Samsung Drops Exynos 2500 for Galaxy Z Flip 7, Opts for Snapdragon 8 Elite

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Samsung may have scrapped its plans to equip the Galaxy Z Flip 7 with the Exynos 2500. Instead, the foldable is expected to launch with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the same chipset found in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Meanwhile, the unannounced Exynos processor could power the Galaxy Z Flip FE.

Galaxy Z Flip 7 might feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite

For several months, Samsung was rumored to ship the Galaxy Z Flip 7 with its in-house Exynos 2500 processor, its first 3nm mobile chip. The company originally developed this chip for the Galaxy S25 series but yield issues delayed its production. As such, the new flagships shipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite globally.

Recent developments suggest that Samsung has improved its 3nm yields. However, it still hasn’t achieved the desired results, meaning the production capacity remains relatively low. It appears the company no longer believes it can use the chip in the Galaxy Z Flip 7 either. According to an industry insider, Samsung’s internal prototype evaluations for the device don’t feature the Exynos 2500.

Earlier, Samsung was testing the foldable with both the Exynos 2500 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite. But only the latter was spotted in recent tests, suggesting that the Exynos plans have been scrapped. We speculated this possibility when the same source reported that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 supports Now Brief, an AI-powered personalized information hub that debuted on the Galaxy S25 series.

This AI tool requires a powerful NPU, like the one found in the Snapdragon 8 Elite. While we do not have detailed information about the Exynos 2500, we doubt Samsung will match the 8 Elite’s power. There have been rumors about the company potentially downgrading the chip — even its successor Exynos 2600 (2nm) — if that helps improve 3nm and 2nm yields.

As things stand, the Exynos 2500 might power the Galaxy Z Flip FE and the Galaxy S25 FE. The Galaxy Z Flip 7, Fold 7, and G Fold (tri-fold) might run the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Next year’s Galaxy S26 flagships could feature the Exynos 2600 in some regions depending on Samsung’s 2nm progress in the coming months. The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 should power the Ultra model globally.

Written by

Sumit Adhikari

Sumit, a life-long Samsung user, is passionate about technology and has been professionally writing on tech since 2017. He’s a mathematics graduate by education and enjoys teaching basic mathematics tricks to school kids in his spare time. Sumit believes in artificial intelligence and dreams of a fully open, intelligent and connected world.

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