Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra rumors: release date, price, specs, and more
Samsung will be taking the stage at its Galaxy Unpacked event on January 17 and based on the endless leaks the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a virtual certainty. So, while we impatiently wait out these last couple of weeks before it's showtime, let's get up to speed with everything we know so far about Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphone.
Samsung has its work cut out for it if it wants the Galaxy S24 Ultra to remain a contender for the best smartphone on the market – especially after such impressive showings from the iPhone 15 Pro series and the Google Pixel 8 Pro.
Thankfully, from everything we know so far about Samsung's flagship device, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is shaping up to be another quality offering. Not only that, it could be heading our way sooner than we expect, full of gusto and ready to flex on the competition with some incredible specifications, in true Samsung fashion.
Let’s dive into the latest and see what the latest rumors and leaks have to say about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Latest news (updated: Jan. 2, 2024)
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event is happening January 17 and you can save $50 on whatever Samsung announces While naturally Samsung doesn't mention the Galaxy S24 Ultra, based on all the leaks there is little doubt that it is going to be the main feature alongside the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus at the event.
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Samsung may offer a quartet of colors for the Galaxy S24 lineup: Including a new "Titanium Grey." That doesn't include a trio of online exclusive colors.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra may see 81% boost in GPU performance: Leaked Vulkan benchmarks indicate an increase in graphical performance of 81% for the S24 Ultra over its S23 counterpart.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Preorder and release date (rumored)
Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S24 Ultra in the first quarter of 2024 at one of Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked events. Typically, Samsung’s event takes place in February, with products becoming available to preorder the day of and ready to purchase roughly two full weeks later.
However, recent reports indicate that the South Korean tech wizards are pushing for an earlier showcase in the face of middling sales of its Z-Series foldables – not to mention the launch of the Pixel 8 and iPhone 15.
Just how early are we talking? Well, if Twitter tech tipster Revegnus is to be believed then we can expect Samsung to take to the stage at some point in early January.
A recent leak has also revealed the date of Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event as Jan. 18, 2024. Samsung's typical release pattern could mean that the S24 Ultra will be announced on this date, and make it to store shelves on the second Friday that follows. This would place the S24 Ultra's release date at Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. However, Samsung could make it's flagship device available at any point following the announcement on the day.
If we take this information as fact, then we can likely predict Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra release schedule as such (preorder/release date):
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price (rumored)
How much will the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra cost? That’s something many of us are wondering after being inundated with rumors surrounding the fluctuating prices of other recently released flagship devices.
One such rumor came from yet another reliable tipster on Twitter, Yogesh Brar. Brar claimed in August 2023 that we could see price jumps across all major flagship devices of $50-$200 – referencing the Galaxy S24-Series by name as one of those included.
But did Brar’s info stand the test of time? Yes and no. Of the devices mentioned that have been released so far, only the Pixel 8 Pro saw a price increase ($100), with the iPhone 15 Pro Max retaining the same price while dropping its cheaper 128GB model.
We can’t say for sure in which direction Samsung will take the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but we can reasonably assume that its price will start at somewhere between $1,199 and $1,399.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Specifications (rumored)
An assortment of reliable tips have given us an indication of what specifications to expect when the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra arrives in 2024. Primary of which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset – a powerful new octa-core processor that has shown some incredibly promising scores in leaked Geekbench results.
However, while these numbers are impressive to see, they do come from a pre-production prototype and could be falsely indicative of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s final performance.
That being said, if they are accurate we could be looking at not only Samsung’s most powerful device to date, but the closest on-paper competitor to Apple’s awesome A17 Pro chipset.
As for the phone's graphical performance? A recent report showcasing Vulkan GPU benchmark results has shown some wild numbers in play.
The benchmark was seemingly performed on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor within a prototype Galaxy S24 Plus (potentially indicating that Qualcomm's powerful chip may feature in some variants of the base S24 models), and shows a dramatic increase in GPU performance of over 81% when compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Does this mean the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 equipped Galaxy S24 Ultra will be a gaming powerhouse? That's hard to say. These results are still from test units and don't give a full picture on real-world performance. However, it's impressively promising to say the least.
How best can all of this computational power be used? Well, according to SamMobile, the S24 lineup is set to adopt a host of AI features – including generative AI tools like text-to-image capabilities and potentially ChatGPT-like improvements to Samsung's digital assistant Bixby.
Further news about these features has showcased the potential for Samsung to be flaunting a lot of the computational photography features found in Google's Pixel 8 Pro.
Moving on, thanks once more to Twitter tipster Revengus, we also have a general idea of what to expect when it comes to the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s memory and storage.
Revegnus’ tweet/post not only indicates that there’ll be 8GB and 12GB RAM configurations available for the S24 Ultra, but also that there’ll be an abundance of storage configurations too – capping out with a whopping 2TB of internal storage.
Sadly, with the unofficial unveiling of the Galaxy S24 Ultra's official specs by tipser Evan Blass, it would appear reports of Samsung gigantic storage options have been greatly exaggerated. With the as of yet unreleased specifications capping out at just 512GB of internal storage.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design and display (rumored)
From what we know so far, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will look a lot like its predecessor at first glance, though there will be some noticeable changes when it comes to design and display.
The most basic is a new collection of colors according to Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants. His sources indicate that the standard colors will include Black, Titanium Grey, Violet, and Yellow. Online exclusives for the S24 should include Orange, Light blue, and Light green.
According to an Ice Universe tweet/post, while retaining the same overall look, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will do away with the curved display, switching to a flat screen. This has led some to believe that leaked measurements indicate chunkier bezels, however, this could be explained by the remaining curvature of the all-new titanium chassis.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s improved 6.8-inch, WQHD+ (3200 x 1440-pixel, 463 ppi) display is rumored to make use of an AMOLED, M13 LTPO panel – the very same rumored to appear in the iPhone 16. The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s next-gen display will reportedly be more power efficient and offer a dynamic refresh rate of 1Hz - 144Hz.
Capping things off on the display front is the incredible rumor that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will feature a record-breaking peak brightness of 2,500 nits – a 750 nit increase over the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s already impressively bright panel.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Cameras (rumored)
According to both Yogesh Brar and Ice Universe, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra will retain the 23 Ultra’s whopping 200MP main, 12MP selfie cam, 10MP periscope lens (down to just 5x optical zoom), and 12MP ultrawide shooters while adding a game-changing 50MP telephoto (3x optical zoom) lens to its impressive arsenal.
Samsung’s 10x optical zoom was a big deal for the S23 Ultra, so rumors of its exit have left many puzzled. However, thanks to a larger sensor size and wider aperture, the improved 50MP telephoto shooter may offer similar results to the periscope’s 10x optical zoom without sacrificing much in the way of image quality.
That being said, it's now highly likely that Galaxy fans has nothing to be concerned about after tech tipster Evan Bliss revealed an official Samsung spec sheet showcasing that the 10x optical zoom will, in fact, make a triumphant return to the Galaxy S24 Ultra after all!
