In “The most anticipated smartphones of 2024.”, we provide useful information, practical explanations, and the main points to consider when working with smartphones and electronics.
In January 2024 we published a list of the smartphones the market was waiting for that year: the Samsung Galaxy S24, iPhone 16, OPPO Find X7 and Google Pixel 9. Three of them launched after the article went up, and OPPO had already unveiled its phone a few days earlier. In October 2026 we rewrote the piece as a look back: what people expected, what the manufacturers actually announced, and what 2024 meant for anyone who repairs phones.
The details below come from the manufacturers' own announcements. We have left out the 2024 prices and launch deals because they stopped being relevant long ago.
Photo: ITC.ua
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S24 series at Galaxy Unpacked in San Jose on 17 January 2024, on the date it had announced in advance. As expected, the launch was built around Galaxy AI, with live call translation, writing help for messages and notes, recording summaries, and Circle to Search, developed together with Google.
The titanium rumour turned out to be true, but only for one model: the Galaxy S24 Ultra was the first Galaxy phone with a titanium frame, and it also got a new 5x optical zoom lens. For the chipset, Samsung used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in the S24 Ultra and the Exynos 2400 in some S24 and S24+ models, depending on the market. Sales started on 31 January 2024.
For repair shops, the announcement with the longest tail was a different one. Samsung promised seven generations of OS upgrades and seven years of security updates for the S24 series. A phone that is supported for that long stays in use for longer, so its battery and screen are likely to be replaced at least once.
Display Samsung Galaxy S24 SM-S921 OR 100% (Service Pack) with frame Black185,94 $
Pre-launch render: PhoneArena
Apple announced the iPhone 16 lineup on 9 September 2024, and sales began on 20 September. As expected, there were four models: iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max.
Almost every rumour from January came true. The Pro models grew to 6.3 and 6.9 inches. In 2023 the 5x telephoto camera had been exclusive to the Pro Max; now it came to both Pro models. Leaks had called the new button "Capture", and it appeared on all four phones under the name Camera Control. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus also gained the Action button, and the chips were the A18 and A18 Pro.
Apple's AI features arrived later than the phones. The first of them shipped in October 2024 with iOS 18.1, as a beta and in US English only. iPhone owners in the European Union did not get Apple Intelligence until 31 March 2025, with iOS 18.4.
iPhone 16 battery (3561 mAh) REPART16,50 $
Photo: OPPO
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra had already been announced when we wrote the original article: it launched in China on 8 January 2024. It was the first smartphone with two periscope cameras, one with 3x zoom and one with 6x, next to a main camera with a 1-inch sensor. Other specs include the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, a 6.82-inch display and a 5000 mAh battery with 100 W charging.
Two points in the original text need correcting. Satellite messaging did not come with the standard model: OPPO announced a separate Find X7 Ultra Satellite Communication Edition at the end of March 2024, with sales from April. And the Find X7 series was never officially sold outside China, so the European launch we were waiting for did not happen.
The Pixel 9 series was unveiled at the Made by Google event on 13 August 2024, earlier than the autumn launch the rumours pointed to. There were four models in the family: Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL went on sale on 22 August, and the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold followed on 4 September in the US.
"Pixie", the assistant from the leaks, never appeared under that name. On the Pixel 9, Gemini became the default assistant, and the new Tensor G4 chip was the first to run Gemini Nano with multimodal support (text, images and audio). Like Samsung, Google promised seven years of OS and security updates.
The other expectations were partly met: the Pro came in two sizes, 6.3 and 6.8 inches, and RAM went up to 12 GB on the Pixel 9 and 16 GB on the Pro models.
| Series | Expected in January 2024 | What actually launched |
|---|---|---|
| Galaxy S24 | Launch on 17 January, Galaxy AI, titanium frame | Confirmed; titanium on the S24 Ultra only |
| iPhone 16 | Four models, bigger Pro screens, 5x zoom, capture button | Confirmed; Apple Intelligence arrived in stages, in the EU from 31 March 2025 |
| OPPO Find X7 Ultra | Two periscopes, satellite messaging, European sales | Periscopes yes; satellite in a separate edition; no official launch outside China |
| Pixel 9 | "Pixie" assistant, new Tensor chip, autumn launch | Tensor G4 and Gemini instead of "Pixie"; launched in August |
The prediction that AI would become a standard smartphone feature came true for all four manufacturers. For technicians, the bigger change is the length of software support: a flagship with seven years of updates stays in use long after the warranty ends, so batteries, screens and charging ports come in for repair more often. How easy a model is to fix matters as much as its specs; we covered that in our article on the most repairable smartphones.
When you replace the screen on a 2024 model, the customer should know what kind of part they are getting. The differences between original, service pack and aftermarket screens are explained in our guide to display quality classes. With batteries, the question owners of new phones ask most often is whether fast charging wears them out; the practical answer is in our article on fast charging and battery life.
The GSM Forsage catalogue has displays, batteries, tools and components for mobile electronics repair. Contact us about availability and wholesale prices.
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