Samsung’s $650 Galaxy S24 FE offers new AI features at a lower price than the standard $800 Galaxy S24. The phone was unveiled Thursday during a launch event at the company’s Samsung 837 store in New York. You can order from October 3rd.
The phone includes Galaxy AI features like Live Translate, Circle to Search, Generative Edit to remove unwanted objects from photos, and Notes Assist to format, translate, and summarize notes, all available on previous Galaxy S24 smartphones. Contains many of the features that were previously available. It comes with 7 years of software updates along with security updates like the S24, further showing how Samsung is bridging the gap between more affordable and high-end devices. Samsung’s focus on Galaxy AI comes after Apple touted Apple Intelligence as a key feature of the iPhone 16, and the company believes the technology will be a key part of its future mobile devices. It also emphasizes that
This article is part of CNET’s Samsung Event, a collection of news, tips, and advice about Samsung’s most popular products.
A purple Galaxy S23 FE next to a blue Galaxy S24 FE.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
The Galaxy S24 FE features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display and a 4,700mAh battery. After a brief touch with the phone, I felt that its design is similar to last year’s Galaxy S23 FE. If you place the S23 FE, which has a 6.4-inch display, next to the new phone, you’ll notice that the body of the S24 FE is slightly taller to accommodate the larger display. We also hope that the S24 FE’s 4,700mAh battery (up from the S23 FE’s 4,500mAh) will help extend battery life. Last year’s phones drained faster than expected, often ending test days with 12% to 20% battery life.
The S24 FE features a 50-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, which on paper looks similar to the Galaxy S24’s camera setup. Although it looks like it is, it is almost the same as S23 FE.
Samsung’s $800 phone has a 50-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, but also comes with a 10-megapixel telephoto camera. But Samsung is also touting its new ProVisual camera engine, which it says uses AI to improve detail and textures.
During my hands-on experience, I took a few photos of the Samsung 837 showroom, including muffins and chocolates lined up on the kitchen counter.
Uses the 50 megapixel wide camera of Galaxy S24 FE.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
My photos using wide angle, ultra wide angle, and telephoto all highlight the texture of the pastry, but to get a better idea of how the camera works in the real world, there are many more with different lighting. You must bring your mobile phone into the environment.
Muffins on the table using the 8-megapixel telephoto camera of the Galaxy S24 FE.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
Muffins on the table using the 12-megapixel ultrawide camera of the Galaxy S24 FE.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
I noticed that in photos taken using the 10-megapixel front-facing camera, my face was in focus, but details behind me, such as people in the background and a sign over my shoulder, were blurred.
Shot with the 10-megapixel selfie camera on the Galaxy S24 FE.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
The S24 FE runs on Samsung’s Exynos 2400e processor, which is separate from the Qualcomm processor used in the flagship Galaxy S24 and last year’s S23 FE. Samsung uses Exynos processors in its more affordable Galaxy A phones, and the choice to move to its own processor could be a reason to lower the phone’s price. The company also says that the Galaxy S24 FE comes with a larger vapor chamber for better cooling during gaming. This phone comes in four colors: Blue, Mint, Gray, and Graphite. Samsung’s announcement also included a yellow model that was not on display at Thursday’s event.
With this launch, Samsung continues its expansion of more value-oriented devices, including the $200 Galaxy Watch FE. An LTE model of the Galaxy Watch FE will also be announced at Thursday’s event, with prices starting at $250. Samsung also announced a new line of S10 tablets at Thursday’s event.
Galaxy S24 FE comes in blue, mint, gray, and graphite colors. The gray model actually looks closer to white.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET
Samsung has spent much of 2024 promoting its Galaxy AI tool suite, and the Galaxy S24 FE is further proof of that direction. Samsung is just one of several phone manufacturers going all-in on AI. Google and Apple also used AI as the focus of their latest phones launched in August and September, respectively.
Samsung’s Galaxy S24 FE will be equipped with AI functions such as Circle to Search.
samsung
A quarter of smartphone owners don’t find their smartphone’s AI features useful, according to a CNET study in partnership with YouGov. In fact, the study found that longer battery life and more storage are the top reasons smartphone owners upgrade their devices.
