Samsung Reveals Galaxy S24 Series, Powered by its New Galaxy AI

Today, Samsung held its annual Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, California. At the keynote, Samsung revealed the full lineup for Galaxy S24. Amongst its flagship Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra, the smartphone maker unveiled Galaxy AI.

Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+

This year, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are making nominal upgrades to its internals and design. The Galaxy S24 series now features a flatter display rather than a curved design. The new devices offer 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch AMOLED 2x displays—both feature up to 120Hz support, HDR10+ with vision booster.

Looking at the internals, Samsung announced that Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. The entry-level Galaxy S24 includes 8GB of RAM while the Galaxy S24+ offers 12GB of RAM. Storage-wise, the base Galaxy S24 has 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options. The Galaxy S24+, on the other hand, is only available with 256GB or 512GB options.

Other notable features include Wi-Fi 6E support and Bluetooth. Samsung confirms that the Galaxy S24 has a 4,000mAh battery while the Galaxy S24+ includes a slightly larger 4,900mAh battery, powering the device. Both offer Android 14 support with OneUI 6.1.

As for the cameras, the Samsung S24 maintains a three-camera array, which includes a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens, and a 10-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. For the selfie camera, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ offer a 12-megapixel camera. These are the same

The Galaxy S24 starts at $1,099.99 for the 128GB model. The Galaxy S24+, on the other hand, starts at $1,399 for the 256GB option.  Both variants are available in ‘Marble Gray,’ ‘Onyx Black,’ ‘Cobal Violet’ and ‘Amber Yellow.’ However, Samsung is offering exclusive colour options on its website, including ‘Sapphire Blue,’ ‘Jade Green’ and ‘Sandstone Orange.’

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are available to pre-order today and begin shipping on January 31st.

Galaxy S24 Ultra

Samsung’s high-end Galaxy S24 Ultra was also revealed during today’s Galaxy Unpacked. This year’s Ultra features a 6.8-inch QHD+ display with a 1440 x 3080-pixel resolution. The display also supports a 1 to 120Hz refresh rate. It’s confirmed to have a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, brighter than its predecessor’s 1,750 brightness.

As for its internal specs, The Galaxy S24 Ultra features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The device also includes 12GB of RAM. For storage, users can choose between a 256GB, 512GB and 1TB model. As with the other Galaxy S24 devices, the Ultra sports Wi-Fi 6E support and Bluetooth. Of course, expect S Pen support as well. Samsung also revealed that the Galaxy S24 Ultra features a 5,000mAh battery, the same as previous Ultra devices.

Moving over to the camera, Galaxy S24 Ultra sports features a 200-megapixel primary lens, a 10x optical camera, and a 50-megapixel camera, featuring 5x optical zoom. It’s worth noting that the Ultra series no longer features the 10x zoom lens seen in previous iterations.

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1,799 in Canada. It’s available in ‘Titanium Black,’ ‘Titanium Violet,’ and ‘Titanium Yellow.’ On Samsung’s website, exclusive colourway options including ‘Titanium Blue,’ ‘Titanium Green’ and ‘Titanium Orange’ are available.

Galaxy S24 Ultra is available to pre-order today with a starting price of $1,799.99.

Galaxy AI

Finally, Samsung shined a spotlight on Galaxy AI, the backbone of this year’s Galaxy devices. Several standout features are being developed for Galaxy AI. This includes a Transcript Assist tool, Live Translate, and Galaxy AI editing tools for photos. All of these utilize Galaxy AI, which combines Samsung Gauss Language and Samsung Gauss Image models.

Earlier this month, iPhone in Canada was able to witness Galaxy AI in action. Samsung demonstrated many of the Galaxy AI features. The first was its Transcript Assist. For voice recordings, Galaxy AI can record a conversation and in real time render a transcription, noting up to 10 speakers. Afterwards, the AI software can provide bullet points and a summary of the conversation.

Another key feature of Galaxy AI is Live Translate. Demoed live in front of me, Live Translate enables you to speak to someone over the phone in their native language only to have it translated into a desired language. Breaking down the language barriers, a user can speak to someone who exclusively speaks Spanish only for it to be rendered through the phone as English. It’s a seamless process with roughly a one-second delay. At launch, Galaxy AI supports 13 languages for Live Translate, including English, Spanish, and French. However, the French-Canadian variation will not be available at launch.

Samsung is also leveraging Galaxy AI for photo editing. Galaxy AI editing tools enable users to snap a photo and edit the subjects in the picture. For instance, you can move and manipulate the size of a person, making them larger or smaller. Galaxy AI’s generative features will then go in and adjust shadows and blend the background to make the edit look as natural as possible. This is a feature worth testing more extensively as backgrounds and complexity of the photo could render different results.

Galaxy AI also supports other features such as the Samsung Keyboard, which can change the tone of a message as it’s being written. Users can also translate a message to one of the 13 available languages at launch. There is also a Circle to Search feature, which enables users to home the home button, tap an object on the display and ask questions. This feature incorporates a Google Search overlay, enabling it to be used across various apps.