Reports suggest that Samsung might be forced to use a MediaTek chipset for the first time in the Galaxy S series phones.
While the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is months away, it doesn’t stop the rumor mill from churning out fresh leaks and rumors about the upcoming flagship smartphone lineup.
According to a South Korean publication Financial News report, Samsung will use a MediaTek Dimensity chipset in its upcoming flagship devices in certain regions.
While the report doesn’t specify which countries might get the MediaTek version, the lineup will use three different chipsets – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC, Exynos 2500, and an unknown Dimensity chipset.
According to a report by South Korean media FNN, Samsung's Exynos 2500 chip may not meet production requirements due to its low yield. Therefore, Samsung may cooperate with MediaTek to customize chips for Galaxy S25 and S25+smartphones. Although this news lacks some evidence,…
— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) June 27, 2024
A reliable Chinese tipster named IceUniverse corroborates the report and has more specifics to share. He says the third chipset in question is MediaTek Dimensity D9400, which will be used in the non-ultra versions of Galaxy S25.
He further says that the Dimensity D9400-powered Galaxy S25 phones will only be sold in South Korea, Europe, and India. However, he also has some doubts about the authenticity of this rumor. If true, this will be the first time Samsung will use a MediaTek chipset in its Galaxy S series phones.
Qualcomm will likely be the sole SoC supplier for the Samsung Galaxy S25 (vs. 40% for the S24), as the Exynos 2500 may not ship due to Samsung's lower-than-expected 3nm yield.In addition to the significant increase in supply share, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will see a price…
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) June 17, 2024
Interestingly, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said on X that Samsung will only use Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset in the Galaxy S25 series. “Qualcomm will likely be the sole SoC supplier for the Samsung Galaxy S25 (vs. 40% for the S24), as the Exynos 2500 may not ship due to Samsung’s lower-than-expected 3nm yield,” he said.
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Both Financial News and IceUniverse also mentioned that Samsung’s 3nm Exynos 2500 chip may not meet production requirements due to its low yield.
According to Financial News, the current yield of Exynos 2500 is just 20%, which is way below the mass-production threshold requirement of 60%. Due to this limitation, Samsung is forced to look for an alternative.
Samsung has relied on a dual chipset strategy for their Galaxy S lineup. This helps the company sell devices powered by its in-house Exynos chipset and reduces reliance on Qualcomm.
Financial News predicts that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC, slated to launch in October, will likely be 25-30% costlier than the previous model. This is where an in-house or cheaper chipset will help Samsung absorb the higher costs of the Qualcomm chipset.
That said, we’re still at least six months away from the launch of the Galaxy S25 lineup. It’d be best to take this news with a proverbial pinch of salt until we get a confirmation from Samsung.