Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024: Expect the Galaxy S24 series, a big AI push and more
Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked events are used as major product showcases for the South Korean electronics company, often unveiling the latest generation of Galaxy phones and foldables, as well as smartwatches, earbuds and more.
The first Unpacked of 2024 starts on January 17, where we expect at least the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Ultra. There's also room for the Galaxy Ring, Samsung's rumored smart ring, to make its debut, as well as upgrades for the likes of the Galaxy Buds 2.
But Unpacked also acts as something of a weather vane for Samsung's direction of travel in consumer technologies, and with Samsung recently trademarking the term “AI Phone,” we can expect to see a good dose of AI-powered features and services coming through the company touted. January 17th.
So read on for everything you need to know about Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024.
When is the next Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event?
The first Galaxy Unpacked of 2024 will take place on January 17 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT on Wednesday January 17 – that's 5am AEDT on Thursday January 18 for people in Australia.
The showcase will be streamed live, with the best places to watch present Samsung's YouTube channelBut you can also follow Samsung's social accounts, such as Samsung Mobile on Xto receive the latest updates before and during the event.
But Ny Breaking is also going to the Unpacked showcase being held in San Jose, California, so be sure to check back with us often as we'll be live blogging about Unpacked 2024. There's also plenty happening on our Ny Breaking TikTok account, so follow it for the latest news and rumors leading up to Unpacked, as well as news, reactions and analysis from the showcase.
How to watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 online
To watch the Galaxy Unpacked showcase live, we recommend heading over to Samsung's YouTube channel, where the livestream is hosted and easily accessible. There's currently a teaser video for it, which we've embedded below.
Or go to Samsung's website where you can register to watch the live stream and get a £50/AU$100 voucher to spend on Galaxy devices. Unfortunately, no such offer exists in the US, but if you pre-order a new Galaxy device you can get $50 in Samsung credit, and if you then pre-order a Samsung Galaxy S24 you can get up to $970 score savings with a trade-in.
What could be revealed at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024?
We haven't had any official confirmation of what will launch on January 17 on this Galaxy Unpacked, but from the rumors and teasers so far we will almost certainly see the new Galaxy S24 series, consisting of standard, Plus and Ultra models.
But with Samsung touting a big AI push, expect the showcase to feature a heavy AI element, with Samsung making the case for how generative AI – which uses AI algorithms to create content rather than simply distribute it – can be used with the latest Galaxy phone features and spec upgrades.
Read on for more details on what we think will be announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2024.
Smartphones from the Samsung Galaxy S24 series
As surely as night follows day, we can expect the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra to be unveiled on January 17. Samsung's promotional materials and discussions around the latest Exynos 2400 chip all point to new Galaxy S-series phones being launched. shown at Unpacked 2024.
Based on the rumors and hints so far, we can expect that hardware upgrades on the Galaxy S24 phones over their Galaxy S23 counterparts will be quite incremental. The iPhone 15 Pro style titanium sides are tipped for the Galaxy S24 Ultra, while trimmer screen bezels are expected for the standard and plus Galaxy S24 models; For more details, check out our Galaxy S24 Ultra design overview.
In terms of specs, we expect the phones to pack Exynos 2400 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips, depending on the model and region; see our roundup of the rumored Galaxy S24 specs and the rumored Galaxy S24 Ultra specs.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 cameras expected to be in line with what came before, but perhaps with some software upgrades to improve photo results. But it's the Galaxy S24 Ultra's cameras that are expected to see the biggest changes, with it rumored that the phone will drop the 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom and instead opt for a 50MP camera with 5x optical zoom and a 10x digital crop. can result in higher quality zoom photos even if the optical range is halved.
However, it is in the area of AI where Samsung is expected to make big leaps with the Galaxy S24 series. Although many smartphones have been using machine learning and AI-powered technology for a few years now, most notably the Google Pixel 6 with its Magic Eraser, these smart tools are more intended for support and optimizing actions, for example delivering on-the-fly -fly translations. But the next step is to lean into generative AI, where algorithms can better learn what you want and generate it for you, from art from words to vacation plans and responding to calls for you.
Now that the AI Phone name has been coined, we expect Samsung to go big with AI as a new feature for the Galaxy S24 phones, likely with built-in execution of AI actions.
Samsung Galaxy AI
Building on the aforementioned AI phone technology, Samsung is likely to further boost its ambitions to deliver “on-device AI,” where smart machine learning algorithms can be powered by a device's chips rather than requiring a connection to cloud-based server power. .
So we can expect big presentations how Samsung can use AI in Galaxy S24 phones, from improving phone photography to generating brand new images on the fly. But we wouldn't be surprised if Samsung unveils a slew of AI-focused tools for its Galaxy devices as a sort of suite for productivity, organization, and entertainment.
We can totally imagine Samsung taking developers to the stage to talk about how they've integrated such AI tools into their apps. Or how these tools can be used to not only increase productivity, but also make things like vacation planning a lot easier.
AI gained a lot of attention in 2023, so we don't expect it to disappear in 2024. An increasing number of technology brands are likely to adopt AI, with Samsung set to take the lead this year.
Samsung Galaxy Gaming
While certain models of the Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Ultra will likely use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, others – especially those not in the US – are expected to use the Exynos 2400 chip. This would be unlike the Galaxy S23 series as they all used Snapdragon silicon.
But while Exynos chips were seen as weaker pieces of silicon compared to Snapdragons, the Exynos 2400 appears to have achieved some solid early benchmark scores. Its potential asset, however, could be the Xclipse 940 GPU, which uses AMD's RDNA 3 architecture that is touted to deliver “substantially improved ray tracing” and thus better graphics and realism in gaming.
Samsung has previously teamed up with Microsoft to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to its Galaxy flagships, so it's no stranger to championing smartphone gaming. With the potential for ray-traced games and high-end graphics, we could see the Galaxy S24 phones coming with impressive gaming chops, perhaps hot on the heels of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max with their A17 Pro chip, which also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and can power console-quality games like Resident Evil 4 Remake.
So at Unpacked 2024, Samsung could use part of its presentation to tout the power of the Galaxy S24 phones as gaming devices that can deliver experiences similar to the latest consoles. That's been a promise of many smartphones and mobile games for years, but it hasn't quite come to fruition yet, so maybe Samsung can finally change that for Android phones.
Samsung Galaxy ring
Rumors have been going around for a while that the Samsung Ring would be the company's first smart ring. And like others, it's expected to focus on fitness and wellness tracking, allowing for monitoring steps taken and distance traveled, right down to measuring heart rate and checking blood pressure.
Since January is a time when many people start new fitness programs, it would make sense for Samsung to introduce a health-focused wearable. But due to a lack of recent rumors, we're not sure if the Ring will actually make an appearance.
However, Samsung might do well to keep the Galaxy Ring under wraps for a “one more thing” style reveal at the end of Unpacked 2024.
Updates for Samsung Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watch
A few outliers here, but there's room for Samsung to unveil updated Galaxy Buds wireless earbuds at Unpacked 2024. Instead of making a dramatic leap forward in design or audio quality, they could just get a case with longer battery life or a new color. options to sync with what is expected of the colors of the Samsung Galaxy S24.
The same can be said for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6; We're not predicting a new Galaxy Watch will debut on January 17, but the current model could get a software upgrade that brings more complications and perhaps gains some AI features by pairing with the Galaxy S24 phones. Some new strap options wouldn't be beyond the reach of the imagination either.
What is Samsung Galaxy unpacked?
Galaxy Unpacked is the name given to Samsung's major product showcase. Normally these revolve around new phones from the Galaxy S series and foldable phones from the Galaxy Fold and Flip series.
But Galaxy Unpacked events are also used to debut new Galaxy smartwatches and wireless earbuds, as well as laptops and tablets. There are also nods to Samsung's SmartThings smart home platform and its interoperability with the new Galaxy devices.
In general, you can expect two Galaxy Unpacked events per year; one at the beginning, ranging between January and March, and the other around July or August.