With the launch of the Galaxy S25 just four months away, the biggest point of contention among consumers regarding Samsung's next flagship phone is its chipset. While it was expected that Samsung would use a mix of Exynos and Snapdragon chips in the Galaxy S25 series, a new report claims that the company will exclusively use the Snapdragon chip.
All Galaxy S25 models could use Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip instead of Exynos 2500
According to a report from Hankyung, the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 For Galaxy processor globally. While the company was expected to use the in-house Exynos 2500, announced a few weeks ago, chip in the Galaxy S25 and the Galaxy S25+, it has reportedly changed its decision.
This new strategy differs from the current year, where the Galaxy S24 and the Galaxy S24+ use the Exynos 2400 in most countries, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra exclusively uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. This is reportedly because Samsung plans to use “only the highest performance components.” Apparently, the company wants to shake off people's performance-related doubts regarding flagship Galaxy smartphones.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is said to bring significant (more than 30%) improvements in AI and GPU performance.
Since the iPhone 16 will be Apple's first smartphone focusing on AI performance and features, Samsung needs to compete with it properly, and the Galaxy S25 needs to have the industry's best AI performance. The performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is said to match that of the iPhone 16's A18 chip.
Chinese firms like Huawei and Xiaomi are also said to be working on their first AI-focused phones. So, Samsung doesn't want to take chances and go for nothing but the best in the chipset market. The South Korean firm wants to keep AI phone supremacy by using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 For Galaxy in the Galaxy S25 series.
The story continues after our Galaxy Z Fold 6 review in the video below.
Samsung uses Exynos in some of its high-end phones to negotiate better pricing, as Samsung's System LSI division and Qualcomm vie to get the highest orders (usually in tens of millions). So, they try to offer their chips to Samsung's smartphone division at the lowest possible price. Dual-sourcing chips also increases the reliability of the supply chain.
The South Korean firm spent KRW 7.6295 trillion (~$5.69 billion) in 2021 to KRW 11.732 trillion (~$8.75 billion) in 2023. So, the company is now spending around 20% of the smartphone's cost on its chipset.
Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 could use Exynos 2500
For now, Samsung's semiconductor division will focus on improving the performance and stability of the Exynos 2500 chip.
Samsung Device Solutions business has reportedly ordered executives of its foundry business to improve its 3nm and more advanced semiconductor chip fabrication processes to secure competitiveness in the market.
A few weeks ago, Samsung successfully used the Exynos W1000 (3nm) in the Galaxy Watch 7 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra, so it is being reported that the 3nm Exynos 2500 chip in the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in the second half of next year.
