Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra could be sticking with Qualcomm chips

Samsung is reportedly equipping all versions of its upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra phones with Qualcomm chips, according to a new report. The news comes after the company was rumored to be moving towards a regional split between Qualcomm and Exynos chips. Samsung has not yet confirmed the existence of a Samsung Galaxy S25, but it can be expected to launch around early 2025.

This report comes from leaker Revegnus on X, who stated: “Regardless of the region, all models of the S25 Ultra feature Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.” This would be a return to form for the Samsung, which did this up to the Galaxy S24, where it went with an all-Qualcomm lineup to critical acclaim, as our Galaxy S24 review shows.

Qualcomm has yet to announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the chip that will presumably power the Galaxy S25 Ultra (albeit potentially a special version of the chipset). It is expected to be revealed at this year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon summit, which will take place in October.

Qualcomm’s just that good

Though Qualcomm has almost certainly had some whiffs in the past, the company continues to perform better than most of its rivals on the Android side, which include MediaTek, Exynos, and Tensor. 

With the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, Qualcomm made gains in efficiency that meant phones powered by its flagship chipset wouldn’t trade efficiency for power. In other words, your phone could be blazing fast while still sipping, rather than guzzling, the battery. And the company’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which powers some of the best Android phones you can buy, built on that. It means that those Android phones could almost go toe-to-toe with iPhones where before there was almost no competition.

MediaTek-powered phones weren’t too far behind, as you can see from our Motorola Edge 40 review. But Exynos and Tensor-powered phones remained power-hungry, overheating beasts. So Samsung moving away from that with the Galaxy S24 was hailed as a smart strategic decision. The company could well pull out a miracle this year with the next generation of Exynos, but the past is a better indicator than wishful thinking. 

Should this rumor turn out to be accurate, the inclusion of Qualcomm over Samsung’s own Exynos processor shows that Samsung is well aware of which chip is best, no matter which side its bread is buttered.

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.