Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could force Galaxy S25 to be priced higher

The Galaxy S25 is expected to bring several upgrades and be launched early next year. One of the key upgrades of the upcoming flagship is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip, which has much faster performance, but that could negatively impact the phone.

Galaxy S25 to get a price hike due to Snapdragon 8 Gen 4?

According to tipster Digital Chat Station, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 (model number SM8750) will significantly increase smartphone prices. That is because the chip will be much pricier than its predecessors, including the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The display and the chipset are already the costliest components of a smartphone, and a price hike in the chipset could make it harder for smartphone brands to digest.

So, OEMs can choose to do one of these three things:

1. Pass on the price hike to consumers with higher smartphone prices.
2. Use a cheaper chipset (like the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3) or last year's chip.
3. Cut the manufacturing cost using cheaper components (display, camera, or battery).

However, the price hike for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will likely be so great that reducing the prices of other components might not make up for the price hike caused by the chipset.

Why is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 expected to be so pricey?

This price hike could be due to Qualcomm's new custom CPU core (Oryon). It can match the performance of Apple's A and M series chips used in iPhones, iPads, and Macs, so there will be a significant improvement in performance compared to previous Snapdragon chips.

Moreover, this chipset will be made using TSMC's second-generation 3nm process node, N3E. This is the same process used to fabricate Apple's M4 chipset and the upcoming A18 Pro chipset.

Watch our review of the Galaxy S24 in the video below. The story continues after the video.

This isn't the first time Qualcomm's new chip has caused smartphone brands to increase their prices significantly. In 2020, the Snapdragon 865 forced Xiaomi to increase the price of the Mi 10 by $140 compared to the Mi 9.

However, thanks to Samsung's huge supply chain, it is possible that the company won't increase the price of the Galaxy S25 compared to the Galaxy S24 by swallowing up the chip's price hike. If the South Korean firm chooses to do this, we might not see a significant improvement in other specifications, such as the camera or display.