Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+ – what to expect

Samsung will reveal the Galaxy S24 series on January 17 and will put an end to the rumors and leaks. However, that’s two weeks away and we’ve seen so many rumors and leaks that we have a pretty clear picture of what to expect. In case you missed it, check out the breakdown for the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Here we will focus on the two smaller models.

LTPO displays, QHD+ for the S24+

Embarrassingly for flagships, the Galaxy S23 and S23+ can operate their displays at only a few predetermined refresh rates. The long-awaited switch to LTPO panels will allow the 2024 non-Ultra flagships to vary their refresh rates between 1Hz and 120Hz.

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ is also expected to up the resolution to QHD+ after several years of FHD+. The small S24 will stick with FHD+, however (the S20 and S20+ did have QHD+ displays).

Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+

Both the Galaxy S24 and the S24+ will expand their screen diagonals by a tenth of an inch, putting them at 6.2” and 6.7”, respectively. Most of that will be at the expense of the bezels as the two models are expected to be roughly the same size as their S23 predecessors.

The new panels will be noticeably brighter than before too, targeting 2,600 nits compared to 1,750 nits peak for the 2023 generation.

(Slightly) bigger batteries, same charging

Just a quick one, despite keeping the dimensions roughly the same, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ will have slightly larger batteries. The petite model will have 4,000mAh capacity (+100mAh over the S23) and the plus model will have 4,900mAh (+200mAh over the S23+).

Don’t expect any miracles when it comes to charging, though. The Galaxy S24+ will top out at 45W over USB-C, the S24 is stuck on 25W. Both will do 15W wirelessly. Technological progress, what’s that?

The return of Exynos

Qualcomm’s CEO all but confirmed that the Galaxy S24 and S24+ will use an Exynos chip – only the US and Canadian units will be spared and will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy (which is the only chip for the S24 Ultra).

The Exynos 2400 promises a 70% uplift in CPU performance, though keep in mind that this is compared to the Exynos 2200 from 2022 and not the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy from last year.

Exynos 2400 for all Galaxy S24 and S24+ units except in US/Canada

Samsung LSI didn’t give as much detail when talking about the new Xclipse 940 GPU, which is based on AMD’s RDNA 3 tech. The Xclipse 920 found in the 2200 chip was based on the older RDNA 2. According to AMD’s numbers, RDNA 3 offers 50% higher performance per watt over its predecessor. The GPU will bring improvements to ray tracing, shadows, reflections and global illumination.

The chip is massively faster at AI tasks, 14.7x faster. This will power features like Live Translate and Generative Edit. According to rumors, Live Translate will run on the device, while Generative Edit will rely on cloud support (just like Google’s Magic Editor).

We do have a bit of good news for future Galaxy S24+ buyers – the RAM capacity will be increased to 12GB (the S23+ only came with 8GB). The small S24 will still only get 8GB, though. And it looks like it won’t even get an upgrade to its base storage, which will remain at 128GB (it’s 256GB for the S24+). You can’t have 512GB storage on the small one (but you can on the S24+). Like last year, pre-ordered units will get a free memory upgrade.

Same cameras

There is no indication that the Galaxy S24 and S25 cameras will be updated in terms of hardware. That means a 50MP main sensor. This year we won’t see changes to the ultra wide (12MP) and telephoto (10MP) modules either.

The leaked image below mentions a “dual telephoto” with 2x and 3x options, but that’s just the in-sensor 2x zoom from the main camera and the 3x tele lens. The selfie camera will keep the 12MP sensor from last year too.

Armor Aluminum 2.0

You may have heard that Samsung will follow Apple in adopting titanium for the frame of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, it appears that the less premium Galaxy S24 and S24+ will have to settle for a new version of Armor Aluminum.

The phones will be rated IP68 for dust and water resistance like before. The S24 and S24+ will come in four standard colors: Onyx Black, Marble Gray, Cobalt Violet and Amber Yellow. There should be some Samsung.com exclusives too, plus additional hues to be launched later in the year.

Samsung Galaxy S24 colorways: Onyx Black • Marble Gray • Cobalt Violet • Amber Yellow

Prices

Europeans might be feeling slighted that they will have no choice but to get an Exynos-powered phone. They may feel a little better when they see the prices – the Galaxy S24 and S24+ are expected to be €50 cheaper than their predecessors in the EU.

Prices in South Korea are expected to remain the same. We haven’t heard anything about the US (or Canada for that matter), but considering the incredible trade-in offers that Samsung offers there, upgrading from a 2022 or 2023 Galaxy S phone should be quite affordable.

And as we mentioned earlier, the pre-order deal should include a free storage upgrade. There might be more perks – discounts on a Galaxy Watch or Buds, for example – but that remains to be seen.