It now looks very likely that the Samsung Galaxy S25 series will exclusively use the Snapdragon 8 Elite
Plenty of power, but at what cost?
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We’re probably now only a few months away from the launch of theSamsung Galaxy S25series, and as such we have quite a clear picture through leaks of many of the likely specs. But one thing that has remained uncertain is what chipsets these phones will use. Now though, it’s looking very likely that they’ll all use the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
That’s because most recent leaks point in that direction, including today’s, with reputable leaker@UniverseIceclaiming that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be used, and specifically saying the other two rumored chipsets – namely the Exynos 2500 and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 – won’t.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is the brand new successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which powered many of the year’sbest Android phones, including theSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. So in many ways it’s an obvious choice of chipset.
Samsung Galaxy S25 series uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Not the Exynos 2500 and Dimensity 9400October 23, 2024
ButSamsungoften uses its own Exynos chipsets in at least some models in some regions, and this year leaks also suggested MediaTek could be in the mix, due toQualcomm reportedly charging more for the Snapdragon 8 Elitethan it did for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
So there was some uncertainty over which chipset or mix of chipsets Samsung would go for. But while we still don’t have official confirmation, we’d say the Snapdragon 8 Elite is likely to be used everywhere, since not only has this latest leak said as much, but we’ve alsoheard similar from leaker @Jukanlosreve, who claimed that Samsung had been in negotiations with MediaTek, but has ultimately decided to only use the Dimensity 9400 for the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE.
Some earlier leaks also pointed toSamsung going all-in on Snapdragon, with Exynos also apparently out of the picture due to the company having manufacturing issues with the new chipset.
An elite chipset
If Samsung does exclusively use the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 line, then that will probably mostly be good news. It will mean for one thing that whichever S25 model you buy in whatever region, you’ll get an equal amount of power (other than possible RAM differences).
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More importantly,the Snapdragon 8 Elite sounds enormously impressiveon paper, and could provide a huge boost both to AI and gaming. And while it remains to be seen how well this chipset will perform in the real world, typically the top Snapdragon models do outperform the top Exynos and MediaTek ones.
The one potential downside is the rumored price rise we mentioned above. If this chipset does cost significantly more than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – which given the ‘Elite’ in the name it may well do – then that increase could be passed on to consumers, making the Samsung Galaxy S25 line more expensive than the Samsung Galaxy S24 series.
Whether that will happen and how much more expensive these phones could actually get remains to be seen, but we’ll probably find out in January or February going by Samsung’s typical Galaxy S release timings.
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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.
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