If you didn't like Samsung's use of a different chipset in this year's Galaxy S24 models, you probably won't like what the handset maker is planning for next year's Galaxy S25 release.

Digitimes, citing a report from a Korean news media outlet called Ddaily, notes that Samsung has begun development of the Exynos 2500, which will replace the Exynos 2400 used in some Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus models. Given Samsung's track record of using its own silicon along with Qualcomm chipsets in Galaxy S phones, Digitimes concludes that history will repeat itself in the Galaxy S25.

This year's Galaxy S24 release featured Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for standard S24 and Plus models shipped in North America. In the rest of the world, these models ran on Exynos 2400. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the other hand, was powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon silicon wherever it was released in the world.

This is quite consistent with the way Samsung handles its flagship smartphones. With the exception of the release of the Galaxy S23 in 2023, when all models were powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, Samsung has separated the use of Snapdragon and Exynos silicon depending on where a particular model is released.

Samsung's approach to chipsets has not always been popular. Galaxy phones with Qualcomm silicon tend to outperform Exynos ones. In fact, in the Galaxy S24 benchmark, the Exynos-powered phone scored slightly lower in the Geekbench overall performance test. Nevertheless, some argue that the performance of the Exynos 2400 is closer to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 than previous comparisons between Exynos and Snapdragon.

In fact, a Digitimes report notes that industry insiders say the Exynos 2500 should be able to outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in both CPU and GPU. The problem is that Qualcomm is not resting on its major system-on-chip laurels. The leaked Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 specs are impressive, and the Digitimes article admits that the latest Exynos is unlikely to keep up with Qualcomm's upcoming chipset.

At the very least, the report quashes rumors that Samsung plans to exclusively use the Exynos 2500 in next year's flagship, ruling out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 entirely. The rumor has always been a bit of nonsense, and even the leaker who posted the rumor seemed to deny the claim, but a new report from Digitimes seems to confirm that Qualcomm's system-on-chip is very much in Samsung's plans.

Still, the news that Samsung will continue its chipset-splitting strategy for the Galaxy S25 will not please those who believe that different silicon will create an inconsistent experience for Galaxy S owners. Perhaps the Exynos 2500 will further close the performance gap with Qualcomm's top chipset, but that won't be known until the Galaxy S25 models arrive early next year.