The smartphone world is gearing up for the new year and we can expect some major releases and announcements from big players in the business. As always, first up is Samsung, who is expected to release its Galaxy S24 series of smartphones in January.
There are various rumors circulating on the internet about the company’s flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra and you may be busy scrapping the web for something. We have done our best to give you a glimpse of what is coming from the makers of one of the best Android smartphones in history.
Release Date
Samsung is keeping true to the tradition of unveiling a new Galaxy S series within the first three months of the year.
Korean tech news outlet “The Elec” reported last week that Samsung confirmed a January 17 launch for the Galaxy S24 series, which will include the S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra. Customers can start pre-ordering on launch day and should expect to receive the devices sometime between January 25 and 30. The smartphones will reportedly reach store shelves on January 30.
S24 Ultra Design
The first renders of the Galaxy S24 Ultra were leaked quite early this year. Late in September, reliable leaker “OnLeaks” posted pictures of the S24 Ultra on X and it looks very similar to this year’s S23 Ultra but with a few design tweaks.
The renders suggest a device with a flat back panel and a flatter display, or at least less curved than the one sported by its predecessor. Looks like Samsung has removed the curved edges from the S24 Ultra or made them subtle to be barely noticeable.
The dimensions of the smartphone have also shifted. At 162.3 x 79 x 8.7 mm, the S24 Ultra will be a tad bit shorter than the S23 Ultra but wider. However, the device is expected to be at least a gram lighter, thanks to the rumored titanium frame that will be reserved for the flagship, weighing 233g.
Then there is the center-mounted punch-hole front-facing camera, the quad camera setup on the rear with all four lenses housed inside separate metal rings, all screaming the typical Samsung design language. The S Pen is arranged at the bottom right corner of the handset while all physical buttons are also located on the right-hand side.
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S24 Ultra Specsheet
The Elec also reported that Samsung could power the Galaxy S24 series with its in-house Exynos 2400 processors in all countries except the US, with the only exception being the S24 Ultra, which will feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC globally.
A S24 Ultra with the model number SM-S928B/DS was recently spotted on the Geekbench benchmarking site with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
Another rumor from SamMobile, a Samsung-specific website, suggests that the S24 Ultra will get the M13 OLED panels with 2,500 nits of peak brightness. The screen will have the same resolution and aspect ratio as the S23 Ultra, as they share a similar design language but will be significantly brighter than the 1,750 nits of peak brightness of the previous generation.
There are also rumors that the upcoming Ultra may feature LTPO technology for variable refresh rate and could be upgraded to a QHD+ resolution.
S24 Ultra Storage and Battery
Rumors speculate that Samsung has upped the game with storage options on the Galaxy 24 series. While the S23 Ultra tops out at 1TB, the upcoming S24 Ultra could be available with up to 2TB of storage.
However, the S24 Ultra is expected to start with an 8GB RAM + 128 GB storage configuration, which would be a downgrade from the S23 Ultra that shipped with a 256 GB baseline model. The S24 Ultra could even feature a 16GB RAM variant with 2TB of storage.
In the battery department, the Ultra would retain this year’s capacity at 5,000mAh with support for 45W fast charging. The S24 could get an increase to a 4,000mAh cell and the S24 Plus could be bumped up to a 4,900mAh battery.
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S24 Ultra Cameras
Samsung is expected to pack the S24 Ultra with a quad-camera setup similar to this year’s S23 Ultra with one primary sensor, a periscope camera, an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a telephoto sensor. But big changes could be expected in the camera specifications and features.
Samsung is rumored to upgrade one of the S24 Ultra’s two telephoto lenses, specifically the 3x optical lens, which would become a 5x lens. Another speculation is that S24 Ultra will swap out the 10MP 10x periscope camera for a 50MP 5x telephoto lens. This could be a 1/2.52-inch sensor with 0.7-micron pixels.
The 10x periscope camera could be upgraded to a variable folded lens that could deliver lossless zoom at any level between 5x and 10x. Meanwhile, Samsung will stick with the 10MP 3x telephoto camera for short-range zoom.
The 200MP primary sensor could get the ISOCELL Zoom Anyplace feature that Samsung announced in October, which the company claims will allow the camera to capture close-ups and full-sized video while using AI to track subjects and stabilize shots. The feature will be exclusive to the S24 Ultra.
The S24 Ultra will retain the 12MP selfie camera but Samsung wants to make the hole-punch cutout as small as possible. This means the sensor will remain as it is and image quality will be improved with the help of the phone’s processor and software.
S24 Ultra Prices
For the last three model years, Samsung hasn’t altered its pricing strategy in the United States. But there could be some changes in prices, especially for the Ultra variant.
The S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra were priced at $799, $999, and $1,199 respectively. If Samsung decides to stick with the same pricing, then we could see the S24 Ultra start with an 8GB RAM + 128GB storage specification at $1,199.
