We’re about three months away from the Galaxy S25 launch, but Samsung’s next big flagship phone is already popping up in all sorts of leaks. The most exciting one just dropped from a reliable insider who claims that all three Galaxy S25 variants will get Qualcomm’s just-announced Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.
That’s an exciting thought, considering what happened with the Galaxy S24 series earlier this year. Every US version of the phone featured the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, sure. But international buyers who didn’t want the Galaxy S24 Ultra got Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chip instead. Samsung chips haven’t been that great in recent years, though the Exynos 2400 turned out to be better than expected.
Still, there’s a reason Qualcomm changed the name of the chip that will power many 2025 Android flagships. It’s called Snapdragon 8 Elite instead of Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 because Qualcomm says this chip is the “fastest mobile CPU in the world.”
That’s a big claim to make in a mobile world that’s been dominated by the iPhone’s A-series chip since Apple started making its own processors. Just look at the iPhone 16 launch a few weeks ago, where Apple made similar claims about the A18 Pro that powers its new iPhone 16 Pro models.
The A18 Pro chip crushed all rivals in benchmark tests, including the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 inside the Galaxy S24. But real-life speed tests featuring the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhon 16 Pro Max showed the former was able to hold its own better than any previous versions.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s performance was not surprising, further reinforcing my belief that we’ve reached a point where all flagships will offer amazing speed in real-life scenarios.
With that in mind, I wonder how the Snapdragon 8 Elite will perform in benchmarks and real-life speed tests.
Earlier this year, I wondered whether Qualcomm’s new mobile chip would outperform Apple’s chips. If so, it would be a great development for competition. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is now official. It might deliver that, and it’ll be great news even for longtime iPhone users such as myself.
It’ll be even better for Samsung fans already looking forward to buying one of the three Galaxy S25 flavors hitting stores in mid-January. According to Ice Universe, all Galaxy S25 models will share the same specs in terms of processing choices.
Samsung will not use the Exynos 2500 or Dimensity 9400 for the base and Plus models in international markets. Instead, it will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite that Qualcomm announced a few days ago.
The same Samsung insider also teased the big web browsing performance gains coming to the Galaxy S25 thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in a different tweet.
While the Galaxy S25 specs won’t be confirmed until Samsung takes the stage of the next Unpacked event, it’s very likely the claim is accurate. Remember that Samsung inked a deal with Qualcomm for high-end chips after the poor reception of the Galaxy S22. On top of that, Samsung mobile chief TM Roh appeared on stage during Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip announcement.
As for what the new chip will have to offer, you can expect faster performance, better efficiency, fast on-device AI, support for high-end games, and even better photography. You can read more about the Snapdragon 8 Elite here.
