The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum

At its Unpacked event, Samsung launched its Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus phones, which have the usual incremental upgrades over their predecessors. But the S24's biggest leap is that it's among the first smartphones to include generative AI capability -- the same tech powering ChatGPT, Midjourney and other tools -- directly on the device.

What impresses me the most about the Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus isn't the new Galaxy AI features, brighter screens or solid cameras. It's the battery life. 

After a week of testing, I can say the larger batteries in the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus have no trouble plowing through a long day of use on a single charge. The S24 Plus in particular made it two days.

During my time with the S24 and S24 Plus, I had a group chat in three different languages (English, French and Spanish), took photos to Monty Python-levels of ridiculous with new editing tools, played video games and participated in a Zoom video call for work. (Hey, it's not all glamorous reviewing a phone.)

While Samsung didn't lower the S24 and S24 Plus' prices, it did raise the barrier of entry for the Galaxy S24 Ultra to $1,300. That makes the $1,000 Galaxy S24 Plus, which has almost everything the Ultra does, shine brighter. The S24 Plus isn't a replacement for the S24 Ultra, but it's a far better value for the price.

Both phones kept the squared- off aluminum design with rounded corners from last year's S23 and S23 Plus. The S24 and S24 Plus are taller, but you'd have to be Ant-Man or Rick Moranis to notice.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus's SIM card tray, USB-C port and speaker.

The S24 series supports USB-C charging and data transfers, but it lacks expandable storage or a headphone port.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus (left) in onyx black and S24 (right) in marble gray.

All three new Galaxy phones have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which -- when combined with 8GB of RAM on S24 and 12GB on the Plus -- yielded peppy performance.

Both phones have the same cameras on the back as the S23 and S23 Plus: a trio of wide, ultrawide and 3x telephoto lenses. 

The main camera has a 50-megapixel sensor, and can capture 50-megapixel or 12-megapixel photos.

The S24 and S24 Plus still have aluminum frames, while the S24 Ultra now has a titanium one.

The phones have new slightly larger displays (0.1 inches bigger): 6.2-inch screen on the S24 and 6.7-inch one on the S24 Plus. Compare that with the 6.8-inch screen on the S24 Ultra.

Like the S24 Ultra, both screens reach a peak brightness of 2,600 nits.

The S24 and S24 Plus run Android 14 and will get seven years of OS and software updates.

Out of all the AI features I tried, Circle To Search is the most polished and compelling. It lets you search for anything on the screen just by circling it with your finger.

For example, I saw a photo of a pair of Apple AirPods. So I pressed the home button for a second, which triggered a transparent sparkling filter to overtake the screen. Once I circled the AirPods, a bunch of search results popped up on the bottom of the screen.

Recently, Samsung generated its own questions around the future of Galaxy AI. Fine print on the manufacturer's website hints that after two years, Samsung might charge for the features. What's shady to me isn't that AI-powered tools might be the next frontier for subscription revenue, but that Samsung left it to journalists to discover the possibility in fine print.

Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are available in store starting Jan. 31.

Samsung Galaxy S24 starts at $800 and S24 Plus at $1,000.

Samsung Galaxy S24 next to the iPhone 15.

Here is the Galaxy S24 in a variety of colors.