Samsung has faced some significant challenges with its initial 3nm GAA process, impacting the development of its flagship chipset, the Exynos 2500. This has been a tough blow for Samsung, as the delays meant that this cutting-edge chipset wasn’t ready in time to rival Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. Despite these setbacks, Samsung continues to test the Exynos 2500 in various prototypes of its upcoming Galaxy S25 range. The latest Galaxy S25+ prototype recently appeared in a benchmarking database, showcasing a 10-core CPU setup, which is quite an achievement. However, performance issues have persisted, making Samsung hesitant to use the Exynos 2500 due to its underwhelming performance in both single-core and multi-core tests.
The Exynos 2500 significantly lags behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite, registering up to 37% slower performance when compared. According to a Geekbench 6 listing, which was highlighted by a notable tipster, this chipset is being tested in the Galaxy S25+, despite the current limitations. Sporting a 10-core CPU with its fastest cores clocked at 3.30GHz, the core count hasn’t changed from the Exynos 2400. However, the chip is designed with advanced 3nm GAA technology, potentially offering more efficiency than its predecessor, assuming Samsung manages to improve manufacturing yields.
The Galaxy S25+ is equipped with 12GB of RAM and operates on Android 15, which is exciting for tech enthusiasts looking forward to the new model. Yet, the Exynos 2500 fails to measure up against the Snapdragon 8 Elite or Apple’s A18 Pro, though it performs better than Google’s Tensor G4. It scores 2,358 in single-core performance and 8,211 in multi-core, which is notably 37% slower in single-core and 29% slower in multi-threaded tasks compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Even if Samsung miraculously improves its 3nm GAA yields to viable levels to mass-produce the Exynos 2500, the performance would likely disappoint customers who might feel shortchanged without receiving devices equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. As a strategy, Samsung’s fallback could have been to consider the Dimensity 9400, yet it’s anticipated that Qualcomm might not approve of such a shift, possibly setting the stage for an exclusive Snapdragon 8 Elite launch for the Galaxy S25 series.
