The Samsung Galaxy S24 embraces AI, brings back Exynos power

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus are finally official. Samsung’s two-pronged assault on the mainstream smartphone landscape bring subtle styling upgrades, welcome screen improvements, and mark the debut of the firm’s Galaxy AI push into artificial intelligence. They arrive in shops later this month alongside the flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Differences go more than skin deep this year, with the S24 Plus getting a higher resolution screen and faster wired charging speeds than the regular S24. Samsung has also managed to lower the price compared to the previous generation.

• Related: read our Galaxy S24 hands-on review and Galaxy S24 Plus hands-on review here

Both phones have been treated to an ‘armor aluminium’ frame with flat sides and a matte metal finish. Skinnier than ever screen bezels mean a 0.1in size increase across the board – 6.2in for the S24, 6.7in for the S24 Plus – and 1-120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rate tech is on board for the first time. The AMOLED panel’s brightness now tops out at 2600 nits, too.

The S24 and S24 Plus see Samsung return to Exynos CPUs for the first time in two generations – at least in Europe. The Base S24 sees an Exynos 2400 For Galaxy chipset paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128 or 256GB of storage. The S24 Plus steps up to 12GB of RAM, and either 256 or 512GB of storage space. Battery capacity has been boosted to 4000mAh and 4900mAh respectively, and while the S24 sticks with the same 25W wired charging as last year, the S24 Plus can no manage 45W with a powerful enough adaptor.

Camera hardware remains the same as last year (which, if you cast your mind back far enough, was the same as the year before that). That means three rear sensors: a 50MP main snapper, 10MP telephoto for 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide. There’s a 12MP selfie cam up front, too. The biggest upgrades are on the software front, with a mix of on-device and cloud-based AI bringing generative photo editing for the first time. It can remove reflections, delete or reposition objects, and expand tightly cropped shots by filling in the edges using generational AI.

Elsewhere the OneUI Android interface has been peppered with AI upgrades of its own, including live language translation phone calls, voice recorder transcriptions and summaries, and web searches based on object recognition. Samsung is also promising seven generations of Android updates and security patches, the firm’s longest ever commitment to a single phone.

The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are both up for pre-order now, and go on general sale from the 31st of January. Both can be had in Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet and Amber Yellow colours. Samsung also has a few more colours available exclusively through its web store.

Expect to pay $800/£799 for a 128GB Galaxy S24 or $860/£859 for one with 256GB. The Galaxy S24 Plus starts at $999/£999 for 256GB and climbs to $1120/£1099 for 512GB.

• Related: What’s the best smartphone for photography? Top cameraphones tested