The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is finally here, and it brings one big new feature: Galaxy AI. Available on all three devices in the series – the standard Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra – it’s no mere gimmick either, as it offers AI features that are actually useful. Beyond that, the S24 series has some meaningful (albeit minor) upgrades too.
Before we get to that, let’s talk about the Malaysian pricing of the Galaxy S24 series first, which sees a price hike across the range. The standard S24 no longer comes with a 128GB option, so the starting price of the phone is slightly higher now at RM4,099 (from RM3,899) for the 8GB + 256GB model. The 8GB + 512GB variant, on the other hand, costs RM4,599.
As for the Galaxy S24+, it retails at RM4,899 and RM5,399 for the 12GB + 256GB and 12GB + 512GB models respectively; this is a RM200 price increase from its predecessor. As for the range-topping Galaxy S24 Ultra, it starts at RM6,299 for the 12GB + 256GB model, going up to RM6,799 and RM7,799 for the 12GB + 512GB and 12GB + 1TB options respectively. Compared to the S23 Ultra, this is a rather drastic RM600 price hike across the range.
For that kind of money, you do get better, faster smartphones. As usual, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ share quite a bit of hardware. These include an Exynos 2400 chipset – yes, the Malaysian market gets the Exynos version instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 option – a triple camera system (50MP main + 10MP telephoto + 12MP ultra-wide), as well as a 12MP selfie camera.
In the display department, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ still feature a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel, though it now supports adaptive refresh rate from 1-120Hz. The S24 has a slightly larger 6.2-inch 2340 x 1080 panel too, while the S24+ also gets a bigger (and sharper) 6.7-inch 3120 x 1440 screen. Battery capacities of the S24 and S24+ have been slightly upgraded to 4,000mAh and 4,900mAh respectively as well to match their bigger displays.
As for the range-topping Galaxy S24 Ultra, it has more exciting upgrades, including a more durable titanium frame, along with a 6.8-inch 3120 x 1440 Dynamic AMOLED 2X display (120Hz adaptive) that is now flat with even smaller bezels. We’re a huge fan of this change, as not only does it make the phone more ergonomically-friendly, the flat panel also looks aesthetically better.
Other specifications of the S24 Ultra are similar to its predecessor – aside from the faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset – which include a 12MP selfie camera, a 5,000mAh battery, and of course, the S Pen. The quad camera system does see a rather interesting change though; it still has a 200MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 10MP telephoto lens (3x optical), though the previous 10MP telephoto camera (10x optical) has been replaced with a 50MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom instead.
Beyond hardware, the software of the Galaxy S24 series is quite exciting, thanks to the aforementioned Galaxy AI. It is made up of various AI-powered features, which include AI photo editing – it can do various generative edits, including filling the background after straightening an image and object recomposition – chat translation on various messaging apps, and even translating a phone call in real time.
Samsung demonstrated these Galaxy AI features to us at an early media preview, and for the most part, they work like a charm. Well, except for the Live Translate feature in phone calls, which has a couple of mistranslations between Korean to English. Rest assured, we’ll put this to the test ourselves – along with the other Galaxy AI features – in the full review of the S24 series.
Expect the Samsung Galaxy S24 series to be available for pre-order in Malaysia very, very soon. Samsung Malaysia has scheduled a media launch for the new phones later today, and we expect the Korean company to reveal local pre-order details for the S24 series then.