We’re now probably just a few months away from the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, and as such we have a pretty clear picture from the leak of many of the likely specs. But one thing that has remained uncertain is which chipsets these phones will use. However, now it seems very likely that they will all use the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
That’s because most recent leaks point in that direction, including today’s, with a reputable leak @UniverseelIjs claiming that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be used, and specifically saying that the other two rumored chipsets – namely the Exynos 2500 and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 – will not.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is the brand new successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which powered many of the best Android phones of the year, including the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. So it’s an obvious chipset choice in many ways.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 series uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Not the Exynos 2500 and Dimensity 9400October 23, 2024
But Samsung often uses its own Exynos chipsets in at least some models in some regions, and leaks this year also suggested MediaTek could be in the mix, as Qualcomm is reportedly charging more for the Snapdragon 8 Elite than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. .
So there was some uncertainty about which chipset or mix of chipsets Samsung would choose. But while we still don’t have official confirmation, we’d say the Snapdragon 8 Elite will likely be used everywhere, because not only has this latest leak said as much, but we’ve also heard something similar from leaker @Jukanlosreve, who claimed that Samsung was in negotiations with MediaTek, but ultimately decided to only use the Dimensity 9400 for the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE.
Some previous leaks also indicated that Samsung was going all-in with Snapdragon, with Exynos apparently also left out of the picture as the company had production issues with the new chipset.
An elite chipset
If Samsung uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite exclusively in the Galaxy S25 line, that will probably be mainly good news. Among other things, it means that whichever S25 model you buy, in whichever region, you’ll get an equal amount of power (barring possible RAM differences).
More importantly, the Snapdragon 8 Elite sounds extremely impressive on paper and could provide a huge boost to both AI and gaming. And while it remains to be seen how well this chipset will perform in the real world, the best Snapdragon models tend to outperform the best Exynos and MediaTek models.
The only potential downside is the rumored price increase we mentioned above. If this chipset costs significantly more than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – which given the ‘Elite’ in the name, it could well – 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 likely find out in January or February, going by typical Samsung Galaxy S release times.