It’s 2025, which means the Samsung phones we should be talking about are the Galaxy S25 series. However, it looks like a one year old Samsung phone is making the headlines: the Galaxy S24 . This is because it looks like regions that shipped the Galaxy S24 with the Exynos chipset are now getting the version with the Snapdragon.

Galaxy S24 Exynos variant replaced with Snapdragon

According to a post on Weibo by tipster Ice Universe, they claim that Samsung is replacing the Exynos version of the Galaxy S24 with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 variant. We should point out that Samsung has officially discontinued the Galaxy S24 this year. This does not mean that Samsung has kicked off production of the phone again.

Instead, what we can only speculate, is that these are leftover inventory from other regions. Perhaps Samsung is seeing some demand for the Galaxy S24 in some parts of the world and are shipping leftover stock there. Alternatively, these devices could also be used as replacement devices.

So, why is Samsung replacing Exynos variants with the Snapdragon? According to Ice Universe, the cost of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has dropped. But what about Samsung’s own chipset? Doesn’t the company make its own chips? Yes they do, but maybe the cost of producing an older chip doesn’t make sense anymore , especially if the company is hoping to use its production lines for the upcoming Exynos 2600.

The Exynos-Snapdragon divide

If you’re living in the US, Samsung’s flagship phones sold in the US market are powered by Qualcomm’s chipset. However, for some other regions in the world, Samsung sells the same phone, except it uses an Exynos chipset.

This is a strategy Samsung has deployed for years, save for the Galaxy S23 lineup, which at that time was full Snapdragon across the board and across all regions. The only except was the Galaxy S23 FE .

However, not everyone is a fan of this strategy. While Samsung tries to maintain some degree of parity between both the Exynos and Snapdragon variants of their phones, there are differences. Typically speaking, Samsung’s Exynos chipsets fall short compared to Qualcomm’s.

This has led to customers feeling a bit “cheated” because they’re paying roughly the same price as everyone else, but getting a “worse” experience. Samsung has been working on improving its Exynos chipsets, but we’ll have to wait until 2026 to see how the Exynos 2600 fares .