Samsung recently launched its much-hyped Galaxy S25 series and personally, I found it a bit underwhelming given that there were no major revamps to the cameras or the battery sizes. But, Samsung did do one thing right: Shipping Snapdragon 8 Elite across the board worldwide. A trend we saw with the S23s but not last year, so why did Samsung decide to go back to an all-Snapdragon lineup for the S25 series? Find out in this short piece about the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and Snapdragon 8 Elite!
Why Snapdragon in the S25?
The backstory
Samsung has been known for making its own Exynos chipsets for a while, but if you’ve been following the Galaxy flagship series, you probably noticed a trend. For the past few years, Samsung has been using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets in most of its flagship devices.
This is because Samsung made a deal with Qualcomm (before the launch of S23), to use Snapdragon in its flagship devices for the next three generations. They stuck to this with the Galaxy S23 and S24 Ultra but used their in-house Exynos chipset for their Galaxy S24 and S24+. Now, with the S25 series, Samsung has gone all-in on Snapdragon, and this time, they’re using the Snapdragon 8 Elite (for Galaxy) for the entire lineup.
Here’s why
There are a few key reasons Samsung switched to Snapdragon completely. Let’s take a closer look.
Heating and battery drain issues with Exynos
Samsung’s Exynos chipsets have had a reputation for some pretty annoying issues especially when it comes to heating and battery drain. This is a serious problem for flagship devices. You don’t want your high-end phone overheating or draining its battery faster than it should. We even tested the Galaxy S24 against the S23, and it was pretty clear to us that the latter performed better in terms of battery life. And that’s not something Samsung can afford to ignore in the premium market.
However, it hasn’t been this way always. The midrange chipset like Exynos 1380 in S9 FE feels pretty much fine, the flagships are where they falter.
Competing better
By switching to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Samsung now has the ability to not only compete on equal terms with other flagship phones but even surpass them. This is because, the 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers a 37% faster CPU, 30% faster GPU, and 40% faster NPU compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which makes it a hero in the group for sure!
- Also, read:
Fan demand
Samsung has always been careful with what its users want and this complete switch in the chipset can be a part of it. A report from Sammobile revealed that 83% of Samsung fans prefer Snapdragon over Exynos.
To test this, the company conducted a poll, and the results were pretty telling. Most people were clearly on the Snapdragon side, with just 7% sticking with Exynos. Around 10% of people even think this shouldn’t be a question anymore basically, they believe Samsung should just stick with Snapdragon across the board. But hey, I don’t mean Samsung took the big step based on this poll, it’s just one of the examples you know!
Perks of Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
The Snapdragon 8 Elite isn’t just about performance. The users are getting to see a faster 5G modem, the latest Wi-Fi 7 support, satellite connectivity support, better gaming performance, and mostly some good upgrades in AI features.
Conclusion
All things considered, Samsung’s decision to use Snapdragon in its entire S25 lineup seems like a smart move. By listening to user feedback and addressing the issues with Exynos, they’ve opted to deliver a more reliable, high-performance phone with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
- Meanwhile, watch our Snapdragon 8 Elite vs A18 Pro vs Dimensity 9400 comparison video:
