It's more or less confirmed that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S25 series will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite across the entire lineup. Earlier reports have claimed that Samsung would go for the same Exynos and Snapdragon split as this year's lineup, with the Galaxy S24 and S24+ having the Exynos in most markets while the S24 Ultra used Snapdragon only.
That couldn't materialize due to production issues with the Exynos 2500. Samsung then had no other option but to go with the Snapdragon 8 Elite for the entire Galaxy S25 series. However, the company is still committed to have Exynos back in the fold, and it may do that in a significant way with the Galaxy S26 series.
Get ready for another year of Exynos vs Snapdragon roulette
Samsung Foundry's low yields on the 3nm process are primarily being blamed for Exynos 2500 not getting a shot at glory with the Galaxy S25 series. The foundry isn't able to make enough of them feasibly to provide the mobile division these chips at the scale it requires.
However, the foundry has reportedly addressed many of those yield issues and while it's too late for the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung is now said to be considering the use of the Exynos 2500 for the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Z Flip FE. These would be the first foldable phones with an Exynos chipset as all previous models have exclusively been Snapdragon.
Given that the clamshell foldables sell fewer units than the Galaxy S flagships, it could be sort of a test run for the company before it decides to bring back Exynos to the lineup. A tipster claims that Exynos will return with the Galaxy S26 series in a similar fashion to the Galaxy S24, with the two base models featuring Samsung's chipset while the Galaxy S26 Ultra gets that year's latest Snapdragon.
Samsung's reasons for trying to bring Exynos back into the fold go beyond a desire to extract maximum benefit from vertical integration. Qualcomm is reportedly making these Snapdragon chips more expensive for OEMs while the depreciating Korean currency is also making imported components more expensive for Samsung. The Exynos chip will help it offset some of these risks while retaining healthy margins in an industry that doesn't have significant margins to begin with.
