Samsung is preparing to unveil its Galaxy S25 series, anticipated to launch around January 2025. Recently, the basic model, Galaxy S25, has shown up on Geekbench, shedding light on its hardware and performance aspects.
Galaxy S25 Geekbench Findings
The Geekbench entry lists the Galaxy S25 under the model number “SM-S931N,” which is likely intended for the South Korean market. It runs on a tailored version of the “Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy” chipset, boasting a higher clock speed of 4.47 GHz, compared to the usual Snapdragon 8 Elite's 4.32 GHz. This customized chipset has been found solely in Samsung's flagship devices in the past. The device tested comes with 12 GB of RAM.
Nonetheless, the performance results are a bit underwhelming. The Galaxy S25 achieved a score of 2481 in single-core tests and 8658 in multi-core tests, which is significantly lower than many other Snapdragon 8 Elite devices that have appeared on the platform. For comparison, the OnePlus 13 and iQOO 13 frequently exceed 3100 and 10,000 respectively in the same tests, highlighting the Galaxy S25’s disappointing performance of Samsung’s specially tuned chip, at least according to these tests.
Reasons Behind the Disappointing Performance
Is the lackluster performance due to a smaller cooling system on the basic Galaxy S25 when compared to the more robust, performance-oriented flagships? Or is Samsung just taking a more cautious route regarding performance?
Currently, there isn't enough data to make solid conclusions. However, it is interesting to point out that Samsung’s ‘For Galaxy’ chipsets have generally scored lower than their standard Snapdragon 8-series counterparts. This discrepancy might arise from Samsung’s emphasis on efficiency rather than purely chasing high performance.
The listing hints at the use of the Snapdragon 8 Elite for the Korean market, but there's positive news for customers in Europe and India too. Well-known leaker Ice Universe has claimed that Samsung intends to deploy the Snapdragon chipset throughout the entire Galaxy S25 series across all regions, much like it did with the Galaxy S23 series. While this remains speculative, there is a strong rationale behind why it appears to be a likely scenario.
