Back in June, we told you to expect a price hike for the Galaxy S25 series early next year. Back then, reliable TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that a 25-30% price hike for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Application Processor (AP) could lead to a similar price hike for Samsung's flagship phone series for 2025. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 AP costs between $190 and $200 and after the price hike predicted by Kuo, the chipset could be priced between $237.50 and $260.
Speaking of Kuo, who is more known for his Apple-related predictions, Samsung Foundry's low production yield in the 3nm node is one of the reasons why we could see a 30% price increase for the Galaxy S25 series in 2025. Samsung could continue to follow the same strategy that GalaxyS25 And GalaxyS25+ with an Exynos chipset, in this case the Exynos 2500 SoC, in all markets except the USA, Canada and China. In these countries, the GalaxyS25 And GalaxyS25+ will be equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, like all Galaxy S25 Ultra devices in every market.
In this scenario, the 30% price increase for the Galaxy 8 Gen 4 AP plays an important but limited role. But what would happen if Samsung decided to do away with the Exynos 2500 SoC and all GalaxyS25 Production models were powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 AP regardless of the market? You can imagine how much a 30 percent price increase for the chipset could affect the prices of the flagship line in this scenario. But that's not going to happen, is it?
Kuo now says it could be. He points out that this will be the first year that the Exynos application processor will be manufactured using Samsung Foundry's 3nm process node. There's a good chance that Samsung Foundry's poor yields at that node will mean that it won't produce enough Exynos 2500 APs to meet Samsung's demand. As a result, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC may have to be manufactured in every GalaxyS25 Series device.
If this is the case, Samsung would have three options to choose from when it comes to GalaxyS25 Pricing. Samsung could increase the price of the phones by the amount of the chipset increase, say 30%, and let the public bear the increased cost of the component. It could keep prices stable and Samsung would pay for the higher chip prices. Or it could increase the price less than the chip price increase and split the higher cost of the component between customers and the company.
Back in June, we wondered if Samsung Foundry could increase its yield in time for the 3nm production of the decacore Exynos 2500, which could happen in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of this year, Samsung Foundry had a single-digit yield for 3nm production. This rose to 20% in the second quarter. 60% is required for mass production. Samsung Foundry is under pressure if Samsung does not want to be forced to increase the price of the Exynos 2500. GalaxyS25 Series by up to 30%.