Samsung Galaxy S25 could rival Apple M3 after new chip detailed

Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, the chipset expected to power Galaxy S25 among other Android phones, has appeared on Geekbench with impressive scores.

Samsung uses Qualcomm’s latest and greatest processors in its flagship phones. The Galaxy S22 was powered by the Snapdragon 2, the Galaxy S23 got the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the latest Galaxy S24 packs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It’s safe to assume the Galaxy S25 will feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 under the hood, which, as per a report, might be a particularly powerful chipset.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is going to be a monster of a chipset, according to its alleged Geekbench 6 score. It might not only be leaps ahead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 but also compete with Apple’s M3 silicon.

The chipset’s Geekbench score was first shared by X user @negativeonehero, and later reported by Wccftech. Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 obtained a single-core and multi-core score of 2,845 and 10,628, respectively.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, by comparison, scored 7,249 while running in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. If the leaked Geekbench 6 score is to be believed, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is 46 percent faster in the multi-threaded test and significantly faster in the single-core results.

Performance improvements are obvious when you compare an older chipset with a newer one. However, a 46% improvement is not something you see often. The best part is Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 score is almost as good as Apple M3, which receives a single-core and multi-core score of 2,985 and 10,762, respectively.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 might get huge changes

Qualcomm did not opt for the latest 3nm process with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, a choice in contrast to Apple, which used the 3nm process for the A17 Pro chip. The current chipset is based on the older 4nm process. This is almost confirmed to change with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, as the upcoming chipset is said to be built on TSMC’s newer 3nm process node.

For the unaware, the smaller the process node, the better the processor. A smaller process node lets manufacturers put more transistors into the chip.

Another big change might be in the CPU cluster. Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has a 6+2 structure with two high-performance Phoenix cores followed by six mid-tier cores. You’ll notice there are no efficiency cores on the chip. In theory, this absence could imply higher power consumption. However, given that the chip is based on a newer 3nm process node, it is expected to be less power-hungry.