I can’t remember if there was ever a real lull in the weeks between CES and MWC, or if this is the kind of thing we tell ourselves to soften the blow of a hardware season that now stretches 11.5 months a year. Whatever the case, the days of big companies saving big news for big events seem to be over.
Once upon a time, Samsung split its big top announcements of the year between CES (TVs, monitors, devices) and Mobile World Congress (phones, tablets, maybe wearable). Several years ago, however, the company moved its big flagship mobile news to a stand-alone event — albeit one more closely tied to MWC.
This year’s first Samsung Unpacked, on the other hand, returns to the US West Coast less than a week after CES. Fortunately, some things are a little more predictable than the company’s event schedule — namely the devices that are going to be announced at said event. Tomorrow at 10 am. PT/1 p.m. ET, Samsung will unveil its latest flagship, the Galaxy S24. This much we can say we know with almost absolute certainty.
Since this is Samsung we’re talking about, we also think we know a lot about the device itself, thanks to a steady stream of releases. As always, the Ultra will be the (high-priced) centerpiece of the lineup. Here’s some of what we think we know:
- New flatter screen
- Another quad-camera array, although the 10x telephoto lens has been halved
- A titanium frame for the iPhone 15
AI will, unsurprisingly, take center stage tomorrow. The company expects to integrate some form of third-party AI into the device. By the end of 2024, I’d expect almost every major Android device to offer some version of this, but it points out that Samsung is ahead of the curve on this one.
One particular piece of AI we’ve heard about is Google’s new “Circle to Search” feature, which aims to make accessing search engines even more accessible.
Samsung will likely also announce the standard S24 and S24+ options. There could also be additional material in the docket.
You can follow along with announcements here.