Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: latest news, rumors and everything we know so far

There’s every chance that the rumored Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will be the best Android phone of 2024, and you probably won’t have to wait until deep into the year to get it, as we’re expecting it to launch early on in the year.

As such, there are likely only a few months to wait now, and the leaks and rumors are predictably starting to pick up. We therefore have a good idea of many of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s likely specs and features, and have even seen some unofficial renders of the phone.

You’ll find all of this below, along with information on the possible price, and we’ll be updating this article whenever we hear anything else about this exciting best phone contender.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The likely next top-end Samsung phone
• When is it out? Possibly January 17
• How much will it cost? Possibly over $1,199.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,949

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: rumored release date and price

• Possibly launching on January 17
• Likely to cost at least $1,199.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,949

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will probably launch in January, as that’s what all the Galaxy S24 Ultra release date rumors so far claim. One Galaxy S24 release date leak got more specific, saying mid-to-late January, and another got even more precise, saying to expect the Samsung Galaxy S24 series on January 17.

We’ve since heard that January 17 date again from another source, and this time with the additional claim that pre-orders will begin on January 18, and that the Samsung Galaxy S24 line will ship by January 30.

That said, February is also possible, as it was in February of 2023 that we got the Samsung Galaxy S23 line.

Either way, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has also now been spotted on a certification database (which is something that usually happens close to launch), while a second certification even confirmed the S24 Ultra’s name. So the phone will almost certainly land in the opening months of 2024, making it one of the first major smartphone launches of the year.

As for its price, it could be extremely expensive, with one source claiming that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will cost more than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

They didn’t say exactly how much it will cost, but for reference the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1,199.99 / £1,249 / AU$1,949. So if it costs more than that then it will be one of the most expensive phones that doesn’t fold.

That said, a more recent leak suggests Samsung is looking to keep the S24 line’s prices in line with the S23 series, so you might not have to pay more than that after all.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: design and display

• Expect a similar design but titanium sides
• A very bright 6.8-inch screen is rumored
• Might have a 144Hz refresh rate

Leaks suggest that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will look a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. We’ve seen leaked Galaxy S24 Ultra case images and unofficial renders of the Galaxy S24 Ultra which show a near identical design, as you can see below, but with some small changes, at least going by the information supplied with the renders.

For one thing, the bezels are apparently slightly slimmer, with them said to be “one of the narrowest bezels seen on any smartphone.” That’s since been reiterated a second time, with pictures attached.

The same leak also states that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is 162.3 x 79 x 8.7mm and 233 grams, making it a tiny bit shorter, slimmer and lighter than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. They also state that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will have titanium sides, rather than aluminum like its predecessor. This is a more premium material, and would put it more in line with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, which also have titanium sides.

We’ve heard mention of titanium being used by the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra multiple times, including most recently in a report by The Elec, though one source clarifies that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will apparently use a titanium alloy. We’ve also heard the weight and dimensions above leaked more than once, with the slight exception that leaker @UniverseIce claims the Galaxy S24 Ultra will be 8.6mm thick.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra colors have also leaked, with the phone apparently set to come in black, gray, violet, and yellow shades, and the same source (leaker Ross Young) later adding that there might also be orange, light blue, and light green options as Samsung online store exclusives. Leaker @UniverseIce has since echoed all of these shades.

If you want to see what all of this looks like, check out the leaked renders that have come as part of a big leak on Windows Report.

As for the screen, @UniverseIce and the source of the renders above have both claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 6.8-inch display like the current model. But the former adds that the S24 Ultra’s screen will be able to reach 2,500 nits of brightness. We’ve since heard this 2,500 nits of brightness claim for the Galaxy S24 Ultra again, so it could well be accurate.

That could make it the brightest smartphone screen on the planet, marginally beating the 2,400 nits of the Pixel 8 Pro, and well ahead of the 2,000 nits of the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the 1,750 nits of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

That’s not the only display upgrade we’ve heard about either, because according to one leak the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 144Hz refresh rate. That’s up from 120Hz on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the latter of which also being the refresh rate that most other high-end phones have (other than the best gaming phones).

A higher refresh rate can make the likes of animations and page scrolling appear smoother, so it’s beneficial. But the source who made this claim doesn’t have much of a track record yet, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt.

Finally, we’ve heard that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra might be the first Samsung phone to use an advanced and power efficient ‘M13’ display. That would put it a generation ahead of the displays used on the current best Samsung phones, and it’s also the display technology that the iPhone 16 line will reportedly use.

A second source has also said the Galaxy S24 Ultra will use an M13 display, but they claim that the other S24 models will as well.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: cameras

• Might have 5x zoom rather than 10x
• The other cameras could be similar to the S23 Ultra’s

We’ve heard a lot of leaks about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s cameras, but oddly there’s been quite a lot of disagreement about them too.

Most recently, we heard that Samsung would not include a 10x optical zoom camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, with the phone instead apparently having a 5x optical zoom according to @UniverseIce, as well as a second lens offering a 3x zoom.

5x zoom would be in line with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 8 Pro, but Samsung has for years taken the lead in optical zoom, so it would seem strange for it to give up that lead.

As for the other cameras, according to leaker Yogesh Brar, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 200MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide one, a 50MP telephoto one (likely offering 3x optical zoom), a 10MP periscope (which the leak above suggests will offer just 5x optical zoom), and a 12MP front-facing camera.

That would mean more megapixels in the telephoto camera than the 10MP unit found on the S23 Ultra, but the other numbers are the same as on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

We’ve also heard from another source that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 50MP telephoto camera. And have similarly heard elsewhere that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 12MP selfie camera, just like the leak above claims, and that it won’t be an under-display one.

As these are the most recent leaks and come from reputable sources, we’re inclined to believe them, but earlier leaks paint a different picture. Previously, for example, @UniverseIce suggested there wouldn’t be a 50MP lens, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra instead apparently sporting a pair of 12MP snappers for telephoto shots.

We’ve also heard another leaker claim previously that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will have 3x and 10x zoom cameras, just like the S23 Ultra, but with “minor improvements” to the 10x zoom lens. Even earlier, the same source claimed that Samsung would only offer one telephoto snapper on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but that it would be able to shift between multiple zoom levels. However, they later claimed this plan had been canceled.

There’s also a questionable claim that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra might still have 100x digital zoom despite apparently only having 5x optical zoom.

Finally, another early leak suggested that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra would have a 1-inch sensor, which would be much larger than we’ve seen from Samsung before, and could improve dynamic range and low light performance. However, this isn’t something we’ve heard mentioned recently, so we’d think this is unlikely.

Overall then the camera hardware upgrades might not be too substantial, but software is another matter, as Samsung has applied to trademark the terms Magic Pixel, Flex Magic and Flex Magic Pixel. These are believed to be AI photography modes which could be headed to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and they sound reminiscent of Google’s AI tricks like Magic Eraser.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: battery

• A 5,000mAh battery and 45W charging look likely
• Seemingly no changes from last year

We’re not expecting any big battery upgrades with this phone, as leaks suggest the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will have a 5,000mAh battery and charge at 45W, just like the S23 Ultra.

Not only have leakers said as much, but a certification for the Galaxy S24 Ultra points to a 5,000mAh battery, while another suggests the S24 Ultra will offer 45W charging.

There were early reports suggesting that Samsung was working on stacked battery technology for phones, which could allow for around a 10% improvement in battery capacity without the battery taking up more space. But if the company is working on this, it doesn’t seem like we’ll see it in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: specs and features

• Likely to be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
• Could have up to 2TB of storage and 12GB of RAM

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will probably have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. After all, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, so it would make sense for the S24 Ultra to get the next generation of that chipset.

However, we’ve heard that Samsung might use a mix of Snapdragon chipsets and its own Exynos 2400 chipset in the Galaxy S24 line, so there’s some uncertainty over which models will get what, or whether it will depend on your region.

Prior to the S23 line Samsung also used two different chipsets in Galaxy S phones, with some regions getting a Snapdragon and others getting an Exynos. And there’s a chance that might happen again here, with leaker Yogesh Brar claiming that there will be both Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Exynos 2400 versions of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

That would be unfortunate, as inevitably one of those chipsets will be worse than the other (and based on past form it will probably be the Exynos that’s weaker).

But elsewhere we’ve heard that Samsung plans to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in all versions of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, with the standard Samsung Galaxy S24 and the Galaxy S24 Plus getting the Exynos 2400.

Some versions of the S24 Ultra will almost certainly use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 anyway, whether or not they all do, as we’ve seen an early benchmark for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra that includes this chipset.

The scores achieved are a significant boost on those of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra too. So this could be a powerful phone, though notably the scores are some way short of what one early leak claimed the S24 Ultra would be capable of, or of beating the A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro, as another leaker claimed it would be capable of.

Specifically, per this Geekbench listing, Samsung’s next flagship achieves a single-core benchmark score of 2214 and a multi-core score of 6744. For reference, in our own testing, the iPhone 15 Pro Max achieved benchmark scores of 2935 and 7207, respectively, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra achieved scores of 2011 and 5365, respectively.

An AnTuTu benchmark also posted impressive numbers for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, with it offering around a 15% increase in CPU performance and a 39% increase in GPU performance over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

It’s also worth noting that Samsung will likely have access to an overclocked version of this chipset, much as it did with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, though it’s not clear which version these early benchmarks are using.

As for RAM and storage, there’s some disagreement, with one of the benchmarks above mentioning just 8GB of RAM (though other configurations would surely be offered too). Another source claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra would have 16GB of RAM in all configurations – though notably just a couple of weeks earlier they said a 12GB model of the S24 Ultra was likely and an 8GB one was possible.

They also claimed the Galaxy S24 Ultra will top out at an enormous 2TB of storage, with the starting capacity being either 128GB or 256GB.

Most recently on the RAM front, we’ve heard that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra might come in 8GB and 12GB configurations.

On the software front, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will of course run Android, but it might also have a lot of AI skills, with one source going so far as to call the Samsung Galaxy S24 an ‘AI phone’.

Samsung itself has also now applied to trademark the terms ‘AI Phone’ and ‘AI Smartphone’, and while the company hasn’t attached them to the Galaxy S24 Ultra yet, the timing suggests they’re related.

Samsung also recently announced its first on-device large language model (LLM), Samsung Gauss, and a recent Korea Times report suggests that Samsung Gauss will debut on the Samsung Galaxy S24 line. But we’ve elsewhere heard that these AI features might be offered as a subscription service, meaning you might have to pay extra to access them.

If you want all of these rumored specs in one place, then check out the major leak from Windows Report – there you’ll find pictures of the phones and a full list of the specs we’re expected, and the colors the Ultra phone will come in.