Samsung has unveiled three all-new smartphones – Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra – during its first Galaxy Unpacked event of the year. From the outside, these new handsets look largely unchanged from their predecessors, the Galaxy S23 range, which released in February 2023.
But looks can be deceiving.
While the design of these phones remains largely unchanged, Samsung has packed the Galaxy S24 series with a slew of new features, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Dubbed Galaxy AI, the upgraded software can translate incoming phone calls, write your text messages, summarise lengthy notes, and erase unwanted people from photos.
All models in the Galaxy S24 series are available to preorder now, with the first units set to drop through letterboxes and land on store shelves on January 31, 2024. We've rounded-up the best Galaxy S24 Ultra deals, so you can secure the best price on preorders.
Samsung’s Knox security system has received an upgrade with the latest entries in the Galaxy S series too, offering phone owners the option to ditch their password in favour of a fingerprint or face scan on the Galaxy S24 to login to their favourite website.
All three models of the Galaxy S24 arrive with a guaranteed seven generations of Android upgrades – given that these handsets ship with Android 14, that means phone owners will enjoy an update to Android 21 in the 2030s. Samsung has also pledged seven years of security updates to protect users from hackers and glitches for years to come.
Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra share a very similar design to their predecessors but boast all-new AI capabilities to edit photos, organise notes, and translate phone calls
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As well as extending the lifecycle of the new phones with years of guaranteed software updates, Samsung has also increased the volume of recycled material inside its handsets.
Galaxy S24 is the first Galaxy S series to be designed with recycled steel and Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU). Galaxy S24 Ultra features a minimum of 40% recycled steel in the speakers, and it includes a minimum of 10% recycled TPU in the side and volume keys.
Every Galaxy S24 comes in a packaging box made from 100% recycled paper material.
“We are thrilled to introduce the Galaxy S24 Series and lead the new era of mobile with Galaxy AI,” said James Kitto, Vice President, Head of MX Division, Samsung Electronics UK. “Our Galaxy S Series range has always been the trendsetter in providing premium mobile experiences, and we’ve taken this further with the Galaxy S24 – placing AI right into people’s hands and unleashing the power and potential of everyone that touches it. Whether you are at work, travelling, or being creative at home, Galaxy AI allows users to enhance every part of their daily lives.”
Preorders for the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra are available today, with the new smartphones set to land on store shelves and through customers’ letterboxes on January 31, 2024.
For a limited time, Samsung will double the amount of storage at no extra cost. That means you’ll be able to pocket the 512GB model for the price of 256GB for a limited time – saving up to £200.
You’ll also benefit from a free subscription to Disney+ and can discount the cost of your preorder when you trade-in your current handset to Samsung (you won’t need to send it off until the new phone arrives and you’ve safely transferred over all of your personal data).
Galaxy S24 arrives with a 6.2-inch AMOLED screen, which is 0.1-inch larger than the Galaxy S23. It’s powered by a 4,000mAh battery cell, which is 100mAh larger than its predecessor.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24+ has a 6.7-inch, which is 0.1-inch larger than Galaxy S23+. Like the smaller Galaxy S24, Samsung has fitted its larger sibling with a bigger battery this year, increasing the capacity from 4,700mAh to 4,900mAh.
Samsung is using an AMOLED screen with a variable refresh-rate on both the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+, which ranges from 1Hz to 120Hz, to provide buttery-smooth animations and conserve battery.
There’s a triple-camera system on the back of both S24 and S24+ with a 50-megapixel camera, 10-megapixel telephoto capable of lossless 3x optical zoom, and 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor. This combo offers all of the usual photo tricks you’d expect from a top-end phone, including bokeh-style blur for Portrait Mode images and video, slow-motion video capture, panoramas, and much more.
Samsung's flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra is the only model compatible with the S Pen stylus, letting users annotate documents, sign PDFs, and make handwritten notes
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The front-facing camera is a 12-megapixel, which is unchanged from last year.
But some of the biggest advances in photography for the Galaxy S24 are fuelled by the new Galaxy AI software – not the camera hardware. Upgraded Nightography capabilities will improve the quality of photos captured in low-light. You can also turn any video into a slow-motion clip, with Artificial Intelligence generating additional frames to slow action-packed moments without losing detail.
You can also move the subject of a photo, with AI filling-in the blank space left behind. Likewise, if your picture is crooked, AI can fill-in the borders. Anytime Galaxy S24 deploys generative AI to amplify or change an image, a watermark will appear on the image and in metadata – so you won’t be able to use this feature to create an untraceable falsified image.
And photography is only the beginning of what AI can do for Galaxy S24 owners. The clever code can translate your phone calls in real-time to make conversations with friends, family and colleagues who speak another language seamless. A translated transcript of the call is also available in the native phone app – no need for additional downloads, everything works out-of-the-box.
AI will help organise an over-stuffed Notes app, generating summaries and covers, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for when scrolling through the app. In messaging apps, Samsung’s new Chat Assist can advise on conversational tones to help you find the right phrase, whether you're sending a polite message to a new co-worker or writing a catchy social media caption.
When behind the wheel, Android Auto can summarise incoming messages and suggest relevant replies and actions – such as sending an updated ETA to a friend – so you won’t need to take your attention away from the road ahead.
Samsung has partnered with Google to launch a new way to gesture-driven way to search online. Dubbed Circle To Search, Galaxy S24 owners can long-press on the home button and then circle anything on-screen to search across the web. For example, you can circle the city skyline in the background of an Instagram post to find the location, circle a book cover to get shopping results, or circle an unknown actor in a Netflix show to find their IMDb page.
Galaxy S24 Ultra is the first Samsung-built phone to use titanium for its frame, following in the footsteps of the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. Samsung says the choice of material should enhance durability, while also enabling its designers to shave off a few millimetres from the thickness.
Samsung has partnered with Google to offer a new way to start a search — just draw a quick circle around anything on-screen using the S Pen to trawl the web for results
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It has an enormous 6.8-inch AMOLED display, the same size as last year. It’s compatible with the S Pen, so you can make handwritten notes, draw, sign PDFs, and annotate screenshots on-the-move.
The quadruple-camera system on the back of the S24 Ultra is a big step up compared to the standard Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+, with a massive 200-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixeland 10-megapixel telephoto sensors capable of 100x enhanced digital zoom, and 12-megapixel camera for ultra-wide shots. But on the front, the selfie camera remains the same as other models.
Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the biggest battery capacity of any of the Galaxy S24 range, tipping the scales at 5,000mAh. Fast wireless and wired charging areboth supported ...although, like most modern flagship phones, you won’t find a charger in the box.
Samsung has looked to Earth minerals to inform the new colourways available on the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra
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Prices for the Galaxy S24 Ultra start from £1,249 for a model with 256GB of built-in storage with 12GB of RAM, rising to £1,349 for 512GB of storage, and maxing-out at £1,549 for 1TB.
When it comes to the standard Galaxy S24 models, you’ll pay £799 for the entry-level Galaxy S24 with 128GB of storage. It’s the only handset in the lineup with that storage capacity.
If you want 256GB of built-in storage, you’ll need to pay £859 for the Galaxy S24, rising to £999 for the Galaxy S24+. The Galaxy S24+ is also available with 512GB of storage for £1,099.
When it comes to colours, Samsung has looked to Earth minerals for inspiration. On Galaxy S24 Ultra, you’ll be able to pick from Titanium Grey, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet and Titanium Yellow.
Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 colours include Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow. All three S24 variants come with exclusive new colours exclusively from the Samsung store.
