The screens clock in, from left, at 6.2in on the S24, 6.8in on the S24 Ultra, and 6.7in on the S24+. — Photos: AINA AMIRAH /The Star
PETALING JAYA: Electronics giant Samsung is incorporating generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its highly anticipated new flagship series, the Galaxy S24.
Showcasing a sleek premium design, the S24 series introduces three models: the S24 Ultra with a 6.8in display, the S24+ with a 6.7in screen, and the base model S24 featuring a 6.2in display – all equipped with the company’s innovative Galaxy AI.
TM Roh, Samsung Electronics president and head of its Mobile eXperience Business, says that the newly launched devices tap into the company’s history of innovation to transform how users interact with their devices.
“Galaxy AI is built on our innovation heritage and deep understanding of how people use their phones. We’re excited to see how our users around the world empower their everyday lives with Galaxy AI to open up new possibilities,” he says.
The integration of AI yields interesting features, including live translation for calls, allowing users to engage in phone conversations while the AI generates audio translations and transcripts.
Audio and text translations will appear in real-time as you speak, the company said, claiming that “calling someone who speaks another language (is) about as simple as turning on closed captions when you stream a show”.
As it’s on-device, Samsung assures that a user’s private conversations never leave the phone.
Users can highlight and tap on a specific element to have Galaxy AI remove it and fill the gap with an appropriate background.
The Galaxy S24 also includes Chat Assist within the Samsung Keyboard, which translates text and offers suggestions for tone adjustments and grammar corrections when messaging. This feature can be used in popular apps like WhatsApp and Instagram.
Galaxy AI’s capabilities also extend to productivity enhancement by assisting users in generating transcripts, meeting minutes, and summaries directly from the notes provided.
On top of that, it can generate translations for text documents and webpages.
At launch, 13 language packs will be available for download, including English, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese.
The S24 will also see the debut of the Circle to Search with Google gesture, which allows users to circle an item displayed on screen to trigger a search for information on Google.
‘Circle to Search’ allows users to circle an item displayed on screen to trigger a search for information on Google.
The company is touting it as a "world's first" and this feature is designed to function not only on images or photos but also on snippets from videos across various social media platforms.
When it comes to images, users can use AI for photo enhancement and editing. For example, users can highlight and tap on a specific element to have Galaxy AI remove it and fill the gap with an appropriate background.
The S24 Ultra model is equipped with four rear cameras: a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 200-megapixel wide camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera.
Under the hood is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Mobile Platform for Galaxy, a chip optimised for Samsung’s devices.
Both the S24+ and S24, which run on an in-house Exynos 2400 for Galaxy chip, have a triple rear camera setup: a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 50-megapixel wide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera.
Users can highlight and tap on a specific element to have Galaxy AI remove it and fill the gap with an appropriate background.
All three models feature a 12-megapixel selfie camera.
The phones boast a Dynamic Amoled 2X display, offering an impressive 120Hz refresh rate, and the company is also promising its “brightest display ever” with a 2,600nits peak brightness.
In terms of battery size, the S24 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery, the same as last year, while the S24+ got a 200mAh bump to 4,900mAh and the S24 got a 100mAh increase to 4,000mAh.
The S24 Ultra and S24+ are equipped with 12GB RAM, whereas the S24 features 8GB RAM. And the flagship devices now come with seven generations of OS upgrades and seven years of security updates.
Both the S24+ and S24 will come in seven colour options: Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow, with three online exclusives (Sandstone Orange, Sapphire Blue, and Jade Green).
The S24 Ultra, the first-ever Galaxy phone to feature a titanium frame, will be available in seven colours, of which three are online exclusives.
The S24 Ultra, the first-ever Galaxy phone to feature a titanium frame, offers seven options: Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Violet, Titanium Yellow, with three online exclusives (Titanium Blue, Titanium Orange, and Titanium Green).
The S24 Ultra comes with a price tag of RM6,299 for the 256GB model, RM6,799 for the 512GB version, and RM7,799 for the online exclusive 1TB variant.
The S24+ will be available at RM4,899 for the 256GB model and RM5,399 for the 512GB variant, while the S24 is priced at RM4,099 for the 256GB model and RM4,599 for the 512GB version.
Pre-orders for the devices are available until Feb 6. During the pre-order period, customers can enjoy a "double storage upgrade" valued at RM500, allowing them, for example, to buy a 512GB model at the price of a 256GB version.
For pre-orders, the S24 Ultra 512GB is priced at RM6,299, the S24 Ultra 1TB at RM7,299, the S24+ 512GB at RM4,899, and the S24 512GB at RM4,099.
Additionally, pre-order bonuses include an RM500 voucher and a purchase-with-purchase discount of up to RM800 on selected Samsung products like the Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Buds.
