Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite a few hours ago and named Samsung among its partners. This all but confirms that the new processor will power the Galaxy S25 series. However, it didn’t specify if the upcoming flagships will exclusively use this Snapdragon chip, nor confirm the existence of a higher-clocked “For Galaxy” version. While exclusivity remains uncertain, it seems likely that Samsung will receive a faster variant of the chip.
Samsung could ship the Galaxy S25 with an overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite
Samsung’s mobile head TM Roh was present at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit event where it announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite. This fueled speculation about a close partnership between the two tech biggies. In fact, Roh said the chipmaker is helping Samsung make Galaxy AI accessible to more users, emphasizing their continued ties. However, neither party made comments about the new Snapdragon powering the next Galaxy flagships.
This isn’t particularly surprising, as companies rarely discuss unreleased products. There may not be any official confirmation, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra is likely to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite globally. However, the same certainty doesn’t apply to the Galaxy S25 and S25+. Samsung may opt for the Exynos 2500 or Dimensity 9400 in select markets — or even a mix of both. Poor production yields of the Exynos could open the door for the Dimensity.
As far as the Snapdragon chip is concerned, Samsung could use a faster variant. At 4.32GHz, the Snapdragon 8 Elite already offers mind-boggling peak speeds. However, benchmark listings have previously shown the Galaxy S25 Ultra running the chip at a peak speed of 4.47GHz. The base speed was 3.53GHz, the same as the standard version. This likely means the faster variant is the Snapdragon 8 Elite “For Galaxy” version exclusive to Samsung.
If you recall, Samsung has been using an overclocked version of the latest Snapdragon chip in its S and Z series devices. It looks like the company will continue this trend with an overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite for the Galaxy S25 series. How it will divide the chip share between Snapdragon, Exynos, and Dimensity solutions is unclear. There’s also the possibility that the new flagships could be Snapdragon-exclusive, but we’ll have to wait and see.
