A new leak suggests Galaxy S25 will have Exynos chip after all. Or does it?

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

There have been several conflicting reports and leaks about the Galaxy S25‘s choice of processor. We recently heard that the phones would be exclusively powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip, but a leaker has now claimed otherwise.

Tipster @theonecid on Twitter has posted a screenshot of what seems to be a system utility app, apparently showing a Samsung phone running the upcoming Samsung Exynos 2500 processor. The screenshot mentions the chip’s rumored model number (S5E9955), along with a 10-core CPU, the Xclipse 950 GPU, a QHD+ screen resolution, and Android 15. The tipster asserted that this screenshot means the Galaxy S25 series will be available with an Exynos chipset.

Is this a screenshot from an early Galaxy S25 series phone, though? Well, the image mentions the term ERD under “system name,” and we’re guessing this stands for Exynos Reference Design. A reference design is a test phone that’s used purely for chip development and doesn’t typically represent an upcoming commercial phone. Qualcomm also tests and showcases its Snapdragon chips using phones that it calls Qualcomm Reference Designs (QRD).

If this is indeed a screenshot from a reference design handset, then it doesn’t necessarily mean the Exynos 2500 chipset is coming to the Galaxy S25 series. All it confirms is that Samsung is working on the chip, which isn’t a surprise as the company has previously confirmed the existence of the Exynos 2500 during an earnings call.

This latest claim comes a week after a Korean outlet claimed that all three Galaxy S25 phones would be exclusively powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor. The outlet added that Samsung was thinking about using the Exynos 2500 chip in the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 instead.

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