Samsung confirmed earlier that it has successfully taped out a smartphone AP on its second-gen 3 nm node (SF3). Widely believed to be the Exynos 2500, it was slated to power the Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 , and if a dodgy rumour is accurate, even the Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has some grim news about Samsung's upcoming SoC.

A Tweet posted by Kuo states the Galaxy S25 series will exclusively be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Apparently, the Exynos 2500's yields are "lower than expected". This sits in line with an earlier report which pegged its yields at ~20%. Nevertheless, the SoC is yet to enter mass production and Samsung Foundry has plenty of time to improve the yield situation. Plus, the Exynos 2500 has been hyped up to be the 'Dream Chip' that puts Exynos back on the leaderboards, and the chances of Samsung abandoning it seem low.

While Kuo has had a history of accurate predictions, this one seems to be implausible. For starters, Samsung has publicly stated it plans to use more Exynos chips wherever possible due to rising costs associated with TSMC's cutting-edge nodes. As a result, the Galaxy Z Flip6 is rumoured to be more expensive than the Galaxy Z Flip5, and the Galaxy Z Fold6 might also follow suit.

Samsung even chose MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 for its upcoming Galaxy Tab S10 tablet as a cost-cutting measure, and it would make little sense for the company to go all-in on Qualcomm while keeping costs low. Kuo adds that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be 25-30% more expensive than its predecessor. It isn't surprising because Qualcomm explicitly said this after the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 launch.