While you’re watching the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event of 2024, I have some interesting facts about the new Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra that are being announced today. The company invited me to use them for a few minutes before the big event. I gathered some quick information about these smartphones that left me with a couple of interesting first impressions. If you want to know more about these devices, here’s what I liked and didn’t like about them during my brief hands-on interactions:

The design is almost identical to last year’s line-up

The first thing that struck me in the few minutes I used all three smartphones was how similar they are to last year’s S23 line-up. You barely notice any differences. For example, the positioning of the LED flash next to the camera system is slightly different on the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ but is the same as last year on the S24 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S24 vs S24+ vs S24 Ultra

They also come in different colors. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes in the following colors: Titanium Grey, Yellow, Violet, and Black. The company will also have a few exclusive colors available only on the official Samsung online store: Titanium Green, Blue, and Orange. As the color names imply, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a titanium frame, just like its direct competitor, the iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ have an Armor Aluminum version 2 frame, which improves drop and scratch resistance over the previous generation.

Another minor detail that some may notice is that the speaker design has changed, not only on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, as the rumors implied, but on all three smartphones. We now have a long strip instead of a speaker opening with pill-shaped holes. I don't know if everyone will like this change. Initially, I thought it was a microSD card slot, not the actual speaker.🙂

The new speaker design

I’m also curious if this speaker design change will improve the quality of the audio experience in any way. This remains to be determined in a full-length review.

Slightly bigger and better screens on all models

Even though the screens look identical to last year’s models, the Galaxy S24 now has a 6.2” display instead of a 6.1” one, while the Galaxy S24+ has a 6.7-inch display instead of 6.6” on the Galaxy S23+.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 line-up has slightly bigger and brighter screens

The peak brightness on all three models has increased to 2600 nits, and each screen display is now protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 3. Another upgrade, that even the smaller Galaxy S24 gets, is a Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, with an adaptive refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz. This change improves the quality of mobile gaming experiences and the fluidity of using the phone in general.

Better cameras on the Galaxy S24 Ultra

While the camera systems look the same as on last year’s lineup, the company has made several improvements under the hood. Samsung now uses a new sensor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which should probably provide better image quality, mostly during night-time photography. The phone will be able to capture 24-megapixel images instead of 12 MP ones, providing sharper results with improved detail. But the biggest change will be the drop from a 10X zoom telephoto camera to a 5X zoom one, but with a higher megapixel count, increasing from 10 Megapixels on the Galaxy S23 Ultra to 50 Megapixels on the S24 Ultra. We also get 10X digital zoom and 100x Space Zoom powered by AI.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra gets a major camera upgrade

Speaking of AI…

Galaxy AI is everywhere!

Just like most of the tech industry, Samsung is betting on AI technologies to enhance its Galaxy S24 lineup and separate it from the competition. While the software powering these phones is still Android, and they come with One UI 6.1 preinstalled, many of Samsung’s AI technologies are built in collaboration with Google and are exclusive to Galaxy S24 smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy S24 series comes with OneUI 6.1

We now have a Circle to Search feature on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which allows you to use your S Pen to circle anything you want on your screen (picture, YouTube video, webpage, Instagram, etc.) and then search for it online to find more information about it. It is a great upgrade to the standard Google Lens experience all Android users have access to. We will also get AI to enhance the pictures we take (especially when using night-time Zoom), as well as help us with picture editing, browsing the web, summarizing content online, live translation of phone calls in multiple languages, and summarizing team calls through meeting minutes. Some AI features will run on the device, while others require an internet connection to Samsung’s cloud services. How much processing power will these AI services need? And will they run well on Samsung’s Exynos 2400 processors? It remains to be seen when we get our hands on the Galaxy 24 smartphones for thorough reviews.

Not everything is an upgrade, though

Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy S24 line-up has some clear shortcomings, too. The most painful of them is the (re)introduction of Exynos 2400 processors on the Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+ phones sold in Europe. Other regions will get Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset on all three phones, while Europe will get it only on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

If you’re curious how fast it is, here’s what a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra scored in GeekBench 6: the Single-Core score is 21% higher, while the Multi-Core score is 50% higher than when running the same benchmark on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Check out this score in GeekBench 6

While the performance gains look great in benchmarks, I’m curious how they will translate into real-life user experience and if the new chipsets will be a lot more power-hungry than on the previous generation. To keep the autonomy at a good level, Samsung has decided to increase the battery capacity by 100 mAh, from 3900 to 4000 mAh on the Galaxy S24, and by 200 mAh (from 4700 mAh to 4900 mAh) on the Galaxy S24+. On the other hand, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the same 5000 mAh battery as its predecessor.

Sadly, Samsung did not introduce any changes to its fast-charging technology. Their obstinance is quite frustrating, and their fast charging is quite slow, especially for a premium lineup of smartphones.

What are your first thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S24 line-up?

Now you know my first thoughts and observations after interacting with the new Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup for a few minutes. If you want to know more about these phones and check the company’s pre-order offers, go to Samsung.com and see what they have in store, including their online exclusives. I’m curious to test them in an upcoming review, but until then, I want your opinion: What are your first thoughts on the new smartphones? Do you like what the Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra have to offer? Which one is your favorite? Comment using the options below and let me know.