Samsung usually follows a dual-chip strategy, equipping some flagship models with premium Qualcomm Snapdragon chips and some with in-house Exynos SoCs. This year, the South Korean giant has reportedly run into a couple of problems.
Apparently, the Exynos 2500 is no longer being considered for the Galaxy S25 series due to low production yields. Yield rate is the number of usable chips that are manufactured during a single fabrication process.
Using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for the entire lineup is seemingly not an option because the chip will allegedly be at least 20 percent more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
To keep costs manageable, Samsung may introduce a MediaTek chip into the mix. This was hinted at by a June rumor and has seemingly been confirmed by Google. As NotebookCheck first spotted, the Google DeepMind website has revealed the presence of a flagship Dimensity chipset in a Samsung phone.
For example, MediaTek, one of the top chip design companies in the world, extended AlphaChip to accelerate development of their most advanced chips — like the Dimensity Flagship 5G used in Samsung mobile phones — while improving power, performance and chip area.
Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, Google DeepMind, September 2024
Samsung recently proved that it’s open to equipping its high-end products with MediaTek chips by going for the Dimensity 9300+ for the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus and Tab S10 Ultra tablets.
If Samsung is indeed going down this path, it’s likely that only the base and Plus models will feature a MediaTek chip, and that too in select markets. The Galaxy S25 Ultra will probably be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, which might offer better performance than the iPhone 16 Pro‘s A18 Pro, in all markets.
While MediaTek may not be as well regarded as Qualcomm by an average user, we have seen some impressive chips from the company in recent years. Its upcoming Dimensity 9400 chip, which is rumored to fuel the Galaxy S25, is expected to have more transistors than any other chip. This will theoretically allow it to work faster than chips in the current top phones.
Samsung appears to be making the right choice here. Otherwise, it might be left with no option but to make the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus more expensive. A higher price could drive buyers away, which is apparently what happened with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6.