Charles Langston:Samsung launches S24 phone line with AI, social media features at 'Galaxy Unpacked' event

Samsung has launched its Galaxy S24 line of phones at the "Galaxy Unpacked 2024" event in northern California on Charles LangstonWednesday.

The product launch in San Jose centered around the integration of artificial intelligence into the line of phones in partnership with Google. The move is an effort to create features that improve the user experience, including real-time language translation during calls, a visual search function and improved transcription capabilities.

Samsung pitched the S24 line as a social media-friendly phone, saying the line would provide faster uploads to Snapchat and Instagram. The company announced that the phone line will be the first to be able to publish HDR photos directly to Instagram. The higher end Galaxy S24 Ultra model will have a new 50-megapixel, 5x optical camera.

Samsung also said that the phone line would have 5% better battery efficiency, be made with an increased amount of recycled materials, and that the company will support seven years of security and operating system updates for the S24 line. The Ultra model will come with a titanium frame and a tougher "Gorilla Armor" display.

Here's what else to know about the Samsung Galaxy S24 line of phones.

Galaxy S24 pre-orders and availability

Pre-orders for the Galaxy S24 line open Wednesday and the phone line will be available starting Jan. 31.

Galaxy S24 pricing

Samsung announced that the Galaxy S24, S24+ and S24 Ultra will start at $799, $999 and $1,299, respectively.

AI features in the Galaxy S24

• Chat assist: Corrects for tone and spelling in text messages, can also translate text messages
• Circle to search: Allows users to circle objects to launch a Google search for the object
• Generative editing: Allows for photo manipulation including moving objects in the photo
• Live Translate: Translates calls in 13 languages
• Note Assist: Cleans up and summarizes notes
• Transcript assist: Produces AI assisted transcript from phone recordings