Samsung Galaxy S24 could keep one of the Galaxy S23’s most surprising changes

We could see the Samsung Galaxy S24 series powered by Snapdragon chips only, Twitter leaker Connor (opens in new tab) (via SamMobile (opens in new tab)) says, just like the Galaxy S23 family.

Older Samsung phones like the Galaxy S22 line-up have historically used Samsung-designed Exynos chips outside of the U.S. But for the S23 series, Samsung went all-in on Qualcomm chips, getting a customized Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip. 

This offers higher clock speeds than the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 other recent flagship Android phones are using, giving Galaxy S23 users worldwide the same great performance rather that it being exclusive to the U.S.

The new Snapdragon chip, assumed to be named the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, will apparently offer a nice performance boost as well as support for faster UFS 4.1 storage. There’s some disagreement on what cores the new chip will feature, but we should see it arrive by the end of this year in either October or November.

The first phones to use it are likely to debut this December or January 2024.

The leak claims only that there won’t be an Exynos Galaxy S24, making no mention of whether Samsung will get another “For Galaxy” edition of the Gen 4 silicon. 

We’d imagine Samsung will continue this partnership if it’s sticking with Qualcomm though, given the performance boost that it can leverage over rival Android phones.

The next Exynos-powered Galaxy S model could arrive in 2025, after Samsung’s spent the intervening time ensuring its new silicon is up to speed. It’ll allegedly be doing this by adopting ARM-designed cores rather than using its own designs (via SamMobile (opens in new tab)), the same designs that are used for Qualcomm Snapdragon chips’ cores.

If Samsung can promise its own chips won’t leave users outside the U.S. with inferior performance, then we wouldn’t mind an end to the current unified Snapdragon chip era. But having the same chip in the phone worldwide, like basically every other smartphone does, makes a lot more sense than a two-chip system.

With the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra barely two months old, there’s a long wait until the Galaxy S24 series is expected to arrive. 

If you need a new phone before next January/February, you should take a look at our guide to the best phones you can buy right now for some guidance.

More from Tom’s Guide

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• Samsung Galaxy A54 specs leak — and there’s a pricing surprise

Richard is a Tom’s Guide senior writer based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he’s also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he’s likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.