Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Introduction

2024 will see Samsung launching a new Galaxy S flagship lineup, as the company has done for so many years. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to go official sometime in early 2024, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra will undoubtedly be the top-of-the-line model with the best specs.

Design

The Galaxy S24 series isn't expected to bring any design upgrades. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is likely to have the same blocky build as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, with an S Pen slot on the left side. The rear should have four camera sensors placed individually while the front is likely to have a slightly curved display with an Infinity-O front camera cutout. Some people might be hoping to see an under display camera make its way to the Galaxy S lineup, but there haven't been any rumors suggesting that will be the case next year.

Specifications

The most interesting aspect of the Galaxy S24 Ultra (and the other two Galaxy S24 models) will be the chip that powers it. While the Galaxy S23 series exclusively uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Samsung is expected to divide the Galaxy S24 series between Exynos and Snapdragon chips once again.

Rumors say some markets will get a variant powered by the Exynos 2400 while the rest should have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip under the hood. However, it's unclear how Samsung will decide which market gets which chip, though we can assume the Exynos variant will be launched in Europe similar to the Exynos variant of the Galaxy S22 series phones.

Display

The Galaxy S23 Ultra didn't bring any meaningful display upgrades over the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but fans are hoping that will change next year. The only upgrade that seems likely for now is the display brightness – the S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra displays can go up to 1750 nits, and the S24 Ultra display could add an additional 250 nits on top.

Camera

The Galaxy S23 Ultra already introduced a major upgrade to the main camera over the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung's focus could shift to the secondary cameras. One rumor suggests the 3x and 10x zoom cameras on the S23 Ultra could be swapped out for a continuous periscope zoom lens with optical zoom that ranges between 3x and 10x. The highest zoom capability might also go from 100x to 150x.

The main camera, however, is likely to be a 200MP sensor once again, though Samsung could make some under-the-hood improvements for better results. We will no doubt see new features in the camera app, some of which will probably also make their way to existing phones (including the Galaxy S23 Ultra).

Software and features

The Galaxy S24 series phones will launch running Android 14 out of the box, with version 6.1 of Samsung's One UI skin on top. Samsung will undoubtedly introduce some new software features, but what those features will be is unknown. But we can be certain that most, if not all, of those new features will come to older Galaxy devices as well. As for software updates, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be eligible for at least four major OS upgrades and five years of security updates.

Availability and price

The Galaxy S24 series could go official sometime in the first two months of 2024. Samsung is releasing the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 earlier than usual, but whether the Galaxy S24 launch will also happen early remains to be seen. Pricing is unknown, too, but we can expect Samsung to keep the same starting price for the S24 Ultra as the S23 Ultra – $1,199 – in the USA.