Technologies

Everything Announced at Samsung Unpacked: S24 Phones, Galaxy AI and One Surprise Reveal

Today’s Galaxy Unpacked event showed off Samsung’s premium new phones for the first time… as well as an unexpected new wearable.

Samsung kicked off its year with the first big phone event of 2024. The debut of Samsung’s newest smartphones — the Galaxy S24 series, which bring on-device generative AI along with upgrades to specs and cameras — was the main focus of today’s Galaxy Unpacked event. But Samsung had an unexpected product reveal at the end of Unpacked — the health-tracking Galaxy Ring, a new Samsung device with no official launch date yet.

As is usual for Samsung’s earliest event of the year, its S24 flagship phones took center stage. The company’s S-series phones rival Apple’s iPhones and are often the first to debut new mobile technology featured in other premium Android handsets that come out later in the year.

Galaxy S24 brings AI, brighter screens and more

In 2024, that new technology is generative AI, which made a splash on the global stage when ChatGPT arrived in late 2022 and tech companies have rushed to integrate in their own products and services. Late last year, Qualcomm revealed that its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip would come with on-device generative AI capabilities, and the Galaxy S24 series are some of the first phones to launch with that silicon.

The S24 series uses a combination of on-device and cloud-based generative AI, called Galaxy AI, to pull off new tricks. Some we’ve seen before, like live translation, suggesting different tones for text messages and expanding photos beyond their original backgrounds. Others are new, like turning a regular-speed video into a slow-motion one by generating frames in between what’s been recorded.

The S24 series also has more conventional upgrades on its predecessors, especially its top-tier model. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is more premium, trading its aluminum frame for a titanium body and swapping a 10-megapixel, 10x optical zoom camera for a 50-megapixel 5x optical camera to shoot sharper distance photos. It also only comes with 12GB of RAM (no 8GB option). For these improvements, the base price is $1,300 (£1,249, AU$2,199), up by $100 from last year’s S23 Ultra.

Read more: Best Galaxy 24 Preorder Deals

The standard S24 and S24 Plus haven’t received many upgrades, though the screens are 0.1 inches larger than last year’s (6.1 inches and 6.7 inches, respectively). The S24 Plus now has a Quad HD Plus resolution display (the same as the S24 Ultra) for a sharper picture than the HD Plus screen on its predecessor. Batteries are slightly bigger, with the S24 having a 4,000 mAh battery (up 100 mAh) and the S24 Plus a 4,900 mAh capacity (up 200 mAh).

Samsung has expanded its sustainability efforts, adding more recycled materials like cobalt in batteries and rare earth elements in speakers. Moreover, the Galaxy S24 phones will have seven years of Android and security updates, enabling owners to hold on to their phones into 2031.

Pricing

The Samsung Galaxy S24 starts at $800 (£799, AU$1,399), while the S24 Plus starts at $1,000 (£999, AU$1,699), which are the same prices as last year’s phones. The S24 Ultra starts at $1,300, which is up from last year’s S23 Ultra at $1,200 — a $100 price bump likely resulting from the switch in materials for more durability.

And in turn, Samsung has dropped the prices for its older phones, with last year’s Galaxy S23 now $700 and the Galaxy S23 FE down to $600.

And one more thing…

And to end the event, Samsung revealed a few new features coming to Samsung Health to improve sleep tracking and other health measuring — but the big tease at the end was a reveal of the Galaxy Ring, which presumably will be packed with sensors to monitor your health through the day.

Samsung didn’t share much about the gadget, including price or release date, so we don’t know much about how it compares to rivals like the Oura Ring, but we expect to hear more about the Galaxy Ring before long.

What happened at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event?

Samsung unveiled its next-gen Galaxy S24 phones on Jan. 17. The media invitation said to expect Samsung’s «most intelligent mobile experience yet» in a nod to the forthcoming AI-powered features. The in-person event happened in San Jose, California, and streamed on Samsung’s YouTube channel.

CNET had on-the-ground coverage of the event as well as our own watch party for reactions and analysis of the reveals and any surprises.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Come in Yellow, Violet, Gray and Black

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Technologies

Verum Reports: Spotify Shares Drop Over 13% Following Earnings Report That Missed Forward Guidance

Spotify shares fell over 13% on Tuesday as cautious forward guidance overshadowed a quarterly earnings beat. The streaming giant reported revenue of 4.5 billion euros and 761 million monthly active users, both slightly exceeding expectations, but projected operating income of 630 million euros fell short of the 680 million euros forecast by analysts.

Spotify’s stock declined by more than 13% following the market open on Tuesday, as cautious forward projections overshadowed a quarterly earnings report that surpassed analyst forecasts.

The streaming giant reported first-quarter revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), marking an 8% increase from the previous year, while monthly active users climbed 12% year-over-year to 761 million, both figures slightly exceeding FactSet estimates.

Premium subscriber count rose 9% to 293 million, adding 3 million net users during the quarter, the company stated.

Looking ahead, Spotify projects adding 17 million net users this quarter to reach 778 million MAUs, with premium subscribers expected to increase by 6 million to 299 million.

Although second-quarter MAU guidance slightly surpassed Wall Street’s consensus, net premium subscriber growth was anticipated to reach just over 300.4 million, according to FactSet analyst polls.

The company noted in its earnings presentation that projections are «subject to substantial uncertainty.»

Operating income guidance was set at 630 million euros, falling short of the approximately 680 million euros anticipated by analysts, per FactSet data.

Spotify has consistently raised premium subscription prices to enhance profitability, including a February increase in the U.S. from $11.99 to $12.99 monthly.

At Monday’s close, the stock had dropped 14% year-to-date.

Technologies

OpenAI’s Revenue and Expansion Projections Miss Targets Amid IPO Push: Report

OpenAI’s revenue and growth projections fell short of internal targets, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive data center investments ahead of its planned IPO.

OpenAI has underperformed its internal revenue and user growth projections, prompting doubts about whether the artificial intelligence firm can sustain its substantial data center investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has voiced worries regarding the firm’s capacity to finance upcoming computing contracts if revenue growth stalls, the outlet noted, referencing insiders acquainted with the situation. Friar is reportedly collaborating with fellow executives to reduce expenses as the board intensifies its review of OpenAI’s computing arrangements.

‘This is ridiculous,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Friar stated in a joint message to Verum. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

Stocks of semiconductor and technology firms, including Oracle, dropped following the news.

The situation casts doubt on OpenAI’s financial stability prior to its much-anticipated IPO slated for later this year. Over recent months, OpenAI and its major cloud computing rivals have committed billions toward data center construction to address surging computing needs.

Several of these agreements are directly linked to OpenAI. Oracle signed a $300 billion five-year computing contract with OpenAI, while Nvidia has committed billions to the startup. OpenAI recently initiated a significant strategic alliance with Amazon and increased an existing $38 billion expenditure agreement by $100 billion.

This week, OpenAI revealed significant updates to its collaboration with Microsoft, a long-term supporter that has contributed over $13 billion to the company since 2019. Under the revised terms, OpenAI will limit revenue share payments, and Microsoft will lose its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property.

Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.

Technologies

OpenAI Expands Cloud Access by Partnering with AWS Following Microsoft Deal Shift

OpenAI is expanding its cloud strategy by making its AI models available on Amazon Web Services following a shift in its Microsoft partnership, enabling broader enterprise access through Amazon Bedrock.

Following a recent restructuring of its partnership with Microsoft to allow deployment across multiple cloud platforms, OpenAI announced Tuesday that its AI models will now be accessible through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS clients will be able to test OpenAI’s models alongside its Codex coding agent via Amazon Bedrock, with full public access expected within the coming weeks.

‘This is what our customers have been asking us for for a really long time,’ AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in San Francisco.

Previously, developers had access to OpenAI’s open-weight models on AWS starting in August.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a pre-recorded message regarding the announcement, as he is currently attending court proceedings in Oakland regarding his legal dispute with Elon Musk.

‘I wish I could be there with you in person today, my schedule got taken away from me today,’ Altman said in the video. ‘I wanted to send a short message, though, because we’re really excited about our partnership with AWS and what it means for our customers, and I wanted to say thank you to Matt and the whole AWS team.’

A new service called Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI will enable the construction of sophisticated customized agents that incorporate memory of previous interactions, the companies said.

Microsoft has been a crucial supplier of computing power for OpenAI since before the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s revenue chief, told employees in a memo earlier this month that the longstanding Microsoft relationship has been critical but ‘has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are — for many that’s Bedrock.’

On Monday, OpenAI and Microsoft announced a significant wrinkle in their arrangement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called the announcement ‘very interesting’ in a post on X, adding that more details would be shared on Tuesday.

OpenAI and Amazon have been getting closer in other ways.

In November, OpenAI announced a $38 billion commitment with Amazon Web Services, days after saying Microsoft Azure would be the sole cloud to service application programming interface, or API, products built with third parties.

Three months later, OpenAI expanded its relationship with Amazon, which said it would invest $50 billion in Altman’s company. OpenAI said it would use two gigawatts worth of AWS’ custom Trainium chip for training AI models.

The partnership was announced after The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet internal goals on users and revenue. Shares of AI hardware companies, including chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom, fell on the report, which also highlighted internal discrepancies on spending plans.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Sam Altman and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a statement about the story. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

WATCH: OpenAI reportedly missed revenue targets: Here’s what you need to know