Samsung Galaxy S25 could globally launch with Snapdragon 8 Elite — here’s what we know

One of the major questions regarding the Samsung Galaxy S25 is whether it will continue the Galaxy S24's example of using different chips for different models. But a new leak might have the answer.

Last year, Samsung has released its phones with two different chips depending on location. Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus models sold in the U.S. come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, while other countries get versions with the Exynos 2400. For the longest time, we weren't certain if the same would happen with the upcoming Galaxy S25, using both the Snapdragon 8 Elite and a new Exynos 2500 chip. But a well-known leaker may have finally given a decisive answer.

In a recent post on X, Ice Universe stated that the Galaxy S25 will be released with the Snapdragon 8 Elite worldwide. This means that the devices will perform identically regardless of where they are bought from, rather than meaning one region gets the "better" version of the phone.

This lines up with another report from September that Samsung was planning to drop the Exynos chip in favor of using the Snapdragon worldwide.

It also follows recent news from a Korean news outlet that reported that Samsung's 3nm manufacturing process for the Exynos 2500 was producing low yields of chips. That means too many were not in a fit state for use on phones, making the usable chips more expensive in turn.

Undoubtedly, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a major upgrade over the prior Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. We had the chance to benchmark the chip to see what we could expect regarding the device's performance, and it performed incredibly well in the Geekbench scores, exceeding Apple's A18 Pro in multi-core performance. The Snapdragon chip's graphics rendering and AI processing capabilities far exceed those of other chips on the market, based on the reference device.

There have been a lot of rumors regarding the Galaxy S25 over the last few months, some of which might be a bit disappointing. For instance, a recent leak indicated that the Galaxy S25 will use the same M13 OLED displays as the current Galaxy S24, although the new chip could push the display to the maximum. There are indications that this might be to help cover the increased cost of the new Snapdragon chip, but perhaps not enough to avoid a price rise for the consumer.

Considering the wealth of different sources that state the S25 runs solely on the Snapdragon 8 Elite, this seems very likely to be accurate. If it does turn out to be true, then we can expect a major power boost for Samsung's next generation of phones, one that will help make them some of the best phones of the coming year.

More from Tom's Guide

• Android users can finally back up and transfer health data between devices — here's how
• Samsung’s One UI 7 probably won’t arrive until next year — and that’s not good enough
• I tried astrophotography on my Pixel 9 Pro XL to shoot galaxies, nebulas and star clusters — here’s the results