Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked
Smartphones weren’t the only thing on the agenda at today’s Galaxy Unpacked event, with Samsung confirming the existence of a long-rumoured device.
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Samsung has kicked off its first Galaxy Unpacked event of the year by unveiling its shiny new S24 smartphone range.
The three phone line-up might be one of the worst kept secrets of the smartphone industry, with rumours and leaks accurately predicting the majority of the reveals seen today in San Jose, California.
But, as it turns out, that wasn’t all Samsung had up its sleeve.
RELATED: Samsung unveils game changing new S24 phone range
Galaxy Unpacked January 2024 – What was announced?
Galaxy Ring
Following a spiel about a range of updates coming to Samsung Health, an app that allows you to track your wellbeing, the South Korean tech giant teased an “all new smart health experience”.
A shiny, metal ‘Galaxy Ring’ flashed up briefly on the screen, as Samsung announced the new gadget will be arriving later this year.
While little detail was given about the Ring, the wearable health device looks to be in a similar vein to the Oura.
However, Samsung says it will offer a slightly different experience.
“With Galaxy Ring, we are offering an all new and simplified way to help people better manage their health, leveraging Samsung’s established leadership in health, along with our open-collaboration philosophy with industry experts and leading organisations,” Samsung said.
The brand has also promised “leading sensor-technology” and “comfortable 24/7 wear health tracking”, and has confirmed that the Samsung Ring will not be replacing its smartwatch range.
Given that smart rings are still a relatively small tech category, all eyes will be on Samsung to see if it can make the device a popular wearable.
The news sparked a huge reaction online.
“Samsung just announced a Samsung ring health tracker what OMG,” one person wrote on X.
“This one is extremely unexpected, but Samsung officially announced the existence of the Galaxy Ring!” another added.
Galaxy S24 Ultra
The crowning jewel of today’s Unpacked, however, was still the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
While it looks incredibly similar to last year’s S23 Ultra, the S24 Ultra ditches last year’s curved screen in favour of a flatter design that Samsung says will be better for the S Pen.
There’s also a vapour chamber that’s 1.9 times larger than its predecessor, which will improve things for gamers and help keep the device cool.
Following in Apple’s footsteps, Samsung has encased its star model in a titanium frame, which it says will allow for better durability. The S24 line will also be the first to get Corning’s new Gorilla Glass Armor, giving the devices four times more scratch resistance.
On the camera front, Samsung has swapped the 10-megapixel 10x zoom seen on the S23 Ultra for a 50-megapixel 5x zoom on this year’s Ultra. While that may seem like an odd choice, the brand says it uses a lossless crop zoom to get to 10x, and will still be an improvement on last year’s camera.
And then, of course, there’s the AI-features.
In partnership with Google, Samsung has created a ‘Circle to Search’ function which will allow users to circle, highlight or scribble on images and text across almost any platform in order to conduct a search.
Simply long press on the home button, circle your item of interest and a Google search will automatically pop up, allowing you to find what you’re looking for or further refine your search.
A Live Translate feature will allow you to translate voice calls or texts in real-time, while a feature called Interpreter will be able to translate live conversations.
There’s also a bunch of ‘Assist’ features that will allow you to alter the tone of unsent texts to better suit your recipient, streamline notes with AI-generated summaries, and transcribe, summarise and translate audio recordings.
To top it all off, there’s a range of AI photo and video editing tools that will allow you to straighten photos and fill in the gaps, resize people and objects, remove background objects and more.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra will arrive in colour options including Titanium Grey, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet and Titanium Yellow, along with online exclusives Titanium Blue, Titanium Green and Titanium Orange.
Prices for the S24 Ultra will start at $2199 for the S24 Ultra, ranging up to $2799 for the 1TB model.
S24 and S24 Plus
Like the S24 Ultra, both the S24 and S24 Plus will arrive with the full range of AI features announced today.
The screen sizes on the S24 and S24 Plus have been bumped up to 6.2-inches and 6.7-inches respectively, with each phone also set to bring better zoom and Nightography to users.
All three S24 phones will also receive improved displays with 2600 nits of peak brightness, which is much higher than most other smartphones on the market.
Both the S24 and S24 Plus will arrive in colour options of Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet and Amber Yellow, along with online exclusives Sapphire Blue, Jade Green and Sandstone Orange.
Prices will start at $1399 for the 256GB base S24 model and $1699 for the S24 Plus model. Pre-orders for Samsung’s Galaxy S24 line have now opened, with devices available at Samsung and its retail partners.
“This is the first time we’re bringing the software and the AI services to the forefront of what defines the epic experience that the customer should get”, Samsung Australia’s head of mobile experience, Mr. Eric Chou, told news.com.au.
“It’s the start of a pretty exciting journey. Unlike some other companies that have spoken about AI, the first time we’re talking about AI is to bring the benefit to the consumer in something that is quite real life usage, as opposed to something that’s more of a fringe-use case.”
Where to pre-order and best early offers
If you’re looking to get your hands on the Galaxy S24 range, here’s where to head to:
Amazon Australia
- Get double storage and up to $150 Amazon promo credit when you pre-order the S24 Ultra
- Get double storage and up to $100 Amazon promo credit when you pre-order the S24 or S24 Plus
Samsung
- Free memory upgrade (up to $400)
- Bonus trade-in (up to $350)
- Up to $150 eVoucher to spend on Galaxy Watches, Tablets, Buds & Accessories
- Bonus Samsung Care+ (1 year)
- 50% off Samsung Care+ (2nd year)
Vodafone
- Trade-in Bonus: $400 across three device models
- Galaxy S24 (all storage variants): $200 off
- Galaxy S24+ (all storage variants): $250 off
- Galaxy S24 Ultra (all storage variants): $300 off
Telstra
- Bonus Tab S9 FE with the purchase of any Galaxy S24 series device (Valued at $949)
- $20 off Premium Plan for 12 months
Optus
Customers who purchase a Samsung Galaxy S24 Series phone within selected Optus branded channels during the pre-order period (January 18 – February 6, 2024), are eligible to receive:
- A bonus Samsung Galaxy Watch6, 44mm ‘Graphite’ (cellular variant) – with a RRP of $699
- A bonus Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro ‘Graphite’ with the purchase – with a RRP of $349
news.com.au attended Unpacked as a guest of Samsung
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