We’re still some way from the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, with reports pointing to a January 17 event. But over 50 days from go-time, we’ve got what seems to be a first look at the handset, and it seems we can expect a small but significant design change. Gone are the curved screen edges and in their place a completely flat panel.
The leak comes courtesy of the X user David Martin in a Spanish language post on the site. It’s an account with less than 1,000 followers and no track record to go on, which would normally raise alarm bells, except for the amplification from the extremely reliable leaker Ice Universe, who wrote that its “been confirmed that this is the real Galaxy S24 Ultra.”
#S24UltraÉste es el nuevo #S24 Ultra sin pantalla curva pic.twitter.com/6haBo4RohSNovember 16, 2023
For years, Samsung has been giving its flagship handset curved edges, largely for aesthetic reasons. With a screen that wraps around the edge of the device, you have a phone that both appears thinner and looks like it has smaller bezels than it really does.
But it has very obvious downsides, including making a screen replacement tricker and more expensive in the event of a breakage. Screen protectors are harder to apply evenly, too.
So it might be a nod to repairability that Samsung has made this change, or it may be something to do with the construction of the handset itself. As previous reports have said, the handset will have a titanium build for the first time and it may be that the new material simply works better with a more traditional flat design.
That titanium seems to be on full display here. 9to5Google’s reporter reckons that you can see fingerprints on the device’s frame, which is something that owners of the titanium iPhone 15 Pro have also noticed.
Along with this new-look screen, the S24 Ultra is hotly tipped to get a new 50MP telephoto lens — an upgrade from the current 10MP one — and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in every region. But the most fundamental change for the device could be a software one, with Samsung planning to embrace generative AI in its upcoming handsets.
Whether this will be truly transformational or a barely used Bixby-style gimmick remains to be seen. If the release date rumors are correct, we’ll find out in just a couple of months’ time.
