Samsung: Galaxy S24 Rumoured Released Date, Spec and Price 

–Richard Priday

With a rumored launch date now floating around, details surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S24 are coming into sharper focus. We’re expecting an earlier-than-usual launch for Samsung’s flagship phone, so the pace of rumors has picked up considerably, as Samsung looks to best the S24’s well-regarded predecessor.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 series  which includes the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra  not only features some of the best Samsung phones, but also the best Android phones and best phones overall that we’ve tested. Still, as our early Galaxy S24 vs. Galaxy S23 comparison reveals, the Galaxy S24 sounds like it’ll improve on these already capable handsets with enhanced performance, better camera hardware and more.

We’ve rounded up the rumors so far for the Galaxy S24 series below, and we’ll keep updating this page as more appear. We’ve also included the changes we’d like the Galaxy S24 to make from the S23, so if any Samsung engineers are reading, we hope you’ll consider our notes.

That would mean an early January launch event, though later rumors claim that the event will actually happen in mid-January at the earliest. A late January launch isn’t out of the question, but it looks like the phone won’t arrive until after CES has concluded.

That latest Galaxy S24 release date rumor has the phone arriving on January 17 at a launch event in San Jose, Calif. It that’s the actual date and not just a rumor, we would expect the new phones to hit retail shelves before the end of January.

A Thai regulatory listing for the Galaxy S24 Ultra has been discovered too. This isn’t direct evidence of a launch happening soon, but this presumably means Samsung’s started producing the final S24 units ready for sale, so launch can’t be far off.

Whenever it arrives, the new S24 phones may share the stage with other new Samsung gizmos, like how the Galaxy S23 arrived with the Galaxy Book 3 series this year, but we’d imagine the event would still be focused primarily on the new phones.

Pricing is still a mystery but we’d expect Samsung to keep the phones at their current $799, $999 and $1,199 price points. There’s a rumor that hints to unchanged prices for the new phones, mainly because of how Samsung is believed to use a mixture of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Exynos 2400 chips to prevent price increases.

We hope for this in particular for the U.K. and Australian markets, since the Galaxy S23 was slightly more expensive than the Galaxy S22 at £849/£1,049/£1,249 and AU$1,349/AU$1,649/AU$1,949 respectively.

Samsung Galaxy S24: Design

We’re presuming Samsung will keep its three-part Galaxy S lineup intact with the Galaxy S24. That would mean the new range would probably consist of a 6.1-inch standard model, a 6.6-inch Galaxy S24 Plus and a 6.8-inch Galaxy S24 Ultra.

It’s possible however that the Galaxy S24 Plus will be a touch larger. A 0.05-inch increase may not sound like much, but it could have a big impact on other features too, since a larger display likely means a larger body too.

Leaker Tech_Reve claims that the S24 and S24 Plus will keep the same design as their S23 counterparts. But Samsung has been tweaking the design of its phones slightly each year, which means they may not be identical. What’s more, the same source claiming the Galaxy S23 Plus will have a larger screen also thinks the Galaxy S24 Ultra (or possibly all models) could feature titanium sides, echoing what Apple did with the iPhone 15 Pro models this fall.

We’re not sure how the design might evolve for the Galaxy S24 series, but we’d still likely see curved corners and flat sides on the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra keeping the spirit of the Galaxy Note alive with curved edges and right-angled corners, plus alleged titanium side rails on at least the Ultra model, if not all versions.

Despite titanium being a heavier metal than the aluminum that Samsung currently uses on its flagship phones, the Galaxy S24 Ultra should be slightly lighter than the Galaxy S23 Ultra, says leaker Ice Universe.

Galaxy S24 dummy units indicate that the S24 Ultra could be less curved around its edges than the S23 Ultra, news that will please fans of flat screens. There may also be a redesigned camera set-up, perhaps due to the rumored changes which you can read more on below.

We haven’t heard too many color rumors about the Galaxy S24 yet, but Windows Report said in a report accompanying those leaked images that the main S24 is likely to appear in Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet and Amber Yellow. A separate rumor claims the Galaxy S24 Ultra could come in black, gray, violet and yellow colors echoed by the Windows Report leak.

Samsung Galaxy S24: Display

For the displays themselves, we should see AMOLED panels and a 120Hz max refresh rate on all models, but a 48Hz minimum refresh on regular and Plus, while a more efficient 1Hz minimum on the Ultra. However according to Ice Universe, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ could finally get the Ultra treatment and come with LTPO displays, the technology that would enable them to use fully adaptive refresh rates like the Ultra. Meanwhile, we’re hearing that the Galaxy S24 Ultra could have an incredibly bright display, potentially as high as 2,800 nits, while the Galaxy S24 Plus could still reach a respectable 2,500 nits.

The Galaxy S24 Plus could also get a bump to a QHD resolution, rather than the Galaxy S23 Plus’ FHD resolution. That should make the difference between the Galaxy S24 Plus and the basic Galaxy S24 larger, but the one between the S24 Plus and the Galaxy S24 Ultra considerably smaller.

Samsung could increase screen real estate in another way — multiple leakers tip the Galaxy S24 to feature narrower bezels. And it’ll hopefully be a tougher panel as well thanks to a new type of toughened glass.

Samsung Galaxy S24: Cameras

There aren’t many changes rumored for the standard Galaxy S24 models’ cameras yet. The one big rumor that has emerged though claims that we’ll see the same 50MP cameras from the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus on the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus. We’d expect the remaining 12MP ultrawide/10MP 3x telephoto/12MP selfie sensors from the S23 models to appear on the equivalent S24 models too, and in fact we’ve more recently heard that the 12MP selfie camera is indeed sticking around.

We should apparently expect no change from the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200MP main either, and likely none to the 12MP ultrawide or 12MP selfie cameras. However one rumor claims the Ultra’s camera sensor will be 1-inch in size, which would make it one of the largest on the market and larger than the sensor rumored to be coming to iPhone 15 Pro Max

Something could also be happening to one or both of its 10MP telephoto cameras as part of the Galaxy S24 Ultra upgrade.

The S24 Ultra’s telephoto cameras could gain enhanced abilities thanks to a longer zoom, improved optics, a larger sensor and a wider aperture for brighter images, says leaker RGcloudS. That could result in a maximum zoom of up to 150x (currently 100x on the Ultra) and more impressively variable zoom. However, we have since heard 100x zoom will again be the Ultra model’s maximum.

A second source backs up the presence of hybrid zoom capable of switching between 3x and 10x optical zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. This would be able to adjust the magnification level of the camera without resorting to cropping pixels, similar to what you get on the Sony Xperia 1 IV.

Whatever changes Samsung ends up making to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, at least one leaker is expecting big things from the telephoto lens. “I have full confidence that the Galaxy S24 Ultra has improved the performance of the 3x camera, which means that the image quality of 3x~10x will bring a significant improvement,” IceUniverse tweeted in August, later clarifying that he thinks the boost will come from a new 50MP sensor.

Another leaker, Yogesh Brar, expects a 50MP telephoto lens with a 3x zoom to replace the 3X telephoto camera on the S23 Ultra; a second 10MP camera with a 10x zoom would remain. Ice Universe has a different take on this, saying the 50MP camera could be used in a new 5x telephoto camera, with the current 3x telephoto camera staying as it is.

The Galaxy S24 could feature a tie-in to a popular camera app. Uncovered code in the latest version of Instagram hints that S24 owners will be able to place a shortcut to the Instagram camera on their lock screens. The feature would simplify the process of launching Instagram, so you can jump right into capturing images or videos to post on the social media service.

A recent leak about the changes to the camera specs on the Galaxy S24 Ultra has supposedly confirmed the inclusion of the 50MP 5x telephoto lens. The same leak stated that the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus will potentially have the same set of cameras as each other.

Meanwhile behind the sensors, the Galaxy S24’s AI smarts could allow it to produce more realistic images, perhaps giving the phones a chance to land on our best camera phones guide.

Samsung Galaxy S24: Specs and performance

Qualcomm debuted the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in October, and it promises a 30% performance boost from its CPU and 25% faster graphics rendering from its GPU. Power efficiency for the CPU and GPU are improving by 20% and 10%, respectively, Qualcomm says. It’s expected the Galaxy S24 Ultra will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

It’s less clear what Samsung will do with other phones in the S24 series. All three Galaxy S23 models used the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip regardless of which market they were released in — previously Galaxy S phones would feature Exynos silicon in some parts of the world. Reports indicate Samsung is going back to that split-chipset approach with the Galaxy S24.

Specifically, rumors suggest the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus would feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the U.S. while using the Exynos 2400 system-on-chip in other parts of the world such as Europe. Adding to the lack of calrity, a report claimed that Samsung would once again use an optimized version of the Snapdragon chipset as it had with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but only the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Plus would run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The standard Galaxy S24 would feature an Exynos chipset.

For what it’s worth, regulatory filings in the U.S. indicate that all Galaxy S24 models sold in that country will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 running the show.

While past Exynos-powered Galaxy S models never lived up to their Snapdragon-powered counterparts, Samsung appears to be working to close that gap. Leaked Geekbench benchmarks indicate the Exynos 2400 posting better multicore results than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and A16 Bionic from Apple, but that it’s unable to beat the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15, or the rumored results for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.

Samsung has claimed that the GPU in the Exynos 2400 will be able outperform the A17 Pro. We won’t be able to test this claim until we can get our hands on a phone with the chip, and so far none have been released.

Benchmarks leaking in early November showed a Snapdragon-powered device thought to be the Galaxy S24 Ultra posting Geekbench multicore scores that trail the iPhone 15 Pro Max by only 3% — a significant gain compared to past Galaxy/iPhone comparisons. Those same benchmarks showed an Exynos 2400-powered device — likely the Galaxy S24 — finishing ahead of the A16 Bionic-powered iPhone 15 in Geekbench’s multicore test as well, though the Exynos chip still lags the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

For RAM, it’s claimed that the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus will offer 12GB of RAM, instead of the 8GB found in the S23 models. However, it may be that you need to pay up for the more expensive storage variants to get access to the extra RAM. Another leaker has corroborated the RAM increase, while also claiming the S24 Ultra will offer 16GB of RAM. More recent reports say that the 16GB RAM model won’t happen, and in fact the whole Galaxy S24 series may come with the same 8-12GB of RAM as the Galaxy S23 series.

The same leaker tips the standard Galaxy S24 model to join the Plus and Ultra variants in offering 256GB of storage with the base model. This has been corroborated by other sources, and we hope that claim’s true. However we’d like to see leakers with more established track records making that claim before we fully believe it.

We’ve got a rundown of the Galaxy S24 specs based on all the rumors we’ve heard to date.

Samsung Galaxy S24: AI

AI-powered features are all the talk of smartphones these days, and Samsung appears to be putting its own efforts forward. A report out of Korea suggests the phone maker will integrate AI into the Galaxy S24 series, creating experiences much like the ones Google features on the Pixel phones powered by its own Tensor chipsets.

Specifically, the generative AI on board the Galaxy S24 is set to be called Samsung Gauss. Reportedly, it will power features like the ability to summarize documents, translate content in third-party apps and help you compose e-mails, among other capabilities.

One report has suggested that Samsung will charge a subscription fee for its AI-powered features, though we’re not sure how much stock to put into that claim. If anything, that seems like an odd strategy if you want to get people excited about the AI features on your smartphone.

A leak around OneUI 6.1 claims to have revealed a bunch of new AI-centric features for the Galaxy S24 series. These features include AI generated wallpapers, automatic organization in Samsung notes, live AI translation during calls, voice isolation, and a number of photo-editing abilities that seem rather similar to those found on Google Pixels.

Photo editing will let you relocate objects in a scene, much like Google’s Magic Editor and expand a photo beyond its original borders. That’s on top of making it easier to move subjects between pictures as easy as copy-pasting text. The phone will also be able to remember your edits, letting you leave and come back without having to start from scratch.

Not enough features for you? Another leak says you can also expect voice recording transcription support for up to ten speakers, the option to use a telephoto camera with Single Take photo/video and text generation and summary abilities.

Recent leaks indicate several new features coming to the S24’s AI capability. These include the ability to upscale videos with improved lowlight performance, as well as grain reduction and improved stability. The AI could also be able to erase subjects from videos as well as photos. Finally, it appears that the  Galaxy S24 will be able to gather important information from calls and offer options for better planning, as well as an on-device AI chatbot.

Samsung Galaxy S24: Battery life and charging

We’ve been hearing a few rumors about the Galaxy S24 Ultra and S24 Plus’s battery, particularly in terms of a brand new design. Samsung will reportedly used a stacked battery in both phones, which will offer better energy density without increasing in size. According to one report, Samsung could boost its energy density by up to 10%.

Initial rumors claimed that both the 24 Plus and S24 Ultra would retain the same 4,700 mAh and 5,000 mAh as their Galaxy S23 counterparts. However, a report on the bezels surrounding the new phones’ displays also contends that the power pack insider the Galaxy S24 Plus could increase to 4,900 mAh.

The new design may also increase the S24 Ultra’s charging speed to 65W, up from 45W. But we may not get this after all, as the S24 series has apparently already been certified for use in China, with the documents claiming there will be 25W charging on the base Galaxy S24, and 45W charging on the Plus and Ultra models.

We haven’t heard anything about the Galaxy S24, but it stands to reason that we may see the same 3,900 mAh battery for another generation. Whether the charging speed on the S24 and S24 Plus will increase from their current 25W and 45W speeds is still to be revealed.

However, it would be really nice to see faster charging across the board, especially since the iPhone 15 series is finally tipped to offer USB-C.

The OneUI 6.1update should also offer new features designed to protect the battery while charging. Basic protection stops charging when you hit 100%, only restarting things when the phone falls back to 95%. All because spending too long at 100% can be bad for long-term battery health.

Adaptive protection will limits the charge to 80% until the user is about to wake up, while Maximum protection will limit you to 80% full stop.