Samsung introduces Galaxy AI, a new suite of smarts for its S24 phones

Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy S smartphones at an Unpacked event overnight, featuring an array of new artificial intelligence features collectively known as Galaxy AI. But in terms of hardware, the S24, S24+ and S24 Ultra have barely changed from last year.

The standard and larger phones have new screens that are slightly bigger (thanks to reduced bezels), brighter, and feature LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) technology which lets them adjust refresh rates between 1Hz and 120Hz for improved power efficiency.

The Galaxy S24 and S24+ are slightly rounder but look very similar to last year’s phones.

The square-edged and stylus-compatible S24 Ultra has a new zoom lens which is 50MP and 5x zoom, versus last year’s 10MP and 10x zoom, with Samsung saying the extra sensor size and new software will still allow optical quality at 10x and improved digital zoom up to 100x. It also has a new internal cooling system that Samsung says improves gaming performance while reducing temperatures, as well as a new titanium frame.

But it’s the AI features that Samsung is positioning as the key updates, with new or expanded capabilities in practically all areas of the phone’s software.

The S24 Ultra boasts gaming features including ray tracing and a larger vapour chamber for cooling.

New two-way translation features work across audio calls, text messages and in-person conversations and only require one Samsung phone. In a live demo a call was made to a (pretend) French restaurant, with the English-speaking caller’s requests being translated into spoken French, and the replies being received in English.

A tone checker built into the Samsung keyboard lets you highlight any text you’ve written and have AI change it to be more casual, more formal, or filled with emojis. Highlighting larger bodies of text in Samsung Notes, you can automatically generate summaries or format multiple pages into a number of templates. And voice recordings can be turned into text transcriptions with a tap.

Of course more AI features are found in the photography experience, including improved low light photography and video, insertion of extra frames to make any video slow motion, as well as generative editing capabilities. In a live demo, a crooked photo was straightened without cropped edges, as the AI-generated extra background to fill in the missing corners. Objects were also highlighted and could be moved to other positions in the image or have their sizes changed.

Many of the features introduced are similar to those seen on Google’s smartphones, particularly on its most recent Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. Eric Chou, Samsung Australia’s director of mobile experience, said the Galaxy phones didn’t need to compete directly with Google to have better AI. Instead, Samsung wants to offer the most options and the greatest diversity of AI features by partnering with others, including Microsoft, Adobe and Google itself.

Samsung’s Eric Chou said users were in control of the AI features.

“We are uniquely positioned because we have put so much investment into AI services ourselves, but Samsung success often is also built on partnership. Between us and Google it’s about how do we drive greater Android adoption, and give all Android customers a great experience, but also at the same time have this differentiation that we have our own?” he said. An example is Circle to Search, a Galaxy S24 feature that lets you circle anything on screen with your finger or a stylus and get web results about it.

“It is actually co-developed with Google, and at some stage it will probably come to other Android devices as well. But again, it’s about ensuring that Android customers are getting an experience that is different to, say, iOS.”

Samsung was sure to detail measures it’s taking to assuage the various cultural fears associated with AI. For example, when the phone call translation feature is activated, a message in the receiver’s language informs them an AI translation service is in use. Photos edited with AI have a watermark applied to the image and the metadata.

And there’s an option in the settings to disable any features that require user data to be sent for cloud processing. This would preclude some of the image generation tools, but would still allow on-device AI like translations and text analysis.

“Right now there’s no real regulation, or regulatory body, that governs what AI should look like. We’ve taken a proactive approach,” Chou said.

“It is certainly something where we want to ensure people are comfortable, and give them that transparency, but also give them full control. If they choose not to leverage AI, they can choose not to.”

The new phones will be available from February 7, starting at $1400, $1700 and $2200 for the S24, S24+ and S24 Ultra respectively, which is a slight increase in pricing over last year. As always, Samsung and various retailers are offering incentives for ordering before release, including free tablets and earbuds, or storage increases.

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