Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series launched earlier this year, instantly becoming the go-to set of Android smartphones for many people.
We were impressed with the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, but there’s room for improvement on all three handsets.
That makes the prospect of the Galaxy S24 series very exciting. And with lots of rumours already flying around, we already have a decent idea of what to expect. Here’s everything you need to know.
When will the Samsung Galaxy S24 be released?
As expected, Samsung is yet to confirm a date for the Galaxy S24 unveiling at this stage. But the company has a pretty steady release schedule for its devices, so it seems likely that we’ll see the new model in February 2024.
To see why, here’s when recent S-series flagships made their debuts:
- Samsung Galaxy S23 – February 2023
- Samsung Galaxy S22 – February 2022
- Samsung Galaxy S21 – January 2021
The S21 actually came out at the end of January, so it’s not much of a blip when it comes to the schedule. We don’t see any reason Samsung would need to delay or establish a new release window in 2024, so expect the Galaxy S24 to appear when February next rolls around.
How much will the Samsung Galaxy S24 cost?
We’re not sure of the exact price yet, but we can make good guesses based on the prices of previous models:
Regular model
- Galaxy S23: $799/£849/€959
- Galaxy S22: $799/£769/€879
- Galaxy S21: $799/£769/€849
Plus model
- Galaxy S23+: $999/£1,049/€1,219
- Galaxy S22+: $999/£949/€1,079
- Galaxy S21+: $999/£949/€1,049
Ultra model
- Galaxy S23 Ultra: $1,199/£1,249/€1,419
- Galaxy S22 Ultra: $1,199/£1,149/€1,279
- Galaxy S21 Ultra: $1,299/£1,149/€1,249
As you can see, Samsung seems to have settled around remarkably consistent pricing in the US, with only slightly more variation elsewhere – mostly price hikes in the UK and Europe this year, driven by inflation. Let’s hope the company can avoid raising rates for two years in a row.
What about the Samsung Galaxy S24 specs and features?
As Samsung hasn’t released any details about the S24 line yet, we don’t have any confirmed upgrades at the time of writing. Of course, that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill from doing its thing, and several leaks have already appeared which suggest Samsung fans could have something to look forward to, especially in the Ultra.
Design
It doesn’t look like there’ll be any major changes to the design of the S24 and S24 Plus.
Leaker Tech_Reve tweeted in May that they’ll “keep the same design as their predecessors,” and we’ve heard nothing else to the contrary.
But according to Forbes, the S24 Ultra may shift to a titanium build, joining the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max in using the material.
Ice Universe also believes the curved screen may be ditched in favour of a flat one:
This wouldn’t be a huge change: Samsung has gradually been moving away from curved panels in recent years. But it might make the S24 Ultra easier to hold.
There may also be one major change to the back: a drop from four camera lenses to three. We’ll explain that further down.
Chipsets
As you’d expect from a flagship phone, the processor inside will be from the very top drawer. It seems most likely that the S24 will come with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which should have launched by then. SamMobile reports that the new processor could have a GPU that’s 50% faster than the one in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that powers the S23 series.
Then again, that isn’t guaranteed, as our own Henry Burrell discovered when he interviewed Won-Joon Choi, Samsung’s Executive Vice President, Mobile R&D at Mobile World Congress this year. During the discussion it was revealed that Samsung wouldn’t rule out a return to the Exynos processors that the company has deployed in its non-US models for a number of years. It’s not set in stone, so only time will tell.
According to leaker Tech_Reve, the S24 and S24+ will be available with both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Exynos 2400 (likely dependent on region), but the S24 Ultra will only be sold with the Qualcomm chip:
Display
Samsung currently uses 120Hz panels on all three Galaxy S23 phones, but according to a leak by SamLover, this could be upgraded to 144Hz with the S24 Ultra. This should make the device silky smooth when scrolling, plus open up all that power and make it a dream for mobile gamers.
Elsewhere, according to Ice Universe, the S24+ will join the S24 Ultra in getting a higher-quality WQHD+ resolution:
Cameras
The cameras on the Galaxy S23 phones are already impressive, and unfortunately it looks like Samsung may be using that as an excuse to not change much – at least in the Ultra.
We’ve heard slightly conflicting reports here. Leaker Ice Universe shared a report on the rear camera specs for the Ultra model in June, showing four lenses that are almost entirely unchanged from the previous generation. In fact, the only hardware change was to the 10x telephoto, which is apparently switching to the IMX754+ sensor – but only after previously using the very similar IMX754.
This report is in contrast to claims from other leakers that Samsung is planning to drop down to three rear lenses on the Ultra. RGcloudS first reported that Samsung was planning to drop one lens, combining the 3x and 10x telephotos into a single variable zoom lens.
SamMobile has instead reported that Samsung will adopt a 5x optical lens for the Ultra, which seems to be a natural midpoint. Ice Universe now agrees, describing it as “the truth”.
But rival leaker Tech_Reve previously disputed that claim, so leakers remain divided on what to expect from the S24 Ultra camera array.
Elsewhere, in a now-deleted news article (reported by GSMArena), Samsung appeared to describe 200Mp telephoto cameras as “the next big thing in smartphone photography”. Does that mean we’ll see one on the Galaxy S24 Ultra? It’s looking unlikely, with no concrete plans mentioned in the article.
Battery and charging
With all the power that the Samsung S24 is bound to have on tap, it will need an efficient and capacious battery inside to keep the show on the road. This shouldn’t be a problem if a report from GSMArena turns out to be true. This states that Samsung is working on a new stacked battery design that is inspired by electric vehicles.
This would allow a higher density cell to be squeezed into the same space as the older ones, giving an instant boost that would mean longer times between recharging. If Samsung can pull it off, then expect to see this becoming the norm in the industry over the coming years.
Charging speeds are one of the key weaknesses of the 2023 phones, with the S23 limited to 25W and S23 Plus and Ultra maxing out at 45W. But according to RGCloud5, a leaker with a generally good track record, we can expect charging to peak at 65W:
However, it looks like this might only be for the S24 Ultra. It’s not clear how fast the regular S24 and S24 Plus will charge.
The X post above also suggests the S24 Ultra will stay with a 5000mAh battery, but that it’ll be joined at that capacity by the Plus (from the current 4700mAh). There’s no word on if we’ll see an improvement to the regular S23’s 3700mAh cell.
Software
The S24 series will no doubt ship running Android 14 along with the latest version of Samsung’s One UI software, and a generous software support guarantee.
One extra thing it will get is Google. By which we mean, Samsung has reportedly decided to stick with Google as the phones’ default search partner, after making headlines by mooting a switch to Bing.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung held an internal review which decided in favour of Google, on the basis that a switch might confuse users and sour the relationship with the Big G.
That’s all we’ve found so far but be sure to check back regularly as we’ll be updating this article as more information comes to light. Until then, take a look at our currently picks of the best Android phones, plus the best phones coming in 2023 and beyond.