Samsung Galaxy S24 range brings new chips, AI, and better cameras

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Samsung took the curtains off the Galaxy S24 series today, and the powerful smartphones are heavily leaning into AI features.

From editing tools to easier search and on-device translation, they’re full of handy features that will make life a little easier.

They also come with a new chipset, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy that promises more power while being more efficient so battery life should improve.

Here’s what to know.

The Galaxy S24 series is now official

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are now official and have minor upgrades on the outside. The real improvements are under the hood, with Galaxy AI features everywhere.

The screens are slightly increased in size by 0.1 inches, so that’s 6.2 inches for the S24 and 6.7 inches for the S24+. They’re also brighter, with 2,600 nits of peak brightness, and the S24+ gets a 1440p resolution (up from 1080p).

You get a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3x telephoto. Those are the same cameras from the S23, which were already pretty good.

While the camera hardware is unchanged from last year, both phones get a host of AI-powered editing tricks and better support for HDR photographs.

That includes the Photos app, which analyzes photos as you browse and suggests edits to make them better based on the composition and subject in the frame.

In the US, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy powers both phones, with the Exynos 2400 for Galaxy chip being used elsewhere, paired with 8GB of RAM on the S24 and 12GB on the S24+.

Battery size is also increased slightly over last year’s series, with 4,000mAh for the S24 and 4,900mAh for the S24+.

And all three Galaxy S24 handsets promise seven generations of operating system updates, and seven years of security updates.

Galaxy S24 Ultra

The flagship of flagships, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is more phone than most people needs, but that’s kind of the point.

This year, Samsung used titanium for the case for durability reasons and not to save much in weight. You also get Wi-Fi 7, which will give better connectivity when used with compatible networking gear.

The 6.8-inch screen is now flat, finally dropping the curved glass edges that it kept from the Note series. That’s a good thing, making the phone look better and easier to write on with the S Pen.

The other big change? The 10x zoom from the S23 Ultra is gone, replaced with a 50-megapixel 5x zoom that should give you better images.

The other three cameras are unchanged, with a 200MP main, a 10MP 3x telephoto, and a 12MP ultrawide. The selfie camera is still at 12MP.

It’s powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, which will be the case wherever the S24 Ultra is purchased.

The other two S24 models are using that chipset in the US, and Exynos chips everywhere else.

New AI features

Every model in the Galaxy S24 series is chock-full of AI, for good or for ill. They use a mix of local and cloud-based AI, and Google’s Gemini AI (also found on the Pixel 8 Pro) runs on-device.

These power multiple new tools from image and video editing to real-time translation, either in calls or in messaging apps.

And a new Circle to Search feature makes it easier than ever to find out information about something you just saw or read, without having to figure out keywords for search.

Preorders are live for the Galaxy S24 series

The Galaxy S24 starts from $799.99 for 128GB of storage, with preorders coming with a host of benefits including a free storage upgrade to the next tier and up to $100 of Samsung Credit.

The Galaxy S24+ starts from $999.99 for 256GB of storage, including the same preorder benefits as the S24.

Both devices come in Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow, and Samsung-exclusive colors of Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, and Sandstone Orange.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra starts from $1,299.99 for 256GB of storage, and is available in Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet, and Titanium Yellow; plus Titanium Green, Titanium Blue, and Titanium Orange available only on Samsung.com.

You can check out the best preorder deals for the Galaxy S24 series to find your preferred retailer.

Devices will be widely available starting January 31, which is also when preordered devices should ship.

Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• YouTube is punishing ad-block users with longer load times
• AI’s rise could put 40% of global jobs at risk
• Microsoft introduces Copilot Pro, a $20/month AI assistant
• Groundbreaking technique reveals fingerprints in stunning 3D detail