With the iPhone 15 now out and laying down an impressive gauntlet, it's time to see what Samsung has to offer. The anticipated release of the company's next range of Android flagships is just days away.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is one of the best Android phones out there so it's with a great sense of excitement that we look forward to the S24 range. As the biggest manufacturer of Android phones in the world, everyone will be looking to see where Samsung will be taking phones in 2024.
Release date & price
We now know that the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event where the phones will be revealed will be held in San Jose on the 17th of January. That's earlier than normal with February normally the traditional month for such events. The event will be streamed live around the world at 6 PM GMT/ 10 AM PT/ 1PM ET, and we'll of course bring it to you live as it happens.
As for how much the S24 will cost you, it might be bad news. The S23 Ultra launched at £1,249/$/1,199/AU$1,949 for the 256GB edition while the base model cost £849/$799/AU$1,349. But according to one trusted leak, this is unfortunately not going to repeat itself. The base model is likely to see a jump of £50-£100 but what's really concerning is that the S24 Ultra could supposedly set you back €1449 and probably not far off the same figure in GBP. Ouch.
Hopefully, this isn't true, the iPhone 15 managed to admirably avoid a price hike (while the Pixel 8 did not) so there will be pressure on Samsung to do the same.
Samsung did offer a nice upgrade with the S23 where if you purchased it early enough you could double your storage for free so hopefully we could see the return of that offer.
Design
leaked photos of the S24 Ultra suggest that it won't deviate too much from the S23 Ultra's design. The camera setup remains the same while the phone has a metal frame around the outside, perhaps it could be made of titanium? It also looks like the base S24 will be slightly bigger (only 0.1 inches) and the Ultra will have a flat display.
That brings me to another topic. The S24 Plus. This bumper-sized phone had been rumoured to be disappearing but it seems like that is no longer the case with it set to offer a middle ground between the S24 and S24 Ultra. Pockets everywhere should watch out.
As for colours, the S23 range came with four options Phantom Black, Cream, Green, and Lavender (if you don't count the 'secret' colours available direct from Samsung). Rumoured colours for the S24 collection sound like a refreshing break from the drab greys and muted hues of most phones with yellow and violet among the options.
Specs
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a flagship phone that comes with flagship specs, so we expect the same for its successor. The S23 Ultra uses a mighty custom-tuned Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor while the other models utilise a standard 8 Gen 2. There has however been a rather strange development in the potential specs of the S24.
We now know that the S24 series will be powered by a combination of chips. Some regions will be treated to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 setup while others will get Exyonos 2400-powered phones. There is a perception among many that Samsung's processors are a poor relation but those after a flagship will be reassured that the Ultra model will exclusively come with Snapdragon processors.
Other spec differences suggest an improved battery capacity for the Ultra and Plus models. It seems like there will be another 200MP camera sensor on the S24 Ultra, though it looks like a new one. But the big news is that the telephoto lens will be supercharged, going from 10MP to 50MP with 5x optical zoom. Video performance is rumoured to be impressive too with a maximum 8k resolution at 30fps
Ice has also spread good news however, claiming that the phone's display will be receiving a boost with it now reaching up to 2000 nits peak brightness. Speaking of the display, it seems like it will be the same across all three different models, more good news.
In other news, we expect to see a new S-Pen and much like the Google Pixel 8, we are anticipating a heavy focus on AI features. Samsung has also shown off a few very cool camera tricks that look like they're near certain to arrive on the S24 Ultra.
Less exciting is talk that the charging speeds will stay the same as last year. The vanilla model is stuck at 25W wired charging, while the Plus and Ultra variants have 45W wired charging. All models retain 15W wireless charging.
