Galaxy Z Flip 7 to leave Snapdragon 8 Elite behind, leak suggests, but will Samsung make it worth your while?

The Exynos 2500 is said to come with a 10-core CPU (Central Processing Unit, a.k.a the brain of the phone) in a 1+2+5+2 layout. This configuration means you may get a Cortex-X925 clocked at 3.3GHz, seven Cortex-A725 cores (2x at 2.75GHz and 5x at 2.36GHz), and two Cortex-A520 small cores clocked at 1.8GHz. Apparently, the config is complemented by 16MB of L3 cache.

But really, what do all these numbers mean? The first thing that's curious about the layout is that it still maintains small CPU cores.

Samsung’s decision to include smaller cores is unique, as competitors such as Qualcomm and MediaTek are choosing a different approach. Basically, the rivals' solution is to have medium and big cores, some clocked lower for efficiency, and to ditch the small cores. Skipping the small cores simplifies the architecture and could prove beneficial for sustained performance.

Samsung's decision could make the processor stand out or fall behind, depending on how it performs in real-world scenarios.

If the rumored specs end up being true, that would mean the Exynos 2500 and Google's Tensor G4 would be the only flagship chipsets that still use small CPU cores.

The small cores are usually reserved for efficiency and handling light tasks such as checking notifications or background syncing in order to save battery life and prevent overheating. Also, they're meant to stay in charge of the Flip's cover screen and the few tasks it allows users to do.

The rest of the configuration is pretty self-evident: we have a big and powerful Cortex-X925 ready to take on the most demanding tasks like AI, gaming, or photo editing, while the medium cores would cover multitasking and app switching, among other less-demanding things.



As for the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), the tipster suggests that the Exynos 2500 will come with an Xclipse 950 GPU clocked at 1.3GHz and with eight workgroup processors. The GPU in the device is said to be using a newer and improved version of AMD’s RDNA architecture - specifically RDNA 3.5 - rather than the older RDNA 3 version. This would mean you can expect an improvement over the last generation when it comes to energy efficiency and performance in graphics-intense tasks such as gaming or video editing.

The Exynos 2500 is reportedly made using the 3nm built process, just like the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Unfortunately, though, Samsung's been notorious for the somewhat lagging performance of its custom-made chips in comparison to TSMC, which builds MediaTek and Qualcomm chips.

For reference, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 sports the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4nm), which is an octa-core chip with its main power core clocked at 3.3 GHz (Cortex-X4). The Galaxy S25, on the other hand, sports the octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite with two Oryon V2 Phoenix L main cores to handle the heavy tasks, clocked at 4.47GHz.  

Of course, we need to wait to see Benchmark leaks, for example, to determine how much the Exynos 2500 will improve upon the Exynos 2400 and how it will measure up against the competition. Nevertheless, it should be quite the capable chip for a phone like the Galaxy Z Flip 7, which is not really an Ultra beast and more of a gorgeous-looking everyday driver.