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Samsung may omit its proprietary Exynos 2500 chips from the Galaxy S25 series, relying solely on Snapdragon counterparts.
Samsung’s dual chipset approach of furnishing its flagship devices with Snapdragon and Exynos-branded chips in different markets has been severely criticized over the years. This may momentarily change next year as Samsung plans to ship all Galaxy S25 phones—not just the Galaxy S25 Ultra—with a single chip option.
Samsung is expected to rejig its strategy next year and release the Galaxy S25 series with a Qualcomm-made Snapdragon chip, The Korea Economic Daily reported. Unlike previous years, all models worldwide are slated to feature the yet-to-be-released Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoCs.
The Korea Economic Daily notes that the decision is backed by Samsung’s aspirations to shake up Apple’s and other Chinese competitors’ efforts in the field of on-device AI applications. The decision, if true, would be surprising as Samsung’s existing Exynos 2400 chipset likely fares almost on par with Qualcomm’s counterpart when it comes to AI applications.
Here's the @Qualcomm @Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs @SamsungDSGlobal Exynos 2400 side by side on CPU/GPU/NPU.
*Exact NPU TOPs unconfirmed.
**17k MACs @ 44 TOPs = 1.3 GHz NPU. pic.twitter.com/Lu9us4sbV0— 𝐷𝑟. 𝐼𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 (@IanCutress) January 17, 2024
Simultaneously, Samsung hasn’t entirely given up on the Exynos 2500 yet. Instead, it is speculated to furnish the next generation of foldables, which are supposed to be released in the second half of next year. For the first half of 2025, Samsung is likely to focus on improving the performance and yield of the chipset — something Samsung’s foundries have struggled with in the previous generations. Samsung previously canceled the Exynos 2300 last year due to poor yield and shipped the Galaxy S23 series only with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chips.
Improvements on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
While the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has not arrived officially, a recent leak hints at improved efficiency from being manufactured on TSMC’s 3-nanometer node. Qualcomm’s chipset is also expected to feature two high-performance cores backed by six others for power efficiency.
More importantly, the CPU is slated to utilize Oryon cores, previously seen on the Snapdragon X ARM chips for laptops. This will help close the performance gap between Snapdragon and Apple’s proprietary A-series chips, which offer performance in line with M Series chips.
The chipset is also rumored to feature two neural processors instead of one previously. These will include a Low-Power Artificial Intelligence (LPAI) subsystem to ensure power and battery efficiency while engaging AI in an always-on state, where a smart assistant is always at standby to help you with your queries. The other system will be the Qualcomm Sensing Hub (QSH), which will power on-device generative AI features.
Apple’s launch of the iPhone 16 next week raises the stakes in its favor regarding AI-backed features. Even though Samsung has already arrived at the AI scene, Apple’s control over iOS will likely translate to deeper integration of AI features within the operating system — something Samsung has failed to achieve due to the fragmentation in Android. With a much more powerful chipset, Samsung could redeem itself to some extent, even if it can’t completely outshine Apple.
