Samsung confirms Unpacked event for January 17 with "Galaxy AI"; Galaxy S24 launch expected [Update]

Update: 7 pm Eastern time - You can now pre-order "the newest phone from Galaxy" in order to receive $50 in Samsung credit when you purchase the smartphone.

Original story - As expected, Samsung is getting ready to make some major product announcements later this month. A hidden but still live post on the company's Australia X (formerly Twitter) account shows the next Galaxy Unpacked event is coming in mid-January.

Specifically, the post (via 9to5Google) says Galaxy Unpacked will begin on "Jan 18th, 2024 at 5am AEDT". That means the event will happen at 10 am Pacific time, or 1 pm Eastern time, on January 17. That date had previously been rumored to be the day of Galaxy Unpacked. The post has an animated image that shows a box that turns into several star icons, which then go around in circles, and finally show "Galaxy AI is coming".

This shows that Samsung is pushing forth its own generative AI platform or service, much like how it released its own Bixby digital voice assistant to compete with Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, and the now-shut-down Cortana from Microsoft.

Galaxy AI was previously announced by Samsung in November 2023, and the company stated it will use both on-device and cloud-based features. It will likely be one of the big new additions for the rumored Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphones, which are also expected to be officially revealed at the new Unpacked event.

Recent rumors from gadget leaker "Arsene Lupin" on X claim that the Galax S24 Plus and Ultra models will feature AI-based additions like Live Translate, which will reportedly speak foreign languages from those phones. The report also says the phones will offer Generative Edit features for photos, allowing users to move or even do away with objects in images. Samsung has yet to confirm these features so for now take them with a grain of salt.