This is the earliest we’ve seen Samsung Galaxy Unpacked in a while, and it’s only the second time Samsung has launched a Galaxy S phone in January. The Galaxy S21 was announced on January 14, and it went on sale January 29. Every other Galaxy S family was announced in February or later. 

Why does this matter? CES. Samsung started hosting its own Galaxy Unpacked event to separate itself from CES and other big trade shows, like Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile-focused trade convention, which happens at the end of February this year. 

Of course this was a move to copy Apple, which dominated the CES 2007 news when it launched its first iPhone … from Cupertino, CA. Apple wasn’t even at CES, and it continuously launched its phones at standalone events, not trade shows. Samsung quickly followed suit, and as a result the big trade shows became less important. 

This year could be problematic, though. Our reporter Axel Metz is on the scene, but I was also scheduled to attend Galaxy Unpacked this year. Unfortunately, I tested positive with COVID after CES, and it’s the second time I’ve gotten COVID at CES. In fact, I’ve only had COVID twice, both times after that massive tech trade show that should probably be cancelled due to health concerns. 

I’m very curious how many people had to change plans for Galaxy Unpacked due to illness contracted at CES. Hopefully next year Samsung will give us just one more week to recover between the cesspool of Las Vegas and the parking garages of San Jose. 

Our correspondent on the ground Axel Metz sends his first report from San Jose, with a photo of a surprisingly quiet city street for a Wednesday morning: 

Good morning from (a surprisingly quiet) San Jose, folks! Galaxy Unpacked is just a few hours away, but you wouldn’t know it by walking the streets of Silicon Valley’s main commuter hub. I’ve been on the ground for a couple of days now, and suffice to say San Jose is a very different city to Seoul, where Samsung hosted its most recent Unpacked event.

But despite the comparatively sleepy nature of San Francisco’s geeky neighbor, there’s a method to the madness of Samsung’s hosting here. First, this area is known for being a home of technological innovation; a fitting place for Samsung to kick off what it’s describing as “the new era of AI. » Second, San Jose is essentially Apple’s backyard (Apple Park lies just 13km west of where I’m standing). Talk about being behind enemy lines.

Samsung picks its launch locations very deliberately. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 were launched in Seoul, South Korea, because Korea is more enamored with foldable phones than any other market, by a double-digit margin. The Galaxy S24 is being launched in San Jose, CA, which is especially interesting. 

Samsung has offices all over the US, but the most notable locations are in New York/New Jersey, Texas, and San Jose. The headquarters is in New Jersey, with important folks stationed in NYC as well. A lot of sales, development, and technical work, as well as some marketing and PR is handled in Texas. In California, we find Samsung Research America (SRA), which is an entirely research-focused arm of the company. 

If Samsung wanted to launch in it’s home town, that would be New York City here in the States, and it has hosted many launch events in NYC. Hosting in northern California puts Samsung in Apple and Google’s backyard, among many others. 

While San Jose isn’t a well-known city outside of the US, the suburbs of San Jose include Mountain View and Cupertino, as well as pretty much every other town-name that you associate entirely with a tech company. Santa Clara’s NVIDIA? That’s San Jose. Sunnyvale’s Yahoo!? That’s San Jose. Meta in Fremont? That’s San Jose. 

Whatever happens today, it seems that Samsung feels very confident with what it will be offering. It is taking the fight directly to its biggest competitors, and its biggest partners. Our reporter on the scene, Axel Metz, says that San Jose felt like a ghost town last night, but we’ll see if things look more exciting when the sun rises in California today. 

Are we expecting any surprises at this Samsung event today? Well, no, not really. As my colleague Roland Moore-Colyer explained earlier, the Samsung Galaxy Ring does not seem likely to make an appearance today, at least not as a product to go on sale this month. It could show up as a preview for the future, though. 

We’d also expect Samsung might try to steal a little thunder from Apple’s Vision Pro launch and upcoming reviews with its own AR/VR news, but we haven’t heard anything specific. 

When Qualcomm recently announced its new Snapdragon AR2 Plus Gen2 chipset, it mentioned Google and Samsung as partners for an upcoming headset. It also told us to expect more news in the very near future. Could Samsung have One More Thing planned, in the old Steve Jobs style? It’s possible we could get a preview, but I don’t expect any products to arrive soon.

Nope, this event will be pure Galaxy S24 fam. We’re expecting the Galaxy S24, the Galaxy S24 Plus, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and that’s it. No new Galaxy Watches. No Galaxy Fit. No Samsung Gear VR 2 virtual headset, at least not yet.

So what I’m saying is that if today doesn’t seem exciting enough for Samsung fans, just wait. It could be a very interesting year for the electronics giant. 

Good morning Samsung fiends and phone fans alike! I’ll be running this Samsung Unpacked Live Blog through the event, as our reporter on the scene Axel Metz wakes up in San Jose, CA, maybe the only place in the US that isn’t freezing right now.

I feel personally invested in this event, literally, because I am not just a Samsung phone reviewer, I’m also an owner. I spent my own money, repeatedly, on Samsung phones, even though the company sends us samples to borrow for free. My current Samsung is the mighty Galaxy S23 Ultra, which I bought after I put it atop out list of the Best Phones you can buy. After naming the Galaxy S23 Ultra the best phone overall, I decided I needed to own one. 

Of course, I won’t need TWO Galaxy Ultra phones, so as soon as the Galaxy S24 Ultra goes on sale, I’ll be looking for a great trade-in deal. In the past, AT&T has offered $1,000 for any Galaxy as a trade, and that’s how I got my current phone. But I’m not looking for a long-term payment plan this time, so I’ll probably look at what Samsung is offering for trade.

As phone reviewers often say, nobody pays full price for a Samsung, so don’t let those high prices scare you away. After the phone launches, we’ll have plenty of deals to consider if you need the next big thing, without the next big price tag. 

Right readers, it’s time for me to hand over the live blogging reigns to Philip Berne. He’ll be your guide from now and across Galaxy Unpacked, so get ready for his insights and analysis, as well as any leaks that pop up in the eleventh hour. 

Bye for now! 

The idea of a simple bit of wearable tech particularly appeals to me the more a fledgeling interest in traditional watches grows. I don’t need a smartwatch for much beyond step tracking and some monitoring, and the limited battery life of such techie watches can be irritating. 

So a smart ring, has, well… a great ring to it. And I reckon one from Samsung would integrate nicely with the Galaxy devices I already have. But I suspect we’ll not hear about the Galaxy Ring until later on in the year. 

Taking a break from phone chat for a moment, and I’m rather sad that we’ll very likely not see the Galaxy Ring today. This is tipped to be Samsung’s first smart ring and I’m here for it. 

Galaxy devices generally have some solid interoperability, and I do like the idea of a fitness/wellness tracker that hides all its tech in a subtle ring. 

One way the Galaxy S24 series could really appeal beyond Samsung fans and people on upgrade cycles is the tipped 7 years of updates for the Galaxy S24. 

That would give these phones a class-leading level of software support. And that’s great, as smartphones are so well-spec’d they never feel slow or less capable even after several years of use. The only real downside is Lithium-ion battery degradation that leads to compromised battery life. 

Overall, I think the Galaxy S24 range could dominate the conversation around smartphones until the iPhone 16 family comes around, likely this September. 

I think the tipped nips and tucks to the Galaxy phones, and then the added AI smarts, plus Samsung’s brand power, could easily leapfrog all of the best Android phones, and perhaps steal some focus from Apple phones, especially as the Android ecosystem is now rather expansive and has a good degree of interoperability. 

One model I’d avoid is the Galaxy S24 Plus. While it could have a few tricks up its sleeve, the rumors aren’t really touting many. And I’ve always thought the Plus model was a bit of an awkward middle-child of the Galaxy S-series. 

And the pricing of the Galaxy Plus models have always been a bit close to entry-level iPhone Pro models. And now that the likes of the iPhone 15 Pro have a suite of modern features, like 120Hz displays, they are more appealing than ever. 

So if Samsung’s next-gen Galaxy phones do win me over, which would I go for? 

Well if money was no object, I’d take a Galaxy S24 Ultra as it’s looking like it could be a fantastic, albeit minor, evolution over the Galaxy S23 Ultra; that’s my current Galaxy phone of choice. 

That being said, I do love how compact and neat the standard Galaxy phones have been of late. They are also feature packed for the price, and I can see the same happening with the Galaxy S24. In fact, that’s likely to be the phone I’d recommend to most people, if indeed it does live up to its rumors. 

I guess my only concern in the Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Google Pixel 8 showdown, is how well will Samsung integrate the rumored AI features. In the past, I’ve found Samsung’s One UI to be rather messy compared to Google’s Pixel Launcher it pops on top of stock Android. Often I feel like Samsung’s native apps get in the way of Android’s stock apps. 

But Samsung’s has improved on this a lot over the recent years. So if it can seamlessly integrate AI into One UI, it could win my attention with the Galaxy S24 range. 

I’ve long been a fan of Google Pixel phones, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion the Galaxy S24 phones could tempt me away from my Google-phone love. 

And I’ve written about how that may be the case. So while we wait for Galaxy Unpacked, give my 3 ways the Samsung Galaxy S24 could crush my Google Pixel love article a gander. And let me know your thoughts too. 

Right, let’s look at some more rumors. We’ve got a suite of hubs running down specific things to expect from the Galaxy S24 series. 

So take a look at our round ups for the Samsung Galaxy S24 colors, Samsung Galaxy S24 cameras, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra cameras, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra design and Samsung Galaxy S24 battery. 

In case you didn’t know it, TechRadar has a TikTok account. And on it, we have a load of tech videos, me making a fool out of myself, and some Galaxy S24 insights. Without giving the game away, you’ll definitely want to check out our TikTok over the next day or so…

For now, take a look at the video below with senior Editor Alex Walker-Todd on how the Galaxy S24 could go up against the Google Pixel 8. 

@techradar ♬ Living in a Haze (Instrumental) – Milky Chance

Hmm it’s all rather quiet on the last-minute leaks front for now. 

So why not check out our Samsung Galaxy S24 deals page for a taste of what we could expect and details on preorders and bonuses for getting in an order early. 

Over on Twitter… ahem… X, it looks like some excitement is brewing for Galaxy Unpacked 2024. But maybe not in the most positive way. 

Through a popular Spider-Man meme, content creator Neil Sargent highlights a wry thought that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be hard to tell apart from its tow predecessors, the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Ultra. 

Speaking of AI, senior phones editor Philip Berne reckons the rumored Galaxy AI could be Samsung’s last chance to redeem Bixby. And I’d tend to agree. 

Of all the virtual assistants, Bixby was, and arguably still is, one of the worst. It never felt smart or responsive enough and got in the way too much. But with a dose of AI smarts, perhaps it could make a comeback and challenge the mighty Google Assistant. 

Another recent leak, this time showing off leaked Samsung Galaxy S24 marketing images referencing numerous AI skills, was attention-grabbing. 

As James Rogerson reported, some of the images « are focused on AI features, including Note Assist, which can automatically summarize, format, and translate your notes, and Live Translate, which can provide live translations of calls. » 

He added: « The images tease the ability to circle or tap within any image, video, or text to search for the exact thing you’re interested in, with the example shown being a specific backpack in a photo. » 

All rather interesting I reckon. 

Let’s swing back round to the rumors: yesterday, leaked Galaxy S24 pre-order bonuses hinted at a good value proposition for the next-gen Galaxy phones. 

But I reckon if the Galaxy S24 comes in at under $800 / £800 it could be onto a winner, especially if it does indeed get all the rumored AI tech. I’ve always rather liked the standard Galaxy S phones, and I’m hoping the S24 variant continues to impress. 

Neither have we heard much about any big video recording improvements for the Galaxy S24 series. But there’s scope of improved stabilization and thus better clarity and low-light performance. 

Sure, the Galaxy phones can do 8K video but they still lose out to iPhones in sheer quality and ease-of-use. I’m really hoping Samsung has done some work here. 

No other major camera hardware upgrades have been tipped for Galaxy S24 family, but I’m forecasting improvements on the software side to go alongside the AI tools and features. 

There’s scope for improved nighttime photography and video. But I’m hoping for Samsung to keep pushing forward with the work it’s done on making photos on the main camera more natural and not overly saturated with color. 

Let’s dig into the 50MP telephoto camera that’s set to have a 5x zoom and replace the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x optical zoom lens. What might seem like a downgrade in optical range should offer greater detail and the scope to easily crop into 10x without a huge loss in quality. 

As someone who loved the periscope 5x camera on the Oppo Find X2 Pro, I’m all for a 5x optical zoom with a higher megapixel sensor over a lower-quality 10x camera. 

When it comes to phones worth waiting for, I’m casually excited about the Galaxy S24 Ultra. While it’s going to be a lot like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, a phone I’m using at the moment, I think a host of small tweaks could make it rather compelling. 

A tipped 50-megapixel main camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and a new titanium-framed design, has my attention… 

If you want to see how the Galaxy S24 Ultra could square up to its main rivals, do take a look at our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Google Pixel 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 vs iPhone 15 showdowns. 

If these rumors are anything to go by, then the Galaxy S24 may indeed be worth waiting for. 

If you want a rundown of all the rumored specs for the Galaxy S24 phones, then check out our round up of the Galaxy S24 specs rumors and the Galaxy S24 Ultra specs rumors. 

The latter phone naturally has the more impressive parts tipped for it, but the former two aren’t likely to be slouches either. 

Speaking of chips, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus are tipped to use the new Exynos 2400 silicon outside the US and China. Normally that would make tech fans groan as the Exynos chips have always played second fiddle to their Snapdragon counterparts. 

But early Galaxy S24 benchmarks and the promise of improved hardware-accelerated ray tracing could make for more impressive Exynos part than ever before. 

Of course, Samsung will need to bring its A-game to AI if it’s to compete with the AI-centric Pixel phones. But with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 tipped to be at the heart of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and perhaps other Galaxy S24 models, the phone should have the hardware to power onboard AI tools. 

For the Galaxy S24 series, generative AI is almost certainly going to yield Samsung’s own take on Google’s Magic Editor. But from the rumors of the Galaxy S24 being able to detect the tone of texts, I suspect there’ll be more to the phone’s AI than just image manipulation. 

Expect text translation, summaries and data extraction as a bare minimum. 

‘What the heck is generative AI?’ I imagine you asking. Well, it’s when artificial intelligence algorithms are used to make something new rather than serve up existing data or figure out if its a dog or a cat in a photo. 

ChatGPT is one example of generative AI. While the smart tech in Google’s Pixel 8 and its Magic Editor is another. Tech fanatics tout it as revolutionary, while others tend to think it may be a handy tool at best or a mess at worse. 

So I’d bet a small fortune (if I had one) on this Unpacked being very smartphone focused, with the official unveiling of the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Ultra taking place. 

What may look like iterative upgrades are apparently tipped to come with a whole suite of generative AI features. 

Good morning! It’s Roland Moore-Colyer here, managing editor of Mobile Computing at TechRadar and your sherpa in the run up to Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 and what we expect to be the launch of the Galaxy S24 series. 

So join me, dear reader, as I chew over any last-minute leak and rumors, as well as what we know so far.