Samsung Galaxy S24 early release just tipped — here's what we know

A render of the Galaxy S24 Ultra from the back and front in black

(Image credit: Technizo Concept)

It sounds like Samsung's not ready to give the iPhone 15 too much time on its own before the Galaxy S24 launch. Another report has surfaced claiming that the phone maker is planning an early 2024 launch for its next smartphones.

The new report comes via Seoul Economic Daily, which claims that the next Galaxy Unpacked event will take place in early 2024. That lines up with earlier claims that Samsung was eyeing a January 2024 launch for its Galaxy S24 lineup.

If Samsung does plan a January launch for its new phones, it would have to find a space on the calendar that doesn't conflict with other events. The 2024 edition of the massive CES trade show runs from January 9 to January 12, and you'd expect Samsung to steer clear of that. The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in the U.S. falls on January 15 next year, blocking out another potential date for a launch event. That would suggest that a January Galaxy Unpacked would take place in the latter half of the month, if Samsung truly has its sites set on an earlier-than-usual release.

Samsung Unpacked 2024 details

The Seoul Economic Daily report drops one other tidbit of information — Samsung will apparently hold its next Unpacked in San Francisco. That's the same city where the Galaxy S23 launch took place. More recently, Samsung rolled out the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 at an August event in South Korea.

The Galaxy S24 lineup is expected to once again feature three phones, though they could be running on different chipsets. While the Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to include the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the S24 and S24 models may run on the Exynos 2400 depending on what market they're sold in.

The Galaxy S24 models are rumored to feature brighter displays, with the biggest improvements reserved for the Ultra model. That includes the possibility of a larger main camera sensor for improved low-light photos and potentially an upgraded telephoto lens. It's also possible the Galaxy S24 Ultra could be the only new Galaxy to feature a titanium design.

Should rumors about an early release date pan out, we could discover exactly which rumored features are true, as an iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra face-off inevitably takes center stage.

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Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.