At its first Unpacked event of the year, Samsung unveiled what many of us had been expecting for a while: its 2024 flagship smartphone series.
Given that Samsung has been dallying with foldables for over half a decade now and getting very good at it, we have no idea for how long the traditional candy bar devices will continue being the flagships so we better enjoy this moment while it still lasts.
AI
Unlike in previous years when new Galaxy S series devices have automatically meant a significant number of hardware upgrades, this time round, it was the software that was the centre of all attention. Dubbed “Galaxy AI’, Samsung’s efforts at cashing in on the Artificial Intelligence hype train that has gripped the world since the release of the popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022 saw it rope in Google’s Gemini AI model’s help.
“Starting with the Samsung Galaxy S24 series announced today at Galaxy Unpacked in San Jose, California, Samsung will be the first Google Cloud partner to deploy Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 on Vertex AI via the cloud to their smartphone devices,” Samsung said in a statement.
The Galaxy S24 devices, namely the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra, are the first smartphones equipped with Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 on Vertex AI.
Powered by Gemini, Samsung’s new flagship phones can “can generalize and seamlessly understand, operate across, and combine different types of information including text, code, images, and video”.
“Starting with Samsung-native applications, users can take advantage of the summarization feature across Notes, Voice Recorder, and Keyboard. Gemini Pro on Vertex AI provides Samsung with critical Google Cloud features, including security, safety, privacy, and data compliance,” the statement from Samsung continues.
The aforementioned summarization features on Notes are perhaps the biggest upgrade to the S-Pen-equipped S24 Ultra’s stylus-centred functions in the current Galaxy S generation. While the Ultra does retain the stylus it got 2 years ago, the kinds of stylus-specific features we used to get in years gone by when it was largely exclusive to the discontinued Galaxy Note are no longer there. For users of the Plus and the standard model, thanks to AI, they are getting a better Notes app.
The AI-centred apps on the Galaxy S24 series extend from note-taking to interpretations when one is making or receiving a call and/or texting and there’s a language barrier to transcriptions that clearly outline what the different speakers are saying when one is using the recorder app.
Most users of the Galaxy S24 series will appreciate the devices’ new handling of popular social apps like Instagram and Snapchat: they get full access to the camera. Users can use the camera features on those apps without worrying about the reduced quality of their photos and videos.
The same night mode features, Super HDR and video stabilization will also apply when one takes a photo or video using the in-app cameras on either Instagram or Snapchat. Previously, on such social apps, the apps would a render a screenshot of the camera’s viewfinder meaning that the end result would be devoid of the superior features that users get when using the stock camera app, resulting in low quality snaps and videos and many users preferring to use the stock app and then coming to the social app, an experience that iPhone users couldn’t relate to.
In the car, when one connects their Galaxy S24 to their car’s infotainment system in order to use Android Auto, the app will automatically present the user with quick options to navigate and/or share their ETA with a contact when that contact has messaged them while on the go. Think of someone sending you a location pin when you’re driving. Currently, you have to open the messaging app, click on that link and wait for Google Maps to pick that up. No more such hustles.
Heck, there’s even a built-in Magic Eraser-like feature that will make sure that Galaxy S24 users don’t feel like they are missing anything by picking Samsung’s offering over what Google is offering with the Pixel series.
Not exclusive to the Galaxy S24 series but also sharing the spotlight with the rest of the AI features at Unpacked on Wednesday night were features that will also be making their way to other Samsung devices as well as hundreds of millions of capable Android devices over the next few months. One of these features is Circle to Search which makes visual searches, like the kind that we do today in a more manual manner using Reverse Image Search and Google Lens, a lot more easy and less cumbersome (it’s not ideal, for instance, to be in an app, see something you need to look up, take a screenshot, exit that app, go to the image gallery or fire up Lens and then look up whatever it is you wanted to).
The other features
While the focus on the new Galaxy smartphones’ AI smarts is certainly warranted, it shouldn’t take away from us that even with all these advancements, Samsung kind of gave us the same design that we saw last year with the Galaxy S23 series but with a few tweaks here and there.
For instance, the most notable design update is the departure from the curves and rounded corners that defined the Galaxy S series for long to a flat design that is more akin to what Apple has had for years going with the iPhone. A dalliance with the materials had the company birthing a Titanium Galaxy S24 that is, as can be expected of anything made of a material of that metal’s qualities, more durable, tough and corrosion-resistant. Of course, also feeling a lot more premium.
And, Exynos is back. Save for buyers of the Galaxy S24 series in Korea and the US, everywhere else on the planet, Samsung is offering the Galaxy S24+ and regular Galaxy S24 rocking the Exynos 2400 chipset. On the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is uniform no matter where one is. You can check out all the specifications here.
Pricing and availability
Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S24 series in Kenya opened on the night of 17th January – immediately after the devices were announced. The pre-order period runs through Valentine’s Day when the device will enter the open market.
Here are the (recommended retail) prices:
- Samsung Galaxy S24 – Kshs 175,000 (8GB RAM, 256GB internal storage)
- Samsung Galaxy S24+ – Kshs 190,000 (256GB), Kshs 235,000 (512GB)
- Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – Kshs 275,000 (256GB), Kshs 277,000 (512GB)
There are a bunch of rewards for pre-ordering any of the Galaxy S24 series smartphones from Samsung partners ranging from airtime and data to access to airport lounges and bonus flyer miles.
The devices can also be bought on credit or trade-in terms courtesy of arrangements that Samsung has in place with financial partners like Absa Bank, Badili and others.
At the launch event in Nairobi, Samsung said that it would automatically be offering buyers of the 256GB variants the 512GB model during the pre-order period. This is something the Korean company has done in the past in the country.