Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A new report strongly suggests that the Exynos 2500 will debut in the Galaxy Z Flip 7.
- Most regions will apparently get the Exynos chip, while the US, China, and Canada will stick with Snapdragon.
- Samsung may favor Exynos in foldables due to cost and thermal performance benefits.
Samsung surprised some people earlier this year when it launched the Galaxy S25 lineup with Snapdragon chips across the board, despite long-standing rumors of a new 3nm Exynos processor. If the latest report is to be believed, the company hadn’t shelved the chip — it’s just giving it a different debut.
According to SamMobile, citing its own sources, the Exynos 2500 will appear in the Galaxy Z Flip 7, marking the first time an Exynos chip has powered any of Samsung’s foldables. Designated S5E9955, the chip is said to be coming to most markets globally, including India and South Korea. China, the US, and Canada will likely stick with the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset.
This backs up the reports from last month, which pointed to Exynos power for both the Z Flip 7 and the rumored Z Flip 7 FE. A source at the time cited price as a major factor, suggesting Samsung was able to reduce costs by using its own silicon in foldables due to lower production volumes than the Galaxy S line.
It’s a significant upgrade on the Exynos 2400.
Beyond cost considerations, thermal performance may also be part of the calculation. The Snapdragon 8 Elite reportedly runs hot in ultra-thin phones like the Galaxy S25 Edge, so the Z Flip 7’s compact design could benefit from the switch. Of course, real-world results don’t always match the theory.
As for the chip itself, the Exynos 2500 is built on Samsung Foundry’s second-gen 3nm process node. It’s rumored to pack a 10-core CPU layout with one Cortex-X925 core at 3.3GHz, an Xclipse 950 GPU based on AMD RDNA 3.5, and 16MB of L3 cache. It’s a significant upgrade on the Exynos 2400 used in the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, at least on paper.
With the Galaxy Z Flip 7 expected to launch later this summer, we won’t have to wait long to see how well Samsung’s latest chip performs.
