We won't see any Exynos-powered Galaxy S23 units according to a new benchmark

Typically Samsung would equip its flagship Galaxy S handsets with its homegrown Exynos chipset in most markets except for the U.S., Canada, and China. In those areas, Samsung would inevitably use a Snapdragon chipset to power its flagship handsets. The one exception that comes to mind took place in 2015 with the Galaxy S6. The Snapdragon 810 was found to be overheating forcing Sammy to use its own Exynos chips everywhere.

This year, rumors started swirling early saying that Samsung was going to stick with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for all Galaxy S23 units regardless of where they were being sold. It all has to do with the chip considered to be the better performer between the Exynos 2300 and the new Snapdragon chip; most consumers would rather have the Snapdragon component driving their expensive Galaxy S23 series handset.

 

Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala earlier this month practically confirmed the news about the end of Exynos-powered Galaxy S handsets when he said that Qualcomm's 75% share of the Galaxy S22 market will rise to a global share for the Galaxy S23 line.

Last month, a Samsung handset with the model number SM-S918U went through the Geekbench benchmark test. This is a U.S.version of the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Geekbench test revealed that the phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. No shocker there because, after all, U.S. Galaxy S units have always had a Snapdragon chip inside (except the aforementioned Galaxy S6).

But now, according to SamMobile, a European variant of the Galaxy S23 Ultra (SM-S918B) has been put through Geekbench, and guess what? The device is also powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. It's another sign that the rumors are going to be correct and all Galaxy S23 series models, regardless of where they are purchased, will sport Qualcomm's 4nm powerhouse which was just officially unveiled yesterday.

Both the U.S. benchmark score (1521 single-core, 4689 multi-core) and the European benchmark (1504 single-core, 4580 multi-core) were close enough. You can compare the score with a benchmark test of an Exynos 2200-powered Galaxy S22 Ultra which came to 926 single-core and 2911 multi-core. That would seem to hint at some nice performance improvements for those replacing an Exynos S22 Ultra with a Snapdragon powered S23 Ultra next year.

Still, here's a warning. Don't obsess about the numbers since these tests are being run on versions of the phone that are running pre-release software.

The European benchmark data indicated that the phone has 8GB of memory although there will most likely be other configuration options available with more RAM. We could see Samsung introduce its new flagship line in early January or early February.