It’s official. Samsung held its latest Galaxy Unpacked event on January 17 and has three new smartphones to start the new year. On top of that, it also introduced its new artificial intelligence platform, teased the upcoming “Galaxy Ring,” and more.
Here’s everything Samsung announced at its Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event in San Jose, California.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Samsung’s latest flagship device — the Galaxy S24 Ultra — boasts a 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 1-120Hz refresh rate. It also has an all-new Vision booster that enhances outdoor visibility with its 2,600-nit peak brightness.
As expected, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a flatter display and slimmer bezels than last year’s model. The design change has also been extended to the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus. All three models have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, again with Samsung’s special “for Galaxy” branding.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the first Galaxy phone to feature a titanium frame, which cuts down on the smartphone’s weight. Last fall, Apple introduced the titanium iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The camera system on the S24 Ultra comprises a 200MP main camera, followed by a 12MP ultrawide camera. The 10MP 3x telephoto camera also returns, but new this year is a 50MP telephoto camera with 5x zoom — replacing the 10MP telephoto camera with 10x zoom we got last year. The optical zoom levels on the S24 Ultra range from 2x, 3x, and 5x to 10x magnification, made possible by the new Adaptive Pixel Sensor technology.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is available with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. Each offers 12GB of RAM. It’s available in Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet, and Titanium Yellow. Additional colors will launch exclusively online. The price is set at a whopping $1,300 — a $100 price increase over the Galaxy S23 Ultra from last year.
Samsung Galaxy S24
The Samsung Galaxy S24 is a smaller, cheaper alternative to the S24 Ultra. It boasts a 6.2-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display that supports a 1-120Hz refresh rate. It also features the new Vision Booster, like the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Plus.
The smartphone has a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 10MP telephoto camera, and a 12MP front camera. It is available with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage, and all models have 8GB of memory. It also has a nicely refreshed design with a flat, matte frame. It’s a nice change over the rounded, glossy frame on the Galaxy S23, and it’s a design change shared with the S24 Plus. Also present is a 100mAh-larger battery, with the capacity now set at 4,000mAh.
The Galaxy S24 color choices are Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow. Additional colors will be available online only. It starts at $800.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus
The Galaxy S24 Plus now features a QHD+ display, similar to the one on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The Dynamic AMOLED 2X display on the phone measures 6.7 inches diagonally and offers a refresh rate of 1-120Hz, along with a Vision booster.
The camera system on the Galaxy S24 Plus is the same as the one on the Galaxy S24. The phone sports a 50MP wide camera, 12MP ultrawide camera, and 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. Additionally, there is a 12MP front camera.
The Galaxy S24 Plus has 256GB or 512GB of storage and 12GB of memory. The battery is 200mAh larger than last year’s Galaxy S23 Plus, going up to 4,900mAh.
You’ll find the S24 Plus available in the same colors as the regular S24, and the price starts at $1,000.
A few secret Galaxy S24 colors
In addition to the four main colors for the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung also announced a few exclusive styles you’ll only find on its website. This isn’t a new thing from Samsung, but it’s always a good thing to keep an eye out for.
This year, all three S24 phones have a few extra colors to choose from. The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are available in Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, and Sandstone Orange. The S24 Ultra comes in virtually identical shades, but they’re contrasted by the dark titanium frame.
You’ll only find these exclusive colors if you buy the phones on Samsung’s website.
Galaxy AI
The latest Samsung Galaxy S24 phones come with the much-awaited Galaxy AI, which promises to provide significant intelligence to improve the phone’s communication capabilities. This new tool includes five key features: Live Translate, Interpreter, Chat Assist, Note Assist, and Transcript Assist.
Live Translate enables real-time voice and text translation in two directions, thus breaking down language barriers. There’s no need for a third-party app, and the on-device Al ensures that conversations remain private. With the Interpreter feature, live conversations can be translated instantly on a split-screen view, allowing people standing opposite each other to read a text transcription of the other person’s words. It doesn’t require cellular data or Wi-Fi to work.
Messaging apps can use Chat Assist, an AI tool designed to enhance your language and help you achieve a more conversational tone. Samsung claims it can help you craft courteous messages to colleagues or write snappy captions for social media.
Note Assist is a feature that comes integrated within Samsung Notes. It offers AI-generated summaries, pre-made templates to make note-taking more efficient, and convenient cover creation to help you quickly find your notes. Finally, for voice recordings, Transcript Assist utilizes Speech-to-Text and AI technology to transcribe, summarize, and even translate recordings, even when multiple speakers are involved.
Samsung has also announced new AI-powered tools specifically designed for photo editing. These tools include Edit Suggestion, which uses Galaxy AI to provide users with recommendations on how to enhance their photos; Generative Edit, which can fill in the background of an image using generative AI; and Instant Slow-mo, which creates additional frames to slow down action-packed moments for a more detailed look based on movements.
All of this comes with a catch, though. While Galaxy AI is free for now, it won’t always be.
Circle to Search
The Galaxy S24 series also gets a new Circle to Search feature powered by Google. This feature lets users discover new things on their devices through simple gestures.
Users can get helpful and high-quality search results by pressing and holding the home button on their Galaxy S24 device and then circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping anything on the screen.
Circle to Search isn’t justa part of Galaxy AI. In addition to the Galaxy S24 series, it’s also coming to the Google Pixel 8 and Google Pixel 8 Pro.
Seven years of software updates
Finally, Samsung announced that this year’s Galaxy S24 smartphone lineup will provide seven years of security updates and seven generations of OS upgrades, making smartphone replacements less necessary.
This is identical to the software update promise Google made for the Pixel 8 series, and it’s a reassuring sign that it’s something we’ll see from more Android phone manufacturers throughout the year.
Samsung Galaxy Ring
At the very end of Unpacked, Samsung finished on a surprising note as it teased the “Galaxy Ring.”
We’ve heard rumors of a Samsung smart ring for months, and signs were pointing to a 2024 release date. However, it wasn’t clear when in 2024 it may be coming. While Samsung didn’t launch the Galaxy Ring today, it did officially acknowledge its existence for the first time.
Samsung didn’t reveal too much about the Galaxy Ring, only confirming that it’s a health-tracking wearable and will use AI for some part of the experience. Based on the teaser, it sure looks a lot like the Oura Ring.
Pricing, availability, and full feature details are still unclear, but we’ll almost certainly hear more later this year.
