Samsung has just unveiled its next crop of flagship Galaxy S devices. Meet the Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra. Most will already be familiar with the trio thanks, in part, to numerous leaks in the preceding months, but also because Samsung tends not to make sweeping changes to its devices.
The new Galaxy S24 handsets do feature familiar bits but Samsung has made improvements all over, not least of which are centred around Galaxy AI. Despite initial expectations, Galaxy AI isn’t the Bixby-replacement next-generation AI assistant that will remind you to buy milk before you head home. It’s just what Samsung is calling its new suite of on-device AI-powered features.
Galaxy AI takes its first steps
Samsung highlighted some of those features during its Unpacked event. ‘Circle to Search on Google’ does what you’d expect and is essentially Google Lens with extra steps. The ‘Live Translate’ feature will probably see more action and seems genuinely useful. It allows for a real-time two-way conversation in two languages at once. You say your line in one language and your Galaxy device will translate it into one of the other twelve languages supported at launch.
Galaxy AI also lends itself to various productivity tasks and workflows on the new Galaxy S24 devices. If you’re a Samsung web browser stan, you might find the transcription assistance useful. It allows translation, formatting, tonality, and summary suggestions for highlighted text in supported Samsung apps.
Fancy some photo editing? The Pro Vision Engine will suggest generalised edits and specific edits based on the photo in question. Snapped a pic and caught something you wished you hadn’t? Select the eyesore and it’ll vanish, replaced by what Galaxy AI thinks you’d rather see. We also saw a novel slo-mo video feature that slows down a video by inserting AI-generated frames while you hold down a finger.
We’ll need to spend a lot more time testing these features to make a full assessment but initially, they seem… fine.
Get to the phones already
Samsung revealed other improvements to the Galaxy S24 devices, almost as an afterthought. For starters, all three are flatter. Curved displays are out and flatness returns this year. The Galaxy S24 Ultra sports a 6.8in dynamic LTPO AMOLED screen, similar to last year’s device but it can get much brighter now – up to 2,600 nits. The S24+ and S24 get slightly bigger screens than their older counterparts – 6.7in and 6.2in respectively – while the S24+ also receives a resolution upgrade to QHD+.
All three devices ship with new SoCs. The S24 Ultra gets this year’s flagship from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 whereas the base S24 and S24+ contain Samsung’s new Exynos 2400 chipset. All three devices come with 256GB of snappy UFS 4.0 storage with 8GB of RAM in the base model and 12GB in the other two.
Samsung made a big fuss about the 200MP sensor in the Galaxy S23 Ultra last year so that’s obviously sticking around. The 10MP periscope telephoto sensor has been upgraded to a 50MP affair although the 10x optical zoom has been halved. We’ll need to do some pixel-peeping before we judge the outcome of that change. The only other notable change to the camera array partly lies with the upgraded processor – shooting 4K video at 120fps is now possible with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and S24+.
The last of the hardware changes appear as battery capacity upgrades. The S24 and S24+ get slightly bigger 100- and 200mAh cells respectively – no change for the S24 Ultra.
Samsung’s also making some changes as to how long it’ll be supporting each of these devices, promising seven years of software support — taking a page out of Google’s book when it upped the ante on the Pixel 8 series — meaning that flagship owners who hold onto their phones until 2031 will be rewarded for their patience.
When and how much
If you’re itching to get your hands on Samsung’s latest and try out Galaxy AI for yourself, you won’t have to wait long. Pre-orders are opening up today, with the phones hitting the shelves on 9 February. Samsung is still offering its trade-in deal so bring in your old device and you could see a substantial discount
Speaking of money, you’ll need to cough up R22,500 to own the base Galaxy S24, R25,500 for the Galaxy S24+, and R32,500 for the Galaxy S24 Ultra if you’re aiming for a cash purchase. If a contract deal is more your speed, those are available too. Pricing will depend on your choice of network operator and contract details but will start at R900/m, R1,000/m, and R1,200/m for the S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra respectively over 36 months.
