The Samsung Galaxy S25 has been revealed last week and it’s rocking a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. As you would expect from its Snapdragon-powered predecessors, the new customised flagship chip from Qualcomm offers beefier performance along with the best in class GPU, NPU and 5G modem.
Offered across the board from the base Samsung Galaxy S25 to the top-of-the-line Galaxy S25 Ultra globally, Qualcomm says its Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for Galaxy is uniquely customised in collaboration with Samsung. The new chip features their most powerful and world’s fastest second-generation custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU which claims to bring unparalleled performance to transform the way users interact with their Galaxy AI devices.
The custom Snapdragon 8 Elite chip for Samsung has a peak CPU speed of 4.47GHz, which is higher than the usual peak of 4.32GHz when it was first announced in October 2024. According to Qualcomm, it offers a 37% fast CPU, 30% faster GPU and 40% faster NPU over the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 on last year’s Galaxy S24 devices.
To deliver a premium connectivity experience, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is paired with a Snapdragon X80 5G Modem-RF system that supports peak download speeds of 10Gbps. There’s also a Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile connectivity system which supports WiFi 7 with peak speeds of up to 5.8Gbps and ultra-low latency of 2ms.
On top of that, the Galaxy S25 series is also among the first commercial devices to feature Snapdragon Satellite, which allows users to send and receive satellite (narrowband non-terrestrial networks) messages natively on Android.
Qualcomm and Samsung have also worked closely to customise the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy to deliver improved image quality and power consumption for the display. Meanwhile in the imaging department, Samsung has also partnered with Qualcomm to integrate the Spatio-Temporal Filter (STF) support into the Spectra ISP which is designed to deliver sharper low light videos in 8K 30fps, while maintaining efficient power consumption.
With Galaxy AI being the focal point of the Galaxy S25 series, the chip has been tailored to provide the latest Google Gemini experiences seamlessly and efficiently on the Snapdragon chip.
Qualcomm Technologies Senior Vice President and General Manager of mobile handsets Chris Patrick said, “We are thrilled to introduce the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, which represents a significant leap forward in mobile technology, offering more intelligent, customized experiences – from personalized AI assistants to exceptional AI-generated images.”
He added, “Our strategic partnership with Samsung is a driving force behind this innovation, setting new standards for performance and efficiency”.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm APAC Senior Vice President and President, O.H. Kwon said, “The collaboration between Qualcomm Technologies and Samsung has always been about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, we are not just enhancing performance; we are redefining the user experience by integrating cutting-edge on-device AI and connectivity features that will shape the future of mobile technology.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Samsung Mobile Vice President and Head of Technology Strategy Team Inkang Song said, “With this new platform, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is set to provide a premium experience that truly distinguishes itself among other mobile AI experiences, changing the way people interact with their device and the world.”
