDR photos with better dynamic range, colors, and contrast. You can even get a live HDR preview in the camera viewfinder. Third-party social media apps can also take advantage of this HDR processing.

The phone’s low-light imaging capabilities have been improved over the S23 Ultra, with better OIS, enhanced EIS, and larger pixel-binned 1.4um pixels on the 200MP primary camera. The camera hardware upgrade is one part of the equation, though. Samsung has equipped its newest flagship with several AI features, like Generative Edit, that can fill parts of an image background using AI. A new Instant Slow-mo feature can use AI to create additional frames and help make a slow-mo video look smoother.

There are several other AI features. With Live Translate, you can have two-way, real-time translations on phone calls, with the processing happening locally. A new Interpreter feature will bring up a split-view and translate conversations in real time. Samsung has infused AI into Samsung Keyboard as well, allowing it to offer real-time translation in 13 languages.

Samsung has also collaborated with Google on a new Circle to Search feature. To use it, long-press the home button and then circle, scribble, highlight, or tap on any object on the screen to search for it on Google.

All these improvements on the Galaxy S24 Ultra come with an increased price tag. Samsung has bumped the base model’s price with 256GB storage and 12GB RAM to $1,300 — $100 more than the S22 and S23 Ultra. On the plus side, you can use the phone for up to seven years, with Samsung promising OS updates and security patches until 2031. That matches the policy Google launched with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+

If the Ultra is too big for you, Samsung also has the regular S24 and S24+. Both phones ship with larger displays than their predecessors — 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch — while keeping almost the same footprint, thanks to reduced bezels. The panels’ peak brightness is rated at 2,600 nits, the same as the S24 Ultra, and they can now dynamically adjust their refresh rate from 1-120Hz for better performance and battery life.

There are no major camera hardware upgrades on the S24 and S24+, though you get access to the same AI features and the ability to capture HDR photos. In the US, the non-Ultra S24s use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, but in Europe and other markets, you will get the Exynos 2400 SoC. Like the Ultra, the S24 and S24+ will get seven years of OS and security patches.

Samsung’s prices for the Galaxy S24 and S24+ remain the same as their predecessors, starting at $800 and $1,000, respectively. The S24+ ships with 12GB RAM and a QHD+ display, so you are getting more bang for your buck this year. Preorders for the new Galaxy phones will run through January 30, 2024, with free storage upgrades available until then. If you’re looking to buy on launch day, phones will be on store shelves on January 31.