New year, new Samsung Galaxy phones. Samsung has officially dated its first Unpacked event of 2024 for January 17, where the company is widely expected to announce a trio of Galaxy S24 smartphone series.
The launch event will be held in San Jose with a livestream kicking off at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. The buzzy term Samsung is teasing is “Galaxy AI” which we’re assuming means a sprinkling of artificial intelligence throughout the software.
On Samsung’s U.S. Reserve site, where you can get $50 in Samsung credit if you pre-order the new phone, the company teases a “Zoom with Galaxy AI” which suggests there will be some kind of enhanced zoom capabilities for the camera(s).
What to Expect From the Galaxy S24 Phones
If you’re in need of a new bar-style smartphone and you’re okay being a green bubble, you’re going to want to pay attention to the Unpacked event.
According to leaks, Samsung is expected to announce three Galaxy S24 phones: a regular 6.2-inch S24, a 6.7-inch S24+, and a 6.7-inch S24 Ultra. All three phones are rumored to have flat screens (no more curved glass edges) and — for the first time ever — equal bezels around them (no more “chin” at the bottom”). The designs don’t look to deviate much from the S23 series, but the S24 Ultra is rumored to sport a boxier silhouette and a new titanium frame instead of the current aluminum one. The S24 Ultra, of course, will have the most cameras (likely five and with 4K video recording at 120 fps) and an S Pen.
The trio of phones should share the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and come in familar storage options (256GB, 512GB, 1TB) and RAM configurations (8GB or 12GB). Battery life, at least on the S24 Ultra, could also get a bump up in capacity from 4,855 mAh to 5,000 mAh according to rumors.
As far as the “Galaxy AI” goes, we don’t know for sure, but rumors suggest Samsung will introduce its own version of Google’s Magic Eraser and Magic Editor for photos. One leak claims there will be a feature that lets you circle on-screen items to prompt a search result; another leak says there will be some type of ChatGPT/copilot-like assistant for writing and summarizing text after you enter a prompt.
Price and Release Date
We’ll have to wait until January 17 to get the official release date and pricing details, but rumors suggest Samsung could stick to the same prices as the S23 series ($799 for the S23, $999 for the S23+, and $1,199 for the S23 Ultra) or slash $50 off the S24 and S24+ models and add $50 to the S24 Ultra.
