Samsung’s ‘Zoom with Galaxy AI’ teaser shows off crazy AI camera tricks

Samsung is teasing the S24 series’ capabilities with a couple of videos. The videos show the phrase “Zoom with Galaxy AI is coming” and offer some hints that Samsung could be bringing unique features to the flagship cameras with AI.

Samsung is banking a lot on the hype of AI. A majority of teasers or leaks that have appeared surrounding the launch of the S24 series scheduled for January 17 refer to artificial intelligence, whether that’s hinting at a Google partnership utilizing Bard or showing off some insane camera tricks.

The latest teaser is part of the latter and comes in the form of three videos on Samsung’s reservation page for the Galaxy S24 lineup. On that page, every video carries the phrase “Zoom with Galaxy AI is coming.” The first showcases the S24 Ultras lenses, presumably. In each lens is a different level of zoom on a hot air balloon. Simple enough.

The second video is where it gets weird. Rather than showing off some impressive amount of zooming in, like 30x or 50x, the video focuses on a woman at a busy fair. She pinches her fingers as if she were zooming in on a display. That action, in turn, enlarges a stuffed bear in someone’s hands. The third video follows the same concept, except with ice cream.

If you saw the first video, and only that video, you’d understandably think the S24 Ultra and other new devices would be capable of some incredible zoom while retaining a high level of detail. Previous teasers from Samsung would back that up, specifically the announcement made in October that a new feature with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 would allow for AI-driven target following when zooming in, along with other cool features.

However, what it actually looks to be teasing is a way for users to enlarge objects in photos using the Galaxy S24’s AI zoom capabilities. You could argue that zooming in is an action done while taking a photo, so Samsung could be bringing a feature that allows you to make objects bigger in the viewfinder while snapping a picture. On the other hand, this might be a product of using some version of Magic Editor for Galaxy, originally found on the Pixel series. Of course, we don’t know how Samsung would implement this feature, but that’s why a teaser is a teaser.

The purpose of those videos is to drum up a little excitement prior to the launch on January 17. Part of that is offering an obligation-free $50 discount to anyone who reserves the Galaxy S24, S24+, or S24 Ultra prior to launch. Doing so is free and locks you in if you decide to buy an S24.