In recent weeks, several reports have suggested a potential price hike for the Galaxy S25 series. While Samsung may not increase the prices worldwide, buyers in some regions might need to pay more for the new flagships. Korean media recently reinforced this speculation. The new report also reveals that the Galaxy S25 launch event will take place in San Jose, rather than the previously rumored San Francisco.
Snapdragon 8 Elite forced Samsung to increase the Galaxy S25’s price
According to an ET News report, Samsung will increase Galaxy S25 prices in most global markets if not all — an earlier leak hinted at unchanged prices in some European markets. The company can’t avoid a hike without dealing a significant blow to its margin. The new flagships run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite globally, substantially increasing the total bill of materials and manufacturing cost.
Samsung originally planned to use its in-house Exynos 2500 at least in the Galaxy S25 and S25+ in some markets. However, poor 3nm yields and performance issues force it to sign an exclusive deal with Qualcomm. Effectively, this increased the prices. Reports suggest we may see hikes of as much as $100 depending on the model and storage variants. As said earlier, some regions may see smaller hikes or no hikes at all.
Meanwhile, to make the deal look sweeter, Samsung is allegedly shipping the Galaxy S25 trio with a minimum of 256GB storage and 12GB RAM. There’s no 128GB storage variant for the S25 and S25+, while the base model’s 8GB RAM option is gone too. More RAM should allow for smoother processing of on-device AI functions.
The new report from Korea also mentions San Jose as the location for Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event for the upcoming flagships. The event was previously rumored to take place in San Francisco. The big event on January 22, 2025, might give us a glimpse of the Galaxy S25 Slim. No other major product is expected apart from the three Galaxy S25 flagships. Stay tuned for more information.
