Samsung reportedly has a few more weeks to decide whether it can rely on its new Exynos 2500 processor for the Galaxy S25 series, or if it will have to go with the expensive Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 that may eat up a third of the handsets' production costs.
It also considered the Dimensity 9400 chipset, but that ship sailed in terms of yield and adaptation, so MediaTek's flagship processor will allegedly be used later on in the Galaxy S25 Fan Edition.
Samsung's problems with its homebrew high-end mobile chip are the quantities its foundry can make with the desired quality. It is currently making an effort to boost the yield of its 3nm Exynos 2500 chip, so not all is lost, and the processor has now leaked on Geekbench with a respectable 15960 OpenCL score for its graphics subsystem.
That is more than the 14661 OpenCL score of the Galaxy S24 Ultra with an Exynos 2400 chip, and the 2500 processor is probably still in an engineering prototype on a reference board, so at least in terms of performance the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have its predecessor beat if it deploys the more frugal Exynos 2500.
Supply chain sources doubt that Exynos 2500 can become ready on time for the mass Galaxy S25 series production, though. Samsung is looking more likely to be ready with the desired quantity and quality of Exynos 2500 processors in the first half of 2025 as opposed to the last quarter of this year, as previously thought.
Thus, the Exynos 2500 chip may be used to lower the cost of Samsung's foldable phones as well as the Galaxy S25 FE that are arriving in the second half of 2025, rather than the S25 series that will land early next year.
With Qualcomm charging exorbitant prices for its seemingly indispensable Snapdragon 8-series of chipsets, Samsung's application processor supply costs have soared from about $5.7 billion in 2021 when the S21 series was introduced, to $8.7 billion last year, so it is looking for any way to lower those.
According to Korean business publications, for the Exynos 2500 chipset Samsung's foundry division has been tasked to "consolidate the substance of the cutting-edge foundry process below 3nm and secure competitiveness," with the goal to power the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, as well as the S25 FE with the new Exynos processor next year.
Whether or not it will manage to also wiggle Exynos 2500 in the Galaxy S25 supply chain, remains to be seen.
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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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