The Galaxy S25‘s Snapdragon processor could be massively powerful. A reference design of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 recently hit Geekbench, revealing its clock speed and performance levels. If the numbers are accurate, we are in for a huge CPU boost over the Gen 3, comfortably outperforming Apple’s A17 Pro for the iPhone 15 Pro Max in multi-core performance. Samsung may use the new chip in the Galaxy S25 Ultra globally.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 surfaces on Geekbench, revealing some specs
As rumored before, the Geekbench listing for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 shows an octa-core CPU in a 2+6 dual-cluster arrangement. The two prime cores are clocked at 4.09GHz, while the six performance cores operate at 2.78GHz. The chip scored 2,884 in single-core tests and 8,840 in multi-core tests on Geekbench v6.3. That’s a 24% boost in single-core performance and an 18% boost in multi-core performance over the previous model.
We based the comparison on the official Geekbench 6 scores of the Snapdragon 8 gen 3 shared by Qualcomm (2,329 and 7,501, respectively). The 2023 chipset already outperformed the A17 Pro in multi-core tests. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 now builds a massive gap over the Apple silicon. It also gets closer to the iPhone processor in single-core performance. Of course, Apple will fight back with its A18 Pro later this year.
Nonetheless, the new Qualcomm processor appears to be a massive leap over the previous-gen model. Of course, the company would be working on improving the GPU and NPU too. Manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm process, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 should also bring power efficiency improvements. Hopefully, the lack of efficiency cores won’t nullify this advantage. The mobile chip industry is doing away with efficiency cores.
Qualcomm has already announced the dates for its next Snapdragon Summit. The event will take place in Hawaii from October 21 to October 23 and bring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series will use the chipset. The Ultra model might use it globally, while the other two may get the Exynos 2500 in some regions. You can sign up for our Galaxy S25 mystery box program to get free accessories when you buy the phone.
