All of the t-shirt tearing and “will they, will not they” sobbing over which chipset will Samsung use for the Galaxy S25 collection have slowly come to a detailed, with varied impartial sources reporting that the three telephones will solely be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gen 4).
Whereas we do have benchmarks with its homebrew Exynos 2500 processor on board, there are lots extra Samsung Galaxy S25 items benchmarked with Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gen 4). The final one in that panopticon on Geekbench is none aside from the Korean model of the Galaxy S25 which, shock, shock, carries a Qualcomm chipset.
If even the lowly S25 will not ship with an Exynos within the dwelling turf, then all hope is misplaced, and we might solely see the Exynos 2500 in a telephone at a a lot later date, maybe as far out because the Galaxy Z Fold 7 even, because the S25 slim is alleged to return with Snapdragon 8 Elite, whereas the S25 FE might don a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset.
What led to all this drama have been the stories that Samsung will solely be prepared with the specified amount and high quality of Exynos 2500 processors within the first half of 2025 versus the final quarter of this yr, as beforehand thought.
Thus, the Exynos 2500 chip might finally be used to decrease the price of Samsung foldable telephones which can be arriving within the second half of 2025, slightly than the S25 collection that may land early subsequent yr.
As well as, Samsung reportedly got here away impressed from Qualcomm’s presentation of a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip made particularly for the Galaxy S25 Extremely, and finally determined to battle the iPhone 16 collection with a chipset that has a efficiency and energy draw corresponding to the upcoming A18 Professional processor of Apple.
It needed to incorporate Exynos 2500 due to the as much as $100 lower cost in comparison with the $250 Snapdragon that’s changing into the most costly half in an S25, however its foundry merely wasn’t prepared with the yield from the second-gen 3nm manufacturing course of.
Qualcomm is the rationale that Samsung’s cellular chipset provide prices went manner above $8 billion final yr for the primary time, as 20% of its telephone manufacturing prices now go to the processor, so it needed to combine Exynos with Snapdragon for the S25 to no avail.
Some Samsung insiders blame the shortened 52-hour workweek in Korea, however there are different forces in play, too, as its foundry works with a fraction of the personnel that TSMC makes the Snapdragon 8 Elite chips with.
Daniel, a faithful tech author at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in cellular know-how because the Home windows Cellular period. His experience spans cellular {hardware}, software program, and service networks, and he is keenly taken with the way forward for digital well being, automotive connectivity, and 5G. Past his skilled pursuits, Daniel finds stability in journey, studying, and exploring new tech improvements, whereas considering the moral and privateness implications of our digital future.
