Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 is right around the corner. In a few hours, South Korean major Samsung will unveil to the world its next batch of premium Galaxy smartphones, even if a large chunk of information about the incoming Samsung Galaxy S24 series is already out in the open courtesy of Internet leaks. But one thing is clear as a whistle: hardware is expected to take a backseat this year, even as Samsung looks to tap into Generative AI to differentiate the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra from peers and predecessors.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024: Watch Samsung Galaxy S24 series LIVE launch
Samsung Galaxy S24 series will launch globally on January 17 at Galaxy Unpacked 2024. Interestingly, Samsung’s Unpacked 2024 launch event is taking place in San Jose, not too far from Cupertino, Apple’s headquarters. While Samsung is hosting an in-person event to launch the Galaxy S24 series, a live stream will be available for view round the world on the company’s website, newsroom and YouTube channel. In India, Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 will kick off at 11:30 PM. You can also watch the live stream of Samsung Galaxy S23 series launch event by clicking on the above-embedded link. And for all the updates, be sure to follow this live blog.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024: Samsung Galaxy 24 series launch LIVE updates
Samsung has launched the Galaxy S24 series of smartphones today at Unpacked San Jose. The line-up boots three models— Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. Per usual, the Ultra gives you the most specs and a stylus while the standard and plus options are for those seeking the latest and greatest of Samsung at a bit more affordable pricing. Read full story here.
Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event kicks-off at 11:30 PM IST which means, another 30-minutes to go for the Galaxy S24 series unveiling.
The Galaxy S24 series trio is expected to pack bigger batteries with the top-tier S24 Ultra model tipped to get a 5,000mAh.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 series trio is exected to retain the S23 series’ 12-megapixel for selfies.
Buzz has it that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 200MP main camera will be able to record 8K videos @30fps and 4K videos @120fps.
The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus are expected to pack the same trio of sensors as the outgoing Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus and so, we can expect a 50-megapixel main, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto and 12-megapixel ultrawide.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is tipped to get the same 200-megapixel main camera as the S23 Ultra before it but updated ISP and Samsung’s Gen AI push could help eke more out of the sensor. Samsung is widely expected to update one of its telephotos, the periscope-one, to a higher-resolution 50-megapixel for up to 5x optical zoom. The ultrawide and other telephoto are expected to be do-overs from last year.
Speaking of Apple, Cupertino has overtaken Samsung to become the world’s top smartphone vendor. According to data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), Apple sold more smartphones than any other brand in 2023 commanding a hefty 20.1 percent cumulative market share globally. Samsung’s market share during the same period was 19.4 percent. Read full report here.
Read how Samsung plans to one-up Apple with new Galaxy S24 series here.
Samsung Galaxy S24 series rumoured display specs:
Samsung is expected to finally bring an LTPO OLED panel to the vanilla models this year and so, the S24 and S24 Plus should be able to switch their refresh rate more seamlessly. The S24 Plus is also expected to get higher-resolution 1440p panel.
Here’s a fresh batch of Samsung Galaxy S24 series renders courtesy tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks):
The Galaxy S24 series is expected to pack brighter display panels. The top-tier Galaxy S24 Ultra is likely to have the same screen size– 6.8-inch. The S24 and S24 Plus are tipped to be 1-inch bigger compared to the S23 and S23 Plus, and so we can basically expect 6.2- and 6.7-inch screen sizes.
The customary chip upgrade will see Samsung switching to the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3/Exynos 2400. The S24 Ultra is expected to come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 across the world while the S24 and S24 Plus could get Exynos 2400 in markets outside of the US and Canada.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra, per internet leaks, will be flat and boxy, much like the Galaxy S23 Ultra and boast of a Titanium frame. An unboxing video of the phone that’s doing the rounds suggests a colour-matched frame for some of these models primarily the yellow and gray. The Galaxy S24 (as also the Galaxy S24 Plus) will be flat, too, but they’ll come with rounded edges and of course a smaller footprint. These models are expected to bag seemingly more regular metal sides.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra, according to reports, will come in a choice of four colours— black, gray, violet and yellow. The Galaxy S24 (as also the Galaxy S24 Plus) will have the same options, though the design scheme and build will be vastly different.
Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event is still a few hours away but as is the nature of these things, someone, somewhere at Samsung decided why wait, even that long. As if the leaks weren’t enough, Samsung’s own Ecuadorian website briefly listed the “yet-to-launch” Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Ultra with full design and probable pricing (probable because it could be placeholder text).
A Google Pixel Magic Eraser like feature called Generative Edit is seemingly in the works for the Samsung Galaxy S24 series along with upgraded zoom capabilities and perhaps, some smart AI magic for the S-Pen, too.
Another rumour doing the rounds is that some of the Galaxy S24 series Gen AI features might be available for free only “until at least 2025” beyond which Samsung might charge a fee to use them. So that bit is interesting and also could signal a trend we’re yet to see in the smartphone space at least (both OpenAI and Microsoft offer subscription-based pro versions of ChatGPT and Copilot).
An even bigger deal, that’s part of grapevine, is Samsung’s sustainability push with these devices. That includes more environmental-friendly build materials for the S24 series, of course, but Samsung is also expected to make a major announcement regarding extending software support on these devices for up to seven years.
Samsung’s promo ads leading into today’s Unpacked event are filled with quirks hinting how software— more precisely AI— is the next big thing for mobile. It’s safe to presume, the company will be banking heavily on it to differentiate its products in the days to come.
Announced last year, Galaxy AI is a suit of smart AI features (like ChatGPT) built around Samsung’s Gauss LLM or large language model (like GPT-4). One of these features called AI Live Translate will allow Galaxy S24 users to get audio and text translations during phone calls in real time through Samsung’s native phone app.
Samsung believes the next big smartphone battle will be fought on the grounds of Generative AI. And “Galaxy AI” will be its next big champion. It is no coincidence that the Galaxy S24 series is “powered by Galaxy AI” and not some X-core chip that is built around a y-nanometre process paired with double digit RAM and whatnot.
“Galaxy AI” will be the big showstopper at Galaxy Unpacked event. Samsung has made it abundantly clear. The Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra are set to come honing new Generative AI skills including live translate calling. At the same time, speculation is rife of a Google Pixel 8-like Generative Edit feature which will seemingly allow users to move and remove objects as well as fill in empty spaces in photos using AI. An even bigger deal seems to be Samsung’s longer software support offering. Samsung will reportedly give Galaxy S24 series up to seven years of updates, but we’ll see.
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