In case you needed actual evidence that the already highly anticipated Galaxy S25 Slim is real and not just the pipe dream of an increasing number of social media leakers and industry insiders, a hot new Geekbench listing might prove to be exactly what you wished for this Christmas.
Assuming that this data is legit, we're looking at the first scientific evaluation of the upcoming handset's processing power, and in all honesty, I'm far from impressed.
A Snapdragon 8 Elite roughly on par with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3?
The S25 Slim's first-ever benchmark includes both good and bad news, with the former undoubtedly being the apparent use of a state-of-the-art new Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC and the latter the underwhelming (or outright disappointing) performance scores of said processor.
The "Samsung SM-S937U" prototype put through the Geekbench paces on January 9, 2025 barely produced 3,005 single-core and 6,945 multi-core scores respectively, thus falling way short of what a "Samsung SM-S9380" device, for instance, was capable of less than two weeks ago, at least in the latter department.
The S25 Slim's first benchmark scores are not what we all expected them to be. | Image Credit -- Geekbench
Curiously enough, the SM-S9380, which is almost certainly the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and this presumed US-bound S25 Slim variant appear to share a "sun" motherboard and a top 4.47 GHz CPU clock speed that are both representative for the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
Even more bizarrely, that sub-7,000 result is more or less consistent with what Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered devices like the Galaxy S24 Ultra routinely obtain on this benchmarking platform. But that probably doesn't mean that you should expect the Galaxy S25 Slim to pack that outdated high-end processor after all, and it almost surely doesn't mean that the real-world performance difference between it and the S25 Ultra will be this substantial when both phones are eventually released.
Instead, it's far more likely that this is an earlier S25 Slim prototype with unfinished software and experimental hardware, which often yields eyebrow-raising benchmark scores with no relation to the eventual commercial reality. Another possible explanation you might want to entertain is that all the information included here is actually fake, which unfortunately tends to happen from time to time.
Could the Galaxy S25 Slim be unveiled on January 22?
In short, I don't think so, and I also don't think that's something you want to wish for after this Geekbench listing. That's because an announcement alongside the rest of the Galaxy S25 family at this month's Unpacked event would mean that this is not in fact an unpolished prototype we're looking at here.
So, yes, you probably want Samsung to have more time to improve the Galaxy S25 Slim ahead of a release potentially scheduled for the spring or even summer. Keep in mind that we do expect this razor-thin Android flagship to get a global rollout (contrary to some early speculation), although its sales numbers are unlikely to rival those of the S25 Ultra or "vanilla" S25.
The S25 Slim is unlikely to be unveiled alongside the S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra this month. | Image Credit -- Samsung
Like all three of its "cousins", the S25 Slim is expected to offer a generous 12 gigs of RAM in an entry-level configuration, and if a rumor from last month is to be believed, its wasp waist could sit below the 7mm mark. Apple's iPhone 17 Air is nonetheless likely to rock an even thinner profile when it sees daylight together with the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup in the fall, although Samsung could offset that disadvantage with a superior camera system.
The pricing battle may end up deciding the box-office winner between the two first-of-a-kind products, and somewhat surprisingly, Apple is currently favored to take home the affordability crown. Still, it will be mighty interesting to see how the Galaxy S25 Slim looks and performs when it goes on sale in Q2.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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