Early Samsung Galaxy S24 release date and bold Unpacked event location choice tipped
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According to local Korean media, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, S24+, and Galaxy S24 release date will be January 30, 2024. Apparently, a Samsung official tipped that the company has "decided to announce the Galaxy S24 series in San Jose, USA on the 17th local time," jibing with another rumor that Samsung will hold a Galaxy S4 Unpacked event in San Jose - close to the Google and Apple's headquarters in the Valley - for the first time.
According to the report's Samsung sources, the MX (Mobile eXperience) division which is now in charge of phone making at Samsung, has decided to concentrate the bulk of its sales and marketing efforts in the first and third quarters of the year, so it has pulled the Galaxy S24 release as early in January as possible.
Samsung Galaxy S24 preorder start
- January 17
"Sales will also begin immediately," tipped the Samsung official before The Elec, indicating that the company won't deviate from its usual flagship phone launch scheme. By sales they likely mean preorders, and those will reportedly run until the official Galaxy S24 January 30 release date when the series will hit store shelves in the US and abroad.
The first units will be shipped out January 25-26 depending on the time zone, claims the report, so some of those who did a preorder reservation and then actually bought the phones, could be getting their Galaxy S24 Ultra units earlier than January 30.
Samsung Galaxy S24 preorder reservations start
- January 2 (est.)
If history is any indication, Samsung would begin the Galaxy S24 preorder reservation period a couple of weeks before the January 17 Unpacked announcement event. While the current report doesn't state when will preorder reservations start, there have been rumors that those might begin as soon as the New Year's Eve festivities are over and people are back to work.
Sounds about right, given that earlier this year Samsung started the Galaxy S23 reservations on a Monday a full month earlier than the actual Unpacked unveiling. We doubt that Samsung will chose the January 1st holiday for revealing the early bird bonuses, but Tuesday, January 2 could very well be when the Galaxy S24 preorder reservation start.
This would mean that reservations will run exactly two weeks until the actual S24 Unpacked event when preorders will start. As to what can be expected in terms of Galaxy S24 deals and preorder reservation bonus, that would most likely include a $50-$100 price discount on top of any other freebies and generous trade-in offers Samsung will throw in during the preorder and launch periods.
Why is Samsung releasing the Galaxy S24 early and holding Unpacked event in San Jose?
That is the reason it also pulled the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 Unpacked event and release date a few weeks earlier than usual, padding the sales numbers in that all-important third quarter at the tail end of which Apple usually announces its iPhones.
As for the choice of San Jose as the place where it will hold its Galaxy S24 Unpacked, Samsung reportedly picked it up deliberately to emphasize both its viability as a direct competitor to Apple, and the cooperation partnership it has with Google and its Android ecosystem.
Color us excited, as Samsung is expected to have built the Galaxy S24 Ultra with a new titanium frame just like its main iPhone 15 Pro Max competitor and anointed it with the best OLED display and camera kit, leaving little doubt whose phones it will be targeting with the Galaxy S24 series release.
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