Samsung Packs New S24 Series With AI Smarts!
Introducing Galaxy AI
AI was the single biggest talking point at CES 2024, with every company delivering some sort of advancement of artificial intelligence into their products. After a strong showing of AI advancements on their lifestyle products at the show, Samsung is now ready to introduce AI into their smartphone division with the newly announced Galaxy S24 series. In fact, the tagline of the unveiling was “Galaxy AI is here” and boy is there a lot to unpack.
Three “Smart” Phones
Samsung sells three phones in their S-series: the base S24 which will start at $799.99, the S24+ at $999.99, and the S24 Ultra that gets a price bump to $1299.99 starting MSRP.
From a physical design standpoint, the overall aesthetics of the three phones remain consistent with the previous few generations of design. The camera bumps and layout are still circles on the top left or the rear panel. While the S24 and S24+ use aluminum for their frames, the premium S24 Ultra trades that material in for titanium.
All three devices will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor in the USA. Subsequently, the ram size will be dictated by the screen size as the smallest model, the base S24, will only have 8 GB of ram. There’s no option for more ra, although you can choose between 128 or 256 GB of storage.
Images provided by Samsung
The S24+ and the S24 Ultra will only offer phones with 12 GB of ram, with the S24+ offering 256 and 512 GB of storage, and the S24 Ultra adding an extra 1TB storage option to that list.
As expected, the base phone has the smallest battery size at 4,000 mAh, while the S24+ has a 4,900 mAh cell, and the Ultra has the largest of the three at 5,000 mAh.
The three S24 phones have the same display technology as they share what Samsung calls a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It's a 120Hz refresh rate and the only display that isn’t a 1440p resolution is the base model which stays at 1080p. The screen sizes start at 6.2-inches for the S23, 6.7-inches for the S24+, and 6.8-inches for the Ultra.
Additional features like Qi wireless charging at up to 15W, and IP68 certification for dust and water resistance appear on all three variants.
As far as cameras go, the S23 and S23+ share the same three rear camera setup: a 12 MP ultra-wide, a 50 MP wide, and a 10 MP telephoto. The Ultra gets a big bump and additional lenses with a 12 MP ultra-wide, a 200 MP wide camera, and a 50 MP telephoto alongside a second 10 MP telephoto camera. They all have the same 12 MP front selfie camera.
Packed With AI
While the hardware specs are merely a seasonal upgrade, the S24 series will most likely go into the history books as the first generation of the new AI wave of innovation. With this iteration of the Galaxy phone, Samsung aims to push convenience to the forefront with AI features like Live Translate, Interpreter, Note Assist, and Circle to Search, to name a few additions. Utilizing Samsung’s ProVisual Engine, which is a suite of AI-powered tools that analyzes images, you can literally do things like circle an image on your screen with your finger to have the S24 run a Google search on the item. Live language translation as well as the ability to have a written transcript of live dialogue can be handled without the need for cellular data or to be tethered to Wi-Fi. We’ve seen some of these functions on other pieces of tech, but Samsung has attempted to jam pack them all into one product.
The first golden age of smartphones will be remembered as a hardware race. We’ve since plateaued with candy bar form factors dominating the past decade. The next era in the evolution of mobile phones is here and AI advancement seems to be the name of the game. The S24 series will be released in stores on January 31, 2024, with pre-orders available starting today.
Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!