At the start of the year, there were a lot of rumors that Samsung was planning to use its own chip, the Exynos 2500, to power the Samsung Galaxy S25 devices. Needless to say, there wasn't a very favorable response to those rumors, but that didn't dissuade Samsung. However, poor yield meant the Exynos 2500 never ended up as a real option.
It's about half a year later now, but finally, the Exynos 2500 has seemingly hit appropriate levels of production and Samsung has unveiled it. The chip is the first from the company to be built on a 3nm node, and on paper, should be a lot better than the Exynos 2400, which was already a relatively respectable chip (by Exynos standards).
The Samsung Exynos 2500 Is a 10-Core Chip That Seemingly Hits Flagship Level
If you're only just getting into smartphones, it will prove very hard to properly express the challenges that the Exynos brand has gone through over the years at the hands of consumers. Things were so bad that Exynos variants of Samsung flagships were treated like lepers beside the all-powerful Snapdragon-toting versions.
However, Exynos chips, while still not considered above competing Snapdragon or Dimensity options, are very solid these days, and the freshly released Exynos 2500 proves that. This is a new decacore SoC, built on a 3nm process, that actually seems set to deliver flagship performance, at least on paper.
| Samsung Exynos 2500 | |
| CPU Count | 10 (1 + 7 + 2) |
| CPU Structure | 1x Cortex-X5 @ 3.3GHz 2x Cortex-A725 @ 2.74GHz 5x Cortex-A725 @ 2.36GHz 2x Cortex-A520 @ 1.8GHz |
| Big-Core CPU Performance | 15% improved over Exynos 2400 |
| Manufacturing Process | 3nm GAA |
| GPU | Xclipse 950 |
| NPU Performance | 39% improved over Exynos 2400 |
| Connectivity | 5G NR, Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7, Satellite |
Exynos 2500 Is Coming Several Months Later Than Samsung Hoped
The Samsung Exynos 2500 is a chip that we've been hearing about since before the start of 2025. It was allegedly the planned chip for the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, but Samsung hit a major hiccup in that plan. Reportedly, the South Korean tech giant was unable to achieve optimal yield for the chip in its foundry, and as a result, eventually settled on the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which certainly wasn't a bad choice.
Despite what the consumers might want, Samsung doesn't seem set to give up on Exynos. I admire the company's persistence, and hopefully, it will pay off. It wouldn't be bad to use a Galaxy flagship that actually has a capable first-party chip inside.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Could Be the First Smartphone With This Processor
Following Galaxy Unpacked at the beginning of the year, the Exynos 2500 essentially settled into the shadows. But with another flagship launch looming for Samsung, it's no surprise that the chip has finally surfaced again. Unlike last time, this time around, it is actually official, and as a flagship chip, there are few devices that Samsung would put it in, including:
- Galaxy Z Flip 7
- Galaxy Z Fold 7
- Galaxy Tab S11 series
Of the bunch, the Z Flip 7 is the most likely to have the Exynos chip thrust on it. There aren't many people getting the Flip for pure performance, and it'll serve as the perfect testing ground for that SoC. Regardless, people will complain, though I don't think there should be much reason to.
