Samsung has been teasing and leading up to reveal their vision of Galaxy AI in smartphones. That time has come with the new Galaxy S24 series, starting first with the new S24 and S24+.
Back to the Exynos
If you’re familiar with Samsung’s strategy, they have used Qualcomm SoCs for the few countries (USA being one of them). The rest of the world (including the MENA region) got the Exynos SoC. Samsung surprised everyone last year with a Qualcomm-powered chipset for the entire Galaxy S23 (it was a great move, that also saw my LinkedIn post go bonkers)
Samsung is back to their previous act of using Exynos, but only for the S24 and S24+ models. The one thing Samsung has done is continuing their partnership with AMD for their GPU tech, which provides the graphics capabilities including ray tracing for the new Exynos 2400. I’ve heard it’s based on AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture, which also includes the AI-based FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) upscaling.
Time will tell how the chipset fares in real world scenarios, but news circling around the Internet shows that it’s actually matching up to Qualcomm on many tests including on gaming performance.
Going deeper into the specs, here’s a table summary for both models.
| Galaxy S24 | Galaxy S24+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions (w x l x h) and weight | 70.6 x 147 x 7.6 mm; 167g | 75.9 x 158.5 x 7.7mm; 196g |
| Display | 6.2-inch Flat FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x display 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~416 ppi density) Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate (48~120Hz) | 6.7-inch Flat QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x display 1440 x 3120 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~513 ppi density) Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate (1~120Hz) |
| Rear Camera | 12MP Ultra Wide f/2.2, FOV 120 50MP wide-angle f/1.8 w/ OIS, FOV 85, and Dual Pixel AF 10MP Telephoto f/2.4, FOV 36, 3x optical zoom | 12MP Ultra Wide f/2.2 FOV 120 50MP wide-angle f/1.8 w/ OIS, FOV 85, and Dual Pixel AF 10MP Telephoto f/2.4, FOV 36, 3x optical zoom |
| Front Camera | 12MP f/2.2, FOV 80 | 12MP f/2.2, FOV 80 |
| Battery capacity | 4,000 mAh | 4,900 mAh |
| Storage | 128 GB and 256 GB (8GB RAM); UFS 3.1 | 256 GB and 512 GB (12GB RAM); UFS 4.0 |
| Connectivity | 5G (NSA, SA, Sub6/mmWave), LTE Wi-Fi 6E; NFC; Bluetooth 5.3, USB 3.2, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | 5G (NSA, SA, Sub6/mmWave), LTE, Ultra Wide Band Wi-Fi 6E; NFC; Bluetooth 5.3, USB 3.2, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector |
There is some positivity coming out of this, as they realized that they would definitely want to keep the high-end flagship model standardized across the world.
Time for Galaxy AI
It’s all about AI with the new range of Galaxy S24 devices, and it’s been made possible by a close partnership with Google. There’s a mix of both on-device AI (Gemini Nano will be powering the on-device LLM) and cloud-powered AI leveraging Google Cloud.
- Live Translate: two-way, real-time voice and text translations of phone calls within the native app. No third-party apps are required, and on-device AI keeps conversations completely private.
- Interpreter: live conversations can be instantly translated on a split-screen view so people standing opposite each other can read a text transcription of what the other person has said. It even works without cellular data or Wi-Fi.
- Chat Assist: help perfect conversational tones to ensure communication sounds as it was intended: like a polite message to a coworker or a short and catchy phrase for a social media caption. AI built into Samsung Keyboard can also translate messages in real-time in 13 languages.
- Android Auto: automatically summarize incoming messages and suggest relevant replies and actions, like sending someone your ETA, so you can stay connected while staying focused on the road.
- Note Assist in Samsung Notes gives users a boost in organizing them, featuring AI-generated summaries, template creationthat streamlines notes with pre-made formats, and cover creation to make notes easy to spot with a brief preview.
- Transcript Assist for voice recordings even with multiple speakers uses AI and Speech-to-Text technology to transcribe, summarize and even translate recordings.
AI for creativity
It’s only in terms of productivity that AI is fueling the trend, as it also makes its way towards the creative aspect with the new ProVisual Engine – a comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools that transform image capturing abilities and maximize creative freedom.
After great shots are captured, Galaxy AI editing tools enable simple edits like erase, re-compose, and remaster.
- For easier and more efficient optimizations, Edit Suggestion uses Galaxy AI to suggest perfectly suitable tweaks for each photo.
- To give users even more creative control and freedom, Generative Edit can fill in parts of an image background with generative AI.
Given the ways that AI could fuel abuse and misinformation, edits done on the Galaxy S24 will see a watermark applied to the image and the metadata when using generative AI to amplify an image.
Similar yet different
Both models still retain much of the design touches from the S23 itself, but there has been a much bigger sinificant push towards sustainability with reusing materials for making the S24 and S24+. Both models are now using more recycled steel and Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU).
According to Samsung’s own news release, the battery on the Galaxy S24 and S24+ includes a minimum of 50% and 10% pre- and post-consumer recycled cobalt respectively.
Best part is that they’ve kept the same pricing for the MENA region like last year’s model.
One More Thing
Matching Google’s recent announcement for their Pixel devices, Samsung also announced support for seven generations of OS upgrades and security updates to extend the product lifecycle.
Pre-orders for both models are live across the region via local telecom providers and even by Samsung (online and their partner retail outlets). Those who pre-order online via Samsung will have the option of selecting some additional exclusive colour options.
They’re slated to last until January 30th, and you’ll get upgraded to the next storage option for free. Additional offerings vary by country, which also include a free Samsung charging power brick along with perks (The Entertainer, Shahid VOD, Anghami Plus, etc.).
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