The phones in the Galaxy S25 lineup are expected to be the company's first to use 3nm chips. Earlier, it was rumored that Samsung would use 3nm Exynos 2500 in the Galaxy S25 and the Galaxy S25+ and the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, that might change as the company is reportedly struggling with in-house 3nm Exynos chips.
All Galaxy S25 models could use Snapdragon 8 Elite chips
According to a report from Business Korea, Samsung is facing yield-related issues with its 3nm Exynos 2500 chips. Yield refers to the percentage of all chips that pass the quality certification while the rest are discarded. While Samsung has expressed faith in its second-generation 3nm process and the Exynos 2500 chip, the Business Korea report claims the yields are low and has failed to offer actual figures.
Samsung has been facing issues in its semiconductor chip foundry segment. Despite investing billions of dollars, the company has failed to catch up to TSMC. In fact, the gap has only widened between the two. In the second quarter of this year, TSMC's market share rose to 62.3%, while Samsung Foundry's market share dropped to just 11.5%.
If this report is accurate, Samsung could be forced to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in all the Galaxy S25 series models—Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra—globally. Snapdragon chips have been slightly more powerful and efficient than Exynos chips in the past, so buyers are likely to rejoice if the report is accurate. However, it will be bad news for Samsung, as it will fail to catch up to TSMC and Qualcomm.
Watch the Galaxy S24 FE in our video below.
Over the past few years, Samsung has lost big-name clients, including Nvidia and Qualcomm, both of which switched to TSMC for their flagship products. These firms were expected to return to Samsung Foundry as clients but didn't, reportedly due to inconsistent yield. It remains to be seen if Samsung will launch the Exynos 2500 and use it in the Galaxy S25 series.
