Samsung Galaxy S25 Series to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Chip: Could Launch as Early as January 2025

The Snapdragon Summit 2024 kicked off with Qualcomm unveiling its latest flagship smartphone processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite. This advanced chipset is set to power upcoming smartphones from brands like Asus, iQOO, Honor, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

Samsung also announced that its future devices would feature this new processor, succeeding the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 introduced last year. At the summit in Hawaii, TM Roh, President of Samsung Mobile, confirmed that the Galaxy series would incorporate the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series to use Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC

This suggests that Samsung's premium Galaxy S25 series might be among the first to showcase this processor. "Qualcomm will help us move further with Qualcomm's experience in intelligent computing, and commitment to advancing mobile AI, will be a big part of future Galaxy AI experiences," Roh stated during the event.

While specific models weren't disclosed by Samsung, it remains uncertain if all successors to the Galaxy S24 series will include the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The Galaxy S23 lineup featured a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy across all models. However, only the Ultra variant of the Galaxy S24 series used a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip; other versions relied on Exynos 2400 in many regions.

The Honor Magic 7 series is also anticipated to debut with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and enhanced AI capabilities. Similarly, OnePlus plans to launch its OnePlus 13 model equipped with this new chipset. These developments highlight a trend among manufacturers opting for Qualcomm's latest technology.

Performance Insights and Future Releases

The Snapdragon 8 Elite has demonstrated superior performance on AnTuTu benchmarks compared to competitors like Dimensity 9400 and A18 Pro. Meanwhile, Xiaomi is preparing to release a smartphone featuring the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip as early as next week.

Looking ahead, Samsung may use the Snapdragon 8 Elite in successors to its foldable phones: Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Z Fold 6. However, these models are not expected until late 2025. In contrast, the Galaxy S25 series is anticipated for an early-2025 release alongside Samsung's Android 15-based One UI 7 update.

This year's Snapdragon Summit has set high expectations for smartphone advancements with Qualcomm's new processor at its core. As brands integrate this cutting-edge technology into their devices, consumers can look forward to enhanced performance and innovative features in upcoming releases.