What we want to see

While demand for smartphones is fairly soft right now, Samsung says its Galaxy S23 lineup has been floating the business along. As we pass the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Fold 5 and head into the back half of 2023, our attention now turns to the Galaxy S24 releases. The rumour mill is fully alive for this one, and here’s what we’ve learned so far.

Galaxy S24 release: pricing and date?

• Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra expected
• Announcement in Q1 2024

Currently, Samsung is expected to stick with a three-device push for its Galaxy S24 series: the standard package Galaxy S24, the slightly roomier S24+, and the top-of-the-line S24 Ultra. At the start of this year, there was a short moment when the Plus model’s existence was doubted, but a later report from GSMArena affirmed that the triple-prong strategy would remain intact.

There’s no suggestion on any pricing just yet. For context, the Galaxy S23 sold for $799.99 and up at launch, the S23+ was $999.99, and the S23 Ultra started at $1,199.99.

It’s pretty much become an annual tradition for Galaxy S announcements to happen in the month of February, though 2021 was a recent exception – that Unpacked event was slotted for January 14. Shipments and retail availability would begin a couple of weeks afterward. This may intertwine with the Galaxy S23 FE, which could still be on the way.

If you’re not keen on waiting that long to upgrade to a Galaxy S device, you might want to consider a Galaxy S23 series device in the meantime. We’ve given all three devices high marks in our reviews.

Galaxy S24 specs: Is Exynos coming back?

Samsung

• Exynos 2400 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
• 8GB RAM on all models, 12GB option presumed on Ultra

The defining feature of Samsung’s Galaxy S23 devices (as well as the Flip 5 and Fold 5) is that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset was on every phone sold worldwide. In past years, several markets – many in Europe – received Galaxy S units running with a Samsung-made Exynos SoC that almost always seemed to perform worse or misbehave in areas the Snapdragon would not. By all current indications, it seems Samsung will return to a dual-chip distribution model for the Galaxy S24 series.

That said, Samsung seems to be putting in the arm grease to make the upcoming Exynos 2400 chip worth using. @Tech_Reve on Twitter (aka X) claims it will have a ten-core configuration running on the newer ARMv9 architecture and new AMD graphics hardware.

It’s not to say that it won’t still pale in comparison with what we expect to be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Early Geekbench results for an S24+, as spotted by MySmartPrice, point to major uplifts in single-core and multi-core performance from even the Gen 2 with gains of 17% (2,233) and 33% (6,661) on average. Other stats signal a few surprises on RAM (8GB standard with a presumed 12GB option on the Ultra) and software (Android 14, perhaps with One UI 6 or 6.1).

Galaxy S24 cameras: Shifting focus on the Ultra?

• S24 and S24+ to star Samsung’s own ISOCELL GN3
• S24 Ultra may replace its dedicated telephoto camera

We’ve gotten used to seeing three cameras in the rear – a wide sensor, an ultrawide, and a telephoto unit – and as far as we can tell, Samsung won’t be changing the basic camera setup on the Galaxy S24 and S24+. In another tweet from @Tech_Reve, we hear that Samsung will use its 50MP ISOCELL GN3 sensor as the lead camera on those two phones. That means no change from the S23 on there.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a different story, however: the dedicated telephoto camera could be traded away for a “folded telephoto” unit with a zoom factor of 3x to 10x. It’s unclear if this is meant to signify the presence of a periscope mechanism or a super-resolution sensor utilizing “hybrid zoom” technology with information from the other cameras. Also up in the air is how this relates to the giant 200MP sensor that was on the S23. @Tech_Reve implies that hardware is sticking around for the Galaxy S24 Ultra and will only be replaced with the Galaxy S25.

Samsung Galaxy S24: What we want to see

We haven’t seen any renders or leaks about the designs and displays on the Galaxy S24 series, but we think a little change is a safe bet to place.

Over the past few years, Samsung has remained fairly consistent on sizing: the S22 and S23 had displays spanning 6.1 inches, while their respective Plus models went up to 6.6 inches. The S22 and S23 Ultra devices pushed the limits with 6.8-inch screens. We think it’s only fair that if other specifications we’ve gathered so far about the S24 and S24+ haven’t moved the needle, their designs won’t be, either. We only have a tinge of doubt concerning the S24 Ultra and the new telephoto camera it might have – real hardware changes could necessitate a larger blueprint.

On specs, it’s somewhat unfortunate that we’re seeing Samsung stagnate on internals, especially if Exynos is coming back to certain markets. We would need to see 12GB of RAM standard for all S24 models if Samsung wanted to inspire some confidence with critics. And we would love to see the company ditch its 128GB UFS 3.1 disk on the Galaxy S24 after keeping it on for the S23 – the S23+ moved up its base option to 256GB UFS 4.0 with no year-to-year change in pricing.

Galaxy S24: The story so far

Here’s a timeline of the stories we’ve included in this hub.

31 July 2023: Galaxy S24+ benchmarked with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset

Geekbench results indicate that a Galaxy S24+ may have been tested with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and Android 14.

24 July 2023: Samsung might make a shock return to Exynos for the Galaxy S23 FE and Galaxy S24 models

Pocket-lint is told by reliable sources that the Exynos chip will return to distribution (in a similar hybrid fashion complementing Qualcomm SoCs to previous years) with Galaxy S devices in 2024.

20 April 2023: Samsung Galaxy S24 could get a massive boost in performance with this new chip

More word from @Tech_Reve that the Exynos 2400 chipset will come stocked with upgrades.

14 April 2023: Galaxy S24 Ultra could have one camera downgrade from the S23 Ultra

@Tech_Reve suggests the telephoto camera on the S24 Ultra could be out of the picture.

11 January 2023: Galaxy S24+ could be off the table

Korean publication The Elec (via GSMArena) suggested that the mid-size Plus model was at risk of being dropped from the S24 lineup, though the potential for its inclusion remained.