Samsung Galaxy S24: Price, specs, news, and features
Samsung's next flagship lineup is finally here
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After months of rumors, Samsung's latest phones are finally
here. The Galaxy S24 series looks to improve on three of the best
Android devices from last year, and our early impressions of both the Galaxy
S24 Ultra and its smaller siblings have left us feeling
hopeful. While plenty of power users have moved onto folding phones, if you're
after powerful smartphones with massive screens and impressive camera lineups,
you simply can't beat the Galaxy S24 trio.
We've already gone hands-on with both the Galaxy S24
Ultra and the smaller two Galaxy S24 devices, but if you want to know
what makes these devices tick, you're in the right spot. Here's everything you
need to know about Samsung's latest smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy S24 series: Availability and price
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Let's start with what everyone wants to know: when can you
buy one of these things? Samsung's Galaxy S24 lineup went up for preorder right
after their announcement on stage in San Jose on January 17th, 2024, and for
the most part, the prices are unchanged for 2024. The Galaxy S24 starts at
$800, while the Galaxy S24+ starts at $1,000. As usual, preordering from
Samsung's web store gets you a free storage upgrade from now until January
31st, when the phones actually find their way onto shelves at your local
carrier.
However, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a different story. Although
it's available for preorder now — and will launch on the same January 31st date
— you'll be paying more for this year's S Pen-equipped smartphone than you
would've one year ago. The Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1,300 in the US, and
that's a mighty big asking price for a non-foldable smartphone. Prices only go
up as you add in more storage — and remember, there's no microSD card slot for
expansion, so you'll need to buy the right allotment at checkout.
Samsung Galaxy S24 series: Design and specs
As usual, Samsung has split its design language between the
two smaller phones and the larger phablet model. The Galaxy S24 Ultra looks
nearly identical to its predecessor, with two big changes: a flat display and
the use of titanium throughout its body. While the former has long been a
request from S Pen fans, the latter means the materials along the chassis now
use a matte finish, avoiding the grease and grime the Galaxy S23 Ultra's shiny
metal finish constantly attracted.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ are a little more
familiar. These two devices now use slightly larger displays — 6.2-inches and
6.7-inches, respectively — the actual body is nearly identical to last year's
phones, thanks to smaller bezels around the display. Those screens now better match
the Ultra's panel, by the way, with all three phones using 2,600 nits of peak
brightness and supporing dynamic refresh rates from 1-120Hz. Even better is the
bump to QHD+ resolution on the Galaxy S24+ — not too shabby.
But otherwise, these devices are unsurprisingly familiar.
The smaller two phones use flat edges that feel positively iPhone-esque — it's
impossible to ignore when you pick it up. The Ultra is in line with the last
few generations of Samsung's smartphone. At 8.6mm, it's just a smidge thinner
than its predecessor. Some other minor tweaks include slight changes to the
button designs, a new speaker grill at the bottom of the phone, and a flatter S
Pen top, though it still protrudes just enough to rock back and forth when
standing upright. These are all really, really minimal efforts
to shake up the overall design, but it's better than Samsung doing absolutely
nothing for another generation.
Let's get to the specs. In the US, all three phones use
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, complete with "for Galaxy" branding
for another year. Outside the US, only the Ultra uses that SoC — everywhere
else, you'll find the Exynos 2400 powering the device. It's unclear how this
could affect performance and battery life; Exynos chips tend not to perform as
well as their Qualcomm counterparts.
The rest of these spec sheets look mighty familiar. 8GB of
RAM in the smaller phone, 12GB in the two larger devices. The Galaxy S24
continues to start at 128GB of storage, while the Plus and Ultra models start
at 256GB. Battery sizes are larger than ever, too, at least in the non-Ultra
variants. We're seeing welcome bumps up to 4,000mAh and 4,900mAh in the regular
and Plus models respectively, while the Ultra stays at 5,000mAh. There are
certainly some nice improvements here if you're coming from older hardware, but
S23 owners might feel unimpressed.
Let's talk colors. Matching up with that titanium frame,
Samsung is introducing four new matching colors: Titanium Black, Titanium Gray,
Titanium Violet, and Titanium Yellow. The gray model, in particular, looks like
Apple's natural hue for the iPhone 15 Pro, while the yellow makes for a nice
change of pace as far as colors go.
The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, meanwhile, are abiding by
Samsung's usual naming scheme: Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet, and
Amber Yellow. It's essentially the same four shades as the Ultra, though the
renders appear to look a little less dynamic once you remove that titanium
frame. The yellow, in particular, is more of an off-white than anything else.
We're also looking at three additional colors, including Jade Green, Sapphire
Blue, and Sandstone Orange, as exclusives available through Samsung's web
store.
Samsung Galaxy S24: Software
With One UI 6 on most major Android phones, we're looking at
the arrival of One UI 6.1 on these three devices. Based on Android 14, One UI
6.1 brings about a big focus with the launch of Galaxy AI. Even better, though,
is the announcement of Samsung's new software policy. The company is matching
Google's seven years of upgrades promise first rolled out with the Pixel 8,
meaning the Galaxy S24 lineup will see new software through 2031. Not too
shabby.
The list of AI features coming to this phone is immense, and
frankly, a little difficult to keep track of. There's Live Translate, which
allows you to have a phone call with someone while you both speak your native
languages. It seems pretty impressive in our early testing though we'll need to
keep trying it out for ourselves before we render a final judgment.
Some of Samsung's features seem targeted directly towards
things you'll find on the Pixel right now. Interpereter is Samsung's swing at
translating conversations, letting you chat with a split-screen view. Chat
Assist is built into Samsung's keyboard to help you nail tone, which sounds a
little like Magic Compose on the Pixel 8. Note Assist in Samsung Notes will let
you organize your drawings and doodles, while Transcript Assist is a Recorder
clone trying to make the S24 Ultra the phone for aspiring
journalists.
We also saw a new partnership between Samsung and Google,
this time for Circle to Search. Coming first to the Galaxy S24 and the Pixel 8
series, Circle to Search lets you activate a quick shortcut from the navigation
bar to highlight anything on your phone and immediately find more context
surrounding it. From addresses to photos, this seems like a powerful — if
non-exclusive — tool.
Whether all of these stick around as essential ways to
interact with your smartphone remains to be seen, but it's clear AI is the thing
for Samsung this year.
Samsung Galaxy S24: Cameras
The Galaxy S23 Ultra packed a whopping 200MP primary camera,
and the S24 Ultra is following its lead. Improved processing, OIS and EIS, and
larger pixels on that primary sensor should deliver better low-light
capabilities and motion support, the latter a big disappointment on the S23
Ultra. That said, the biggest change comes to the telescope lens, and on paper,
it's not necessarily for the better. Samsung has swapped out the 10x 10MP lens
from last year for a larger 50MP 5x optical zoom lens. While you can still hit
100x digital zoom, we'll have to test these lenses out for ourselves to see how
the two generations compare.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ see even less in changes,
with the hardware relatively unchanged year over year. Improved processing can
do a whole lot to make these lenses take even better shots though, so we'll
have to see what happens once the phones are in our hands. And as expected, AI
has come to the camera, too. Features like Generative Edit and a new Instant
Slow-mo feature that uses AI to slow down existing videos sounds pretty
exciting if they work as expected, as does the ability to remove reflections
from images taken out of windows.
The Galaxy S24 series is finally here
With the arrival of the Galaxy S24, the smartphone race has
officially started in 2024. These might not be the most exciting phones we've
ever seen, but if you've been waiting for an upgrade from your aging Galaxy
S21, these seem like worthy options. We'll have much more to say in the coming
weeks about all three phones, but for now, preorders are officially open.
S24 ULTRA
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Storage | 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh |
| Ports | USB Type-C 3.2, OTG |
| Operating System | Android 14, OneUI 6.1 |
| Front camera | 12MP, f/2.2 |
| Rear camera | 200MP, f/1.7 main; 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide; 10MP 3× telephoto; 50MP, f/3.4 5× telephoto |
| Connectivity | NFC, UWB |
| Dimensions | 162.6 × 79.0 × 8.6mm |
| Colors | Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Violet, Titanium Yellow |
| Display type | LTPO AMOLED, 1-120Hz |
| Weight | 233g |
| Charge speed | 45W wired, 15W wireless |
| IP Rating | IP68 |
| Stylus | S Pen included |
| Display dimensions | 6.8", 19.3:9 |
| Display resolution | 3088 × 1440 |
| Charge options | Wired, wireless, reverse charging |
| Cellular connectivity | 5G mmWave & sub-6, LTE |
| Wi-Fi connectivity | Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 |
Samsung Galaxy S24+
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Storage | 256GB or 512GB |
| Battery | 4,900mAh |
| Ports | USB-C |
| Operating System | Android 14 and One UI 6.1 |
| Front camera | 12MP f/2.2 |
| Rear camera | 50MP f/1.8 OIS main, 12MP f/2.2 wide (120°), 10MP f/2.4 zoom (3x) |
| Connectivity | NFC |
| Dimensions | 158.5 × 76.2 × 7.62mm |
| Colors | Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet, Amber Yellow, Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, and Sandstone Orange |
| Display type | Dynamic AMOLED 2x, 1-120Hz |
| Weight | 197g |
| Charge speed | 25W |
| IP Rating | IP68 |
| Price | $1,000 |
| Display dimensions | 6.7" |
| Display resolution | QHD+ |
| Charge options | USB-C wired, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare |
| Cellular connectivity | Sub-6 & mmWave 5G |
| Wi-Fi connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB |
| Battery | 4,000mAh |
| Ports | USB-C |
| Operating System | Android 14 and One UI 6.1 |
| Front camera | 12MP, f/2.2 |
| Rear camera | 50MP, f/1.8, OIS main; 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide; 10MP, f/2.4 zoom (3x) |
| Dimensions | 147.1 x 70.6 x 7.6mm |
| Display type | AMOLED, 120Hz |
| Weight | 168g |
| Charge speed | 25W |
| IP Rating | IP68 |
| Stylus | No |
| Display dimensions | 6.2" |
| Charge options | USB-C wired, Qi wireless |
| Cellular connectivity | 4G, 5G (incl. mmWave) |
| Wi-Fi connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 |
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