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With a lineup of largely by-the-numbers releases, including the S24 Ultra, Z Fold 6, and Galaxy Watch 7, Samsung’s 2024 is looking solid if not remarkable. But that could all change if the Samsung Galaxy Ring is announced.
If ‘solid’ sounds like a critique then I assure you, it’s not. Samsung’s 2023 demonstrated how refined and attractive their secret sauce has become. The S23 Ultra is as good as any other phone on the market, and the Z Flip 5 is the best version of a vertically folding phone you will find at the moment.
But there are new horizons in the tech industry. People are beginning to look beyond phones and watches and towards things like VR and smart rings. And Apple’s involvement with Vision Pro will only reinforce that sentiment.
Samsung will have to adapt to these trends in order to keep pace, but will 2024 be the year they enter a new era? Let’s find out and take a look ahead!
S24 Ultra: More of the same?
Samsung has built its flagship Galaxy S series into one of the most popular phones on the market. The S23 Ultra was a vast improvement on the S22 Ultra thanks to the ditching of the Exynos chip for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. But what does the S24 Ultra have in store?
S24 Ultra Release Date
Samsung has a pattern of announcing its smartphones at the first of their bi-annual Galaxy Unpacked events. This usually happens around 17th January. Therefore, we can reasonably expect to see the S24 Ultra, along with a host of other products, announced then. It will be should then be released for purchase in late January/early February 2024.
Design and Display
While specific details about the S24 Ultra’s design are scarce, it will likely resemble the S23 in terms of looks. Samsung has managed to design a way to fit a stylus into a smartphone without compromising too much on thickness. So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The display is expected to be upgraded to 2,600 nits brightness to bring it in line with competitors, whilst there is no expectation that the screen size itself will change. The same excellent AMOLED display is also not going anywhere.
Most intriguing of all though is that Samsung might be fitting out the S24 Ultra with a titanium shell. It would be a direct copy of what made Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max feel unique, but can you blame them? If you need a marketing line to differentiate your new phone from last year, a flashy titanium casing is perfect.
Bring it on I say, the titanium looks great on the iPhone. Just don’t let it push the price up Samsung!
Performance and AI Integration
Under the hood, the S24 Ultra is expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor which should be enough to attract even the most obsessed benchmarkers. In fact, the Snapdragon Gen 8 has consistently performed better than Apple’s A17 Bionic chip in benchmarks.
Beyond that, Samsung also has a focus on AI integration. Their own generative language model Gauss is expected to launch with the S24 phone series. Its main feature will be text-based compositions like emails and messages.
I’m a bit sceptical about all this generative AI on phones. It has a place on laptops and PCs where people perform the majority of work tasks. But do we need help composing text messages? I don’t think so.
Camera and Imaging
Like most flagship smartphones, especially with Ultra/Pro/Max versions, the photography is at an incredibly high level that is hard to improve upon. You can add more megapixels, but most people aren’t going to notice.
The S24 Ultra is rumoured to have the same main 200MP camera as its predecessor with an additional 12MP ultrawide lens. In more exciting news, Samsung is reportedly also looking at adding a 50MP 5x zoom sensor to the back. This would be in direct competition with Apple’s latest mindblowing levels of zoom clarity on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6: Larger displays?
Where Samsung has truly stepped up its game recently is the foldable market. They started it all off four years ago and proved it could be done. After that initial foray, they fell behind competitors as others like the OnePlus Open emerged as much better options.
2023 ended that though as the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 hit the market as much improved phones. The Z Flip 5 especially is a revelation. But how will the next generation take shape?
Release Dates
Samsung typically unveils its foldable phones in the late summer, with July and August being the preferred months for these launches. Based on previous patterns, it is likely that the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 will make their debut in mid-2024 at the second Galaxy Unpacked event of 2024.
Z Fold 6: Improving dust resistance
Specifics on the Z Fold 6 are few and far between, but the standard improvements are safe bets. That would include potentially increasing the display size, a controversial topic among foldable users, and also improving dust resistance which is a recurring problem due to the soft, pliable screen material.
Z Flip 6: A bigger cover display
The Z Flip series crams so much goodness into what feels like such a small space. In reality, the internal screen is still 6.7-inches. It is a great device that is so appealing for how nifty it is.
The Z Flip 6’s main rumour is of a larger cover display, potentially up to 3.7 inches. This would be great but not exactly groundbreaking. After all, that screen doesn’t need to be large because it is used mainly for reading and replying to notifications.
I can’t see many ways to improve the Z Flip 6 beyond obvious things like screen and hinge resilience. But let’s see what Samsung magics up.
Galaxy Watch 7: Improved OS?
For whatever reason, the Samsung Galaxy Watch hasn’t impressed anywhere near as much as others like the Apple Watch and Garmin Fenix. Much of this stems from the use of Wear OS on Galaxy Watches, which is produced by Google. Wear OS is objectively worse than WatchOS meaning Galaxy Watches feel inferior when using them, but they are still undeniably good smartwatches.
This means on thing though, there is room for improvement in 2024…
Galaxy Watch 7 Release Date
Samsung typically unveils its smartwatches alongside its foldable phones in the summer months. Therefore, we can anticipate that the Galaxy Watch 7 will be revealed alongside the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, possibly in August of 2024. Stay tuned for official announcements from Samsung for more information on this exciting wearable device.
New chip and a Pro model
Samsung pitches the Galaxy Watch series firmly in the ‘fitness device’ category. And it comes with anything you’d need to track your workouts. The Galaxy Watch5 Pro has exceptional battery life for an all-rounder, lasting three days in our tests if you don’t use it at every hour of the day to track a workout.
The Watch 6 Classic was less successful at around 40 hours, but that is still better than standard Apple Watch models. Thankfully, in line with Samsung’s strategy, the 7th Galaxy Watch will be a ‘Pro’ version meaning we will be getting some juicy battery life.
This will also be improved if rumours about the inclusion of a new 3-nanometer chip turn out to be true. Not only would this improve battery life, but also efficiency. Other than this, there is nothing else confirmed for the Galaxy Watch 7.
In all honesty, Samsung’s smartwatches are great. If you own an S-series phone, then they are definitely worth the purchase. 2024 may just need better marketing from Samsung to improve the device’s recognition.
Samsung Smart Ring: An ace up their sleeve?
This is where things start to get really interesting. If Samsung wants to make 2024 a standout year, then releasing a smart ring would do just that. Apple will be looking to hog the limelight with Vision Pro, somewhere Samsung cannot yet compete. But a Samsung Smart Ring would go a long way to solidifying the Korean company as the smart device king.
Samsung Smart Ring Release Date
There is a lot of wild speculation here so we’ll keep it short. There is no indication of a release date for the Galaxy Ring (as some are calling it). But some rumours suggest Samsung are looking to release the product in January.
This seems very early, especially as it would be the first major acknowledgement of its existence by Samsung. But it does sort of make sense. Vision Pro is coming in February, so why not rain on their parade as much as they can? I’m sceptical.
Reports from The Elec of a late 2024, early 2025 release seem much more believable and sensible.
Samsung Smart Ring Features
Again, nothing has been confirmed here. But we can make educated guesses.
The Samsung Smart Ring will almost certainly have spatial sensing capabilities, allowing it to communicate with other nearby smart devices and locate itself in space. This would mean it has benefits for things like a potential VR headset. Wearing a ring would transform your hands into controllers themselves.
A Galaxy Ring will also have Near Field Communication (NFC) for things like contactless payments. Following examples like the Oura ring, we can assume that the Samsung Smart Ring will also have health-tracking capabilities. How many of these features they can fit inside a ring are yet to be seen. But Oura rings can track your heart rate, temperature and sleep amongst other things.
A flagship tech company releasing a smart ring would be huge. But not as huge as Vision Pro. And that’s the problem for anyone who isn’t Apple in 2024.
Conclusion: A Lot Of Potential
From the flagship S24 Ultra to the more experimental Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Watch, 2024 will be another strong showing for Samsung. But it won’t set the world alight. And I think they do need something else to spice things up.
Samsung makes a lot of smart devices, most of them for the home. However, most consumers care about personal tech devices. They can’t afford to fall behind in this area otherwise Apple will just horde a majority of the audience. Thats why 2024 needs to be the year of the Samsung Smart Ring.
Do you think Samsung will have a good 2024? Let me know below!
