The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 was previously rumored to exclusively power Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S25 series as the Korean giant was unable to address the low yields of its foundry, making mass production of the Exynos 2500 commercially unviable. However, the Korean giant might have other plans up its sleeve, with a rumor claiming that it is testing a MediaTek chipset with its Galaxy S25 family. Considering that Samsung is said to introduce the Dimensity 9300+ to its upcoming Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, switching to MediaTek might not be such a terrible idea.
Rumor does not specify which MediaTek chipset will be used, but Samsung might add the Dimensity 9400 to match the other Galaxy S25 variants
Samsung has been reported multiple times to adopt a dual-chipset launch strategy when unveiling the Galaxy S25 lineup, but as usual, the company has ran into 3nm yield problems, meaning that the Exynos 2500 might not ship in time. However, with the South Korean publication The Financial News commenting on possibly using a MediaTek chipset, Samsung’s dream of maintaining its dual-chipset launch strategy has rekindled once more. The reason for testing the Galaxy S25 with a MediaTek chipset is sound.
As Qualcomm continues to raise the prices of its flagship chipsets, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Samsung to maintain a higher profit margin. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is already hinted to be more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which only means that Samsung will be forced to make compromises in other areas to compensate for the premium that it has to pay Qualcomm. Also, given that MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 is said to utilize the same TSMC 3nm ‘N3E’ process as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, Samsung can expect to witness nearly the same performance and efficiency from whichever Galaxy S25 model it chooses to house the SoC.
There is more evidence that MediaTek supplies its chipsets at a lower price than Qualcomm. Based on earlier data for Q1 2024, the Taiwanese fabless semiconductor manufacturer shipped the most chipsets in the quarter at approximately 114 million units but generated $23 billion for its efforts. Qualcomm, on the other hand, witnessed 75 million chipset shipments in the same period and made $37 billion. MediaTek has a rare opportunity to prove to Samsung that its premium SoC can match and even beat a Qualcomm equivalent, leading the Korean technology behemoth to form a long-term partnership for its future Galaxy S launches.
Of course, we should also remind readers that they should treat this rumor with a pinch of salt and await future updates. While it is entirely plausible for Samsung to switch to MediaTek if it wants to reduce its chipset expenditure, there are tons of events happening behind the scenes that likely prevent the company from making a prudent decision. Hopefully, we will get to the bottom of this and update our readers, so stay tuned.
News Source: FNN
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