While we're still at least six months away from Samsung announcing the Galaxy S25 series, the rumors are flying fast and if we're being honest, they're getting a bit over the top.
The newest rumor, courtesy of Digital Trends citing a Korean site, is that Samsung might use a MediaTek chip in S25 phones, at least in some regions. It's not specified which countries might see this alleged MediaTek-powered Galaxy S25.
For those counting at home, this is the third chipset that Samsung is purportedly considering for the company's main line of smartphones. It also makes the least sense.
It's rumored the Korean company will go all in on Qualcomm's next iteration of Snapdragon chips, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, that will most likely get announced in October of 2024. Of course, the suspicion is that the newer SoCs will see an up to 30% higher price.
This is based on the fact that, historically, Samsung has used their in-house Exynos chip in combination with Qualcomm's latest processor to power Galaxy phones. Regions like the US tend to get the Qualcomm chips while other areas receive the Exynos. It's been reported that Samsung will do this again, just like the company did for the Galaxy S24 line. However, Samsung hasn't always split chips like this: The company used only Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chips in all of its Galaxy S23 phones.
That may be happening again if analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has it right that Qualcomm will be the "sole supplier" of chips for the S25 series. This is because, according to Kuo, Samsung is struggling with the 3nm manufacturing process.
Of course, it's possible Samsung is balking at Qualcomm's prices for the Gen 4 chips. You could even speculate that leaking this MediaTek rumor is a way for Samsung to try and negotiate lower prices on buying Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processors.
Qualcomm's newer chips are supposed to be battery eaters, which may require Samsung to invest in much larger batteries for the S25, but I'm not certain that's enough to make the company back away from its long-time chip partner. Especially with all the AI features from Google and Galaxy AI that we're certain Samsung is going to shove into their next device.
This year Samsung announced the S24 line in January. We expect they'll do something similar for the S25 handsets in 2025. While you wait, follow us for coverage of the July 10 Galaxy Unpacked event where Samsung is expected to unveil a bevy of new devices, including two new foldables in the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, new smartwatches and the Galaxy Ring, to name a few!
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