Samsung Galaxy S25 chip is still a mystery, says new rumor

Samsung can't decide which chip to use in its international phones, but a report suggests it might make up its mind soon

• 📱 A new report says Samsung still doesn’t know what chip to include in the Galaxy S25

• 🤖 It might go all-in on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 because the new Exynos isn’t ready

• 💰 If it switches to Snapdragon, the S25 could cost more than ever

• 📅 We expect the S25 series to debut in early 2025

Samsung Galaxy S25 is confirmed to launch with One UI 7 early next year, but other aspects of the smartphone haven’t been decided yet, like what chip it should use to power the thing. According to Korean outlet Hankyung, the company may continue using both a Snapdragon chip and an Exynos chip in select markets, despite previous rumors that Samsung would switch entirely to Snapdragon.

The new report comes after every member of the Galaxy S25 lineup – including the regular Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra – leaked in renders.

Samsung Galaxy S25 chip may be regional again

For context, if you buy a Galaxy S24 or S24+ in Europe, it’ll come with Samsung’s Exynos chip (Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is used in the Galaxy S24 Ultra worldwide, though). While similar to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, it’s not as powerful, but it does give Samsung Samsung deeper control over optimizations, the modem, and the company’s all-important bottom line.

Third-party chips are far more expensive than the ones you can make yourself, which is the primary reason Samsung uses Exynos everywhere it can.

In the United States, Samsung has used Snapdragon chips for a long time. It’s the chip that consumers expect to see in a high-end phone, after all. With the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung will likely include the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 or 8 Elite, which is expected to launch next week at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. But overseas, it’s been unclear what the chipset could wind up being.

Rumors pointed to the Exynos 2500 not yielding the results that Samsung needs it to in order to appear in a flagship phone. It’s a brand-new 3nm processor, so it’s normal to see speed bumps like this during development. However, Samsung is getting very close to the expected launch time of the S25 series, which we believe is sometime in January or February.

If Samsung wants to include Exynos chips, it’ll have to decide in the next few weeks. According to the report, Samsung will decide what to do later this month or in early November.

If it decides the upcoming Exynos 2500 isn’t good enough, everyone around the world could see a more powerful Galaxy phone than they’re used to, thanks to the forthcoming Snapdragon chipset, but the price per device could also increase since Samsung will need to buy a lot more chips from Qualcomm. A report last month hinted that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 price could lead to higher device costs. Here in the United States, we’d likely experience a price bump as a result.

This is all speculation, of course, but it’s clear the S25 series will be an interesting one for Samsung.

Beyond the chipset, the S25 series is expected to get upgrades in battery capacity, cameras, charging speed, and more. The design is expected to be flatter than usual and resemble the Pixel 9 and iPhone 16. Each model will also be powered by One UI 7 based on Android 15.

We’ll know more about these phones over the next few weeks as the rumor mill continues to spin, so stay tuned.