With the Samsung Galaxy S24’s expected release date now just weeks away, there aren’t that many things left to leak. The biggest question mark concerns how extensive Samsung’s embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) is set to be, but a new leak appears to answer that question — while raising another for those keen on the cheapest model.
On Twitter, @MysteryLupin — who previously shared renders of the new handsets just before Christmas — has posted what appears to be marketing copy outlining the S24 Plus and S24 Ultra’s key AI features.
Galaxy Eureka AI-Software pic.twitter.com/HCMQ7sGlpTDecember 29, 2023
It apparently first appeared on the Walmart website, but has since been taken down. Google has cached it here for posterity, however.
First up is one we've heard about before. From the Phone app, users will apparently be able to speak and instantly have their words translated into a number of foreign languages.
“Nightography” sounds interesting. It seems to be a kind of AI-enhanced image processing for low-light images. “Zoom in from a distance, even in low light,” the text reads.
Finally, there's “Generative Edit” which sounds a lot like Magic Eraser on recent Pixel phones. It will let you “move or remove objects” and “fill in empty space”, presumably as a way of making pictures that bit more perfect — even if they're essentially airbrushed.
Notably, this last one requires a Samsung account and an internet connection to work. In other words, it's likely leaning on Samsung's cloud servers, presumably because it's highly resource-intensive.
What about the S24?
What's curious about this is that the headings only refer to the S24 Plus and S24 Ultra with no mention of the entry-level S24.
It might simply be that Walmart didn’t get around to listing the handset before it realized its mistake. But could it possibly mean that Samsung's cheapest handset won't be getting the same AI treats of its more expensive siblings?
It seems a little wild, but to add a little credence to it, a recent leak suggested that while both the pricier models will be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the basic model will only get that in North America. Given Qualcomm has played up the chip’s AI credentials, could that be the reason the S24 is omitted?
Galaxy S24 Infographic with all the specsGalaxy S24 Infografía con todas las specsEnjoy :) pic.twitter.com/JBmvYwNB2LDecember 26, 2023
It could be, but it doesn't seem that likely, especially with Generative Edit seemingly performed off device in the cloud.
We find it very hard to believe that Samsung would skip AI completely in any of its Galaxy S handsets when it's set to be the main reason to upgrade. That said, we wouldn't bet against the company gently upselling by making some AI features exclusive to the pricier models.
We'll find out on January 17, when Samsung is rumoured to unveil the phones. Watch this space.
