Move over Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S24 series adds 'Magic' new photo feature

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked has revealed the latest and greatest S-series flagship: the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. But that wasn't all from the showcase: the Korean brand has gone big on artificial intelligence, with its Galaxy AI feature-set a major part of what this new flagship is all about. 

It's no longer only Google's Pixel series that's front and centre in the AI world, with the Magic Editor feature on the Pixel 8 Pro – the on-device editing suite where you can move/remove/resize/adjust key objects and subjects – following the success of Magic Eraser that began back in the Pixel 6 era. 

Now Samsung wants a slice of that pie, with its Galaxy AI features bringing Generative Edit and Edit Suggestion features to the Galaxy S24 series. I know, Google's marketing department has won on the 'attractive name' front, but having seen Samsung's tools in action at a Galaxy S24 preview event, I'm initially impressed (with the admittedly Samsung-provided images and demos).

As you can see in the three-part image above, Generative Edit allows you to auto-select, manipulate, resize, move and generatively re-fill the background in context. And while the S24 Ultra features Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor (tuned for Galaxy) this is so intensive on compute that it's handed off-device in the cloud, so a connection is required. 

It's with other Galaxy AI features where Qualcomm's chip can flex its muscle on-device, however, with Edit Suggestion automatically advising on edits the tool can do for you – be that brightening shadows that have fallen across a subject's face, removing excessive reflections from windows, adjusting the colour balance to suit, and so forth. It's an automated AI suggestions tool that can help improve your bank of images. 

Galaxy AI isn't only about photography, though, with real-time text and spoken word transcriptions (also like with Google's Pixel features) and live translations for 13 languages also highlights of what else is on offer. Not that it's the only reason to pre-order a Galaxy S24 Ultra: the handset has a new camera feature that's a major upgrade, a new finish that's reminiscent of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but retains the same asking price as its predecessor.