Samsung Galaxy S24: news, rumored price, release date, and more

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It was a busy year for Samsung. At the beginning of 2023, the company launched its Galaxy S23 series. And this past summer, we got the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 — two of the year’s best folding phones. However, it is never too early to anticipate the company’s next lineup of smartphones. If Samsung sticks to its previous calendar schedule, we can expect to see the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra announced early in 2024.

What can we expect from these phones regarding their specs, design, price, and more? Let’s look at everything we know (so far) about the Samsung Galaxy S24.

Samsung Galaxy S24: release date

If you can’t wait any longer for the Galaxy S24 series to release, we have good news: You don’t have much more time to go!

On January 2, Samsung sent out press invites for its next Galaxy Unpacked event, which is happening on Wednesday, January 17, in San Jose, California. The event starts at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET, and you’ll be able to watch a livestream on Samsung’s website and on YouTube.

The invite shows three star-like shapes in a gray color, and while it doesn’t look like much at first, it’s likely teasing a couple of things. For starters, the color is likely a nod at the gray titanium finish that’s rumored for the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Second, the shapes appear to tease the logo for Samsung’s upcoming “Galaxy AI” artificial intelligence features, which you can read more about below.

We expect Samsung will announce the Galaxy S24 series on January 17, with preorders and official sales likely to follow shortly after.

If you aren’t sure if you should buy a Galaxy S23 now or wait a few more days for the S24 series, we have some advice that should be quite helpful.

Samsung Galaxy S24: price

Prices for Samsung’s Galaxy handsets have been mostly stable in recent years, with the entry-level S23 model starting at $800 in the U.S., the S23 Plus model starting at $1,000, and the S23 Ultra model starting at around $1,200.

It looks like Samsung is en route to keep the same pricing for the S24 series as before, unlike competitors like Apple and Google raising prices by $100 for the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Google Pixel 8 series. This means that the base model Galaxy S24 will start at $800, the S24 Plus will begin at $1,000, and the flagship S24 Ultra will be at least $1,200. They’ll still be expensive phones, but we’ll never complain about not having to deal with a price increase.

That said, at least one report claims that the Galaxy S24 series could be cheaper than the S23 lineup. According to Galaxy Club, the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus will be 50 euros cheaper than their S23 counterparts, while the S24 Ultra will be 50 euros more expensive. Although European pricing doesn’t directly translate to the U.S. market, theoretical S24 pricing — by this logic — could work out as follows:

• Galaxy S24: $750

• Galaxy S24 Plus: $950

• Galaxy S24 Ultra: $1,250

This is a hard one to pin down without confirmation from Samsung, so we’ll have to just wait until January 17 to know for certain what’s happening here.

Samsung Galaxy S24: design

A few rumors in recent months have suggested there will be a few changes on the design front for the S24 series. In September, Smartprix (in collaboration with @OnLeaks) shared purported renders showing the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Ultra. We also received Galaxy S24 Plus renders from GizNext in early October.

If the renders are correct, we’ll see flat screens this time, with no curved edges like in previous generations. Because there’s no more curved glass, expect ever-slimmer bezels, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra possibly having the slimmest bezels to date for a Samsung smartphone. Beyond this, the S24 series could look very similar to the S23 series. Again, according to Smartprix, the S24 Ultra is expected to have flat metallic side rails with rounded edges — just like the S23 Ultra.

Like the iPhone 15 Pro series, the Galaxy S24 Ultra could feature a titanium frame for the first time, according to The Elec. This would undoubtedly bring the weight of the Galaxy S24 Ultra down considerably, perhaps as much as 10%. The other two versions of the S24 could use Armor Aluminum 2.0, according to Evan Blass.

It should be noted, however, that overall, the designs for the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra should be strikingly similar to the current models (via @Tech_Reve).

We received the “best look yet” of the Galaxy S24 series early in December — specifically, a few new renders that look like leaked marketing images of the phones. The only two key changes are a different material for the frame of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and a couple of new colors. One of the more noteworthy things is the new yellow color for the S24 Ultra, which looks stunning.

A leak from @MysteryLupin on X (formerly Twitter) also reveals several colorways for the S24 series. It looks like we’ll have the typical black and gray colors, yellow and violet colors. Another report from @rquandt shows more potential S24 colorways through SIM card tray parts for the S24 and S24 Plus. These leaked SIM card trays reveal a violet-like purple, though another one appears in a vibrant orange or rose-gold-like shade. This may also indicate some Samsung.com exclusive colors, which were graphite and lime green for the S23 series.

Ross Young, a leaker who has been correct on color predictions in the past, seems to think that the S24 series will come in the following colors: black, gray, violet, and yellow, with some Samsung-exclusive shades of orange, light blue, and light green.

A leak from December 29 revealed even higher-resolution photos of the entire Galaxy S24 series. The above renders don’t reveal anything we didn’t already know about the phones, but they are among the best leaked S24 images you’ll find on the internet.

Samsung Galaxy S24: specs

We’ve seen a few other key specs about this year’s phones get leaked. When talking about specs and rumors, it’s always important to note that there could be some variance from the actual specs, especially this far out from their release. However, the actual specs should come to light as we get closer to the big reveal.

On X, formerly Twitter, Ice Universe noted that the Galaxy S24 Ultra should feature a 6.8-inch WQHD display with a 1440p resolution. Evan Blass, another leaker, has also revealed that the S24 Plus will have a 6.7-inch screen, and the regular S24 will be 6.2 inches. Blass also notes that all three displays will be Dynamic AMOLED 2X QHD+ and max out at 2,600 nits of peak brightness. Notice these are bigger screens than the 6.1-inch S23 and 6.6-inch S23 Plus.

One of the biggest surprises about the S23 series is that Samsung didn’t use its Exynos chipsets in any models. Instead, it used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip across the board. For the S24 series, Samsung could return to form and partially use Exynos chipsets alongside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.

This news came from Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon (via The Elec), who claims the processor used will vary by region for both the S24 and S24 Plus models. The S24 Ultra, however, will use a Qualcomm chip everywhere the model is sold.

Samsung Galaxy S24: cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra seems to be getting a big camera upgrade. User @chunvn8888 on X (formerly Twitter) leaked what looks to be a rear quad camera setup for the S24 Ultra, which would contain a 200MP main camera, 50MP and 10MP telephoto cameras, and a 12MP ultrawide camera. These cameras would also have improved sensors as well, even the 200MP main lens.

There were previous reports that the maximum zoom could drop down to 5x with a higher sensor resolution, but it looks like Samsung will keep the 10x sensor, in addition to a new 5x option, according to a report from The Elec.

Another leak from Evan Blass (@evleaks on X) revealed the camera specs for the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, which would be a 50MP main lens with 2x and 3x dual telephoto lenses and 30x Space Zoom. The leaker also corroborates the previous reports of the S24 Ultra getting a 200MP main camera, along with 2x, 3x, 5x, and 10x quad telephoto lenses and 100x maximum zoom.

However, the images that were originally in Blass’ tweet have since been pulled due to copyright issues.

There could also be an Instagram camera shortcut on the Galaxy S24 series.

Samsung Galaxy S24: battery

Typically, but not always, the larger a smartphone’s battery, the longer its battery life. If this holds into 2024, all three Galaxy S24 models could see improvements.

According to Dutch news outlet Galaxy Club, the Galaxy S24 will have a 4,000 mAh battery, matching the one used on the Galaxy S21. The Galaxy S22 and S23 have 3,700 mAh and 3,900 mAh batteries, respectively.

Over on the S24 Plus, we could see a 4,900 mAh battery, which compares very nicely to the S23 Plus’ 4,700 mAh cell. Meanwhile, rumors suggest the S24 Ultra will remain the same at 5,000 mAh.

Samsung Galaxy S24: software and updates

Finally, when it comes to software, the entire Galaxy S24 series should launch with Android 14 preinstalled with either Samsung One UI 6 or 6.1. The Android 14 update has just started to arrive for the S23 series.

What will be interesting to see is how many years of Android updates Samsung will promise for the S24. For the Galaxy S23, Samsung offers a respectable four years of Android updates. However, this doesn’t come close to what Google is promising with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro — at least seven years of support. Will Samsung match this? It’s hard to say for sure, but we certainly hope so.

Samsung Galaxy S24: artificial intelligence

According to the Korea Times, the Galaxy S24 series is expected to have a new feature called Samsung Gauss, a proprietary generative AI model. Samsung showcased Gauss in early November, and the model partially runs locally on a device. It is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, a legendary mathematician who established the normal distribution theory.

Samsung Gauss has three components: Samsung Gauss Language, which can generate text, translate languages, and answer questions; Samsung Gauss Code, which makes it easier for developers to write and edit code; and Samsung Gauss Image, a tool for generating images. Gauss would be a very interesting addition to the Galaxy S24 family, and in a world dominated by ChatGPT, Google Bard, and other AI apps, it wouldn’t be surprising in the least.

New reports give us even more of an idea of what to expect with Samsung’s AI elements in the S24 series. One of the confirmed AI features will be real-time phone call translation. Another leak indicates there will be generative AI wallpaper similar to what we already have on the Google Pixel 8 series. It looks similar to what Google has on the Pixel 8 because it relies on Google’s AI engine. If that’s the case, it will also have the same limitations as the feature on the Pixel 8, which restricts you to specific themes and categories for the prompts.

Using AI, Samsung will also have a photo editing tool that will work similarly to Google’s Magic Editor, allowing you to move people, pets, and objects in the Samsung Gallery app. You could take things a step further and even drag subjects from one image to another.

Other possible enhancements with AI include Samsung Notes, which would have an AI-powered auto-format feature, converting blocks of text into bullet point lists to flow better when necessary. There may also be new weather and portrait effects on the lock screen with Samsung One UI 6.1.