Samsung Galaxy S25 reportedly Snapdragon-only for one good reason

While many phones stick to a single processor, the Samsung Galaxy S series has often used two: Samsung's own Exynos chips in some models and territories, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips in others. Earlier this year Samsung unveiled the latest generation of Exynos, the Exynos 2500, which was widely expected to power the Samsung Galaxy S25. But a new report says no. Samsung is going all-in on the next generation of Snapdragon processors across the entire Samsung Galaxy S25 range.

The new report ties in with the prediction by respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo back in June, who said that the decision would be driven in part because the new Exynos wasn't being manufactured efficiently enough. But the new report suggests that there's another reason: AI.

Why Samsung is sticking with Snapdragons for the Galaxy S25

The new report comes from Korea, as reported by 9to5Google, and says that the Galaxy S25 Series will use Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chips exclusively. Previous reports had suggested that Samsung was developing a Galaxy-specific processor, but that plan was apparently abandoned back in April. And now it seems that the Exynos is out of the running too.

The new report says that "AI tasks" are the key reason for going all-in on Snapdragons, and with Apple about to join the AI arms race with Apple Intelligence in the iPhone 16 Samsung won't want to give up its lead in smartphone AI. But the new Exynos is still destined for a starring role: according to the same report the Exynos 2500 is now planned for the next generation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip devices, which would move them away from Snapdragons for the first time.

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is expected to happen as usual in January; according to Qualcomm the chip reportedly powering them, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, will launch in October.