2024 has barely started, but we already have an exciting development in the mobile tech space. Specifically, we now know the exact date Samsung is announcing the Samsung Galaxy S24 series.
On January 2, Samsung sent official invitations for the next Galaxy Unpacked event. It will take place on Wednesday, January 17, at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. It’s a change of pace from the typical New York and San Francisco locations where Unpacked has traditionally occurred and a much different setting from last year’s Unpacked in Seoul, where Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5.
The invite doesn’t reveal much, simply showing three gray star-like shapes — the color possibly teasing the titanium design for the S24 Ultra. The shapes could be teasing the logo for the reported AI features coming to the S24 series, though that’s purely speculation on our part.
This month’s Unpacked officially kicks off at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. Samsung’s inviting folks to watch it in person, but it’ll also be livestreamed for everyone to watch on Samsung’s website, YouTube channel, and other social platforms.
In addition to announcing the date of Unpacked, Samsung also detailed its latest “Reserve” offers. Similar to previous Samsung launches, you can now enter your name and email address on Samsung’s website to receive a $50 credit when you preorder any of the Galaxy S24 models once they’re available.
There’s no commitment to get the credit beyond sharing your name and email with Samsung, so if there’s even the slightest chance you’ll end up buying an S24, you might as well take advantage of it.
Although Samsung doesn’t explicitly mention the Galaxy S24 by name in its invite, it’s all but guaranteed to be the focus for the January 17 Unpacked. In typical fashion, we’re expecting three new phones from Samsung: the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra.
We aren’t anticipating any significant upgrades with this year’s phones. Samsung is likely sticking with very similar designs for all three phones compared to their S23 counterparts, with the biggest change being some new colors. There’s also talk of the Galaxy S24 Ultra using a titanium design, not unlike the iPhone 15 Pro.
As far as other upgrades go, we should get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, slightly larger displays, and some minor camera tweaks. Interestingly, there’s been talk of Samsung axing 10x zoom on the S24 Ultra — one of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s best features. Furthermore, at least one report claims the S24 and S24 Plus will be cheaper than their predecessors, while the S24 Ultra will get a small price increase.
The next couple of weeks are bound to be filled with more leaks and rumors, but we now have a proper date to look forward to when everything becomes official.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.