Samsung's Galaxy S25 Could Still Rely on Dual Chipset Strategy
Samsung is reportedly retaining its two-chip approach with next year's Galaxy S25 following the introduction of this strategy in the Galaxy S24 series. This plan could make the Galaxy S25 Ultra run on the Snapdragon chip in all regions while the standard Galaxy S25 models running on Samsung's in-house Exynos SoC.
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Samsung Galaxy S25 System-on-a-Chip
According to news outlet Digitimes which obtained this information from its supply chain sources, the South Koreans will distinguish the Galaxy S25 Ultra by equipping it with the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC. Likewise, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus should be powered by the Exynos 2500 in most regions, with variants for the USA, China, and a few others are receiving getting the Qualcomm silicon.
For what's it worth, the plan suggests Samsung is still considering the Snapdragon counterpart as a superior and more capable mobile chipset than its in-house Exynos since it reserves that for the premium Galaxy Ultra line. On the other hand, the use of the Exynos SoC would give Samsung an advantage as costs would be reduced compared to paying royalties for the Snapdragon SoC.
Leaker OreXda on X was the first to share Samsung's chipset strategy. In a list, it showed Samsung's Galaxy S Ultra models and the Galaxy Z Fold foldable will be using the Snapdragon silicon while the standard Galaxy S and mid-range Galaxy devices will stick with Exynos.
This move is not at all surprising as Samsung's mobile division president TM Roh previously hinted that they will continue to adopt the company's “unique” chipset for its 2025 flagship Galaxy lineup. The division head could have referred to the chip as the leaked Exynos 2500, which will receive the same 10-core processor headlined by a Cortex-X5 and a new Xclipse 950 GPU.
Available details about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 described it as a promising upgrade from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and could feature a desktop-grade Oryon core. Alleged benchmarks show it is faster than Apple's upcoming A18 Pro SoC. The new chip is also expected to be made using a smaller 3 nm manufacturing process which could mean it should pack even more transistors.
Qualcomm has not confirmed anything about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 yet, but it could announce the chip this fall.
What are your thoughts on Samsung's chip plan? We like to hear your opinion in the comments.
Source: Digitimes, OreXda on X
