The Galaxy S25 launch with the Snapdragon 8 Elite was a missed opportunity for Samsung to reduce its chipset expenditure and show the prowess of its 3nm GAA process. However, the company will attempt to make amends by unveiling the Exynos 2500 later in the year, or at least that is what the Korean conglomerate wants us to believe. During its last earnings call, Samsung’s System LSI division mentioned that its upcoming flagship SoC is being optimized and will be announced in the second half of 2025.
Thorough information was not provided regarding which smartphone would feature the Exynos 2500, but it is likely the more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7
The abysmal yields of its 3nm GAA process meant that Samsung could not prepare the Exynos 2500 in a higher number, so the company was forced to exclusively ship its entire Galaxy S25 range with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. However, there is a possibility that the same treatment is not given to its upcoming foldable smartphone family, as technology analyst Bryan Ma has mentioned on X that the company’s System LSI sector stated during Samsung’s Q4 2024 earnings call that the Exynos 2500 was being optimized for a future release sometime in H2 2025.
Unfortunately, no additional details were provided on which device the Exynos 2500 will debut in, but we can chime in on what Samsung’s plans could be. For instance, a tipster revealed the in-depth specifications of the chipset and also stated that the silicon will power the Galaxy Z Flip 7. While this means that the company can lower its chipset expenditure for the year, as it may have had to foot a ludicrous sum to Qualcomm to use its Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 series, but that does mean its upcoming smartphones will leave some performance on the table.
Samsung System LSI just mentioned in its earnings call that it's optimizing Exynos 2500 and "aiming to secure design wins for mobile models scheduled for release in 2H"
— Bryan Ma (@bryanbma) January 31, 2025
We reported that the Exynos 2500 was benchmarked on Geekbench 6, and as you would have guessed, it obtained a lower single-core and multi-core score than the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Then again, it is unlikely that we will ever see these differences in real-world instances, but Samsung still needs to showcase that its Exynos lineup is better than the competition. Hopefully, the chipset will be improved to the point where it does put up a fight against competing SoCs.
News Source: Bryan Ma
