What you need to know
- A recent rumor suggests Samsung could drop the Plus model from the S24 series in 2024 due to consumers' lack of interest in the phone.
- However, the rumor may not hold much truth, as one leaker points out some misunderstandings with the report.
- The S22 Plus reportedly only accounted for 17% of the 31.5 million Galaxy S22 series units shipped.
A rumor suggested that Samsung's next flagship Galaxy phone lineup could be one phone short come 2024.
The latest rumor comes from a post by the Korean website The Elec, which speculates Samsung could be flirting with dropping the Galaxy S24 Plus model next year. This would leave consumers with an S24 and S24 Ultra as, supposedly, Samsung's development project seems to have omitted one model. Apparently, it's been found that the development project (DM) only surfaced two names: DM1 and DM3, which seemingly refers to the S24 and S24 Ultra.
However, a tweet by Roland Quandt of the German website WinFuture states that the "DM1," "DM2," and "DM3" development titles refer to the codename "diamond" of the Galaxy S23 series. The fact that there hasn't been a recently found DM2 title could just be a simple miss and have nothing to do with the Galaxy S24 series.
The rumor suggested that one reason Samsung could potentially drop the Galaxy S24 is due to the smartphone industry's stagnated nature over the past few years. Units sold have fluctuated constantly since 2019, with the market estimated to possibly rise again in 2023 by a bit. In addition to this, it's also been suggested that the Plus model phones are just not as popular as the other two variants in a series.
For the Galaxy S22 series, which apparently had a total of 31.5 million units sold, 17% of that belonged to the Galaxy S22 Plus, which shipped only 5.5 million. The bulk of the shipments belonged to the other two models, with the smaller Galaxy S22 sitting at 38% of the shipments and the Galaxy S22 Ultra at a commanding 45%. The Elec even compared the move to Apple's latest iPhone 14 series, stating that even the iPhone 14 Plus saw a production drop due to its lack of attraction for consumers.
The Elect also says Samsung may also be interested in reviewing its lower-end Galaxy A-series in an attempt to reduce the number of products in that category as well. That said, despite the rumors, fans of the Plus models may not have to worry about Samsung skipping out on the middle flagship in 2024.
However, facing our immediate future is the Galaxy S23 series. Consumers should definitely be met with three models this year, as leaked dummy units gave a look at the possible models and their subtle design changes. To talk about the top-of-the-line, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has been rumored to deliver a 200MP main camera along with a potentially improved night mode.
Samsung has also confirmed the launch of its new Galaxy S23 series on February 1 at its Unpacked event. Reservations have also opened for the upcoming flagship series, with consumers receiving $50 in credit when preordering the device or double when preordering two devices.
