Initially, rumors and leaks about an ultraslim Galaxy S25 Slim got us all hyped, but as time goes on and more leakers chime in, it seems the device may not actually be as exciting as once believed. The phone was first rumored to be delayed until May (and won’t likely join the Galaxy S25 phones today for the Unpacked) then we found out that it may not even come to the US to begin with.
Before that, we learned about a potential downgrade for the slim device in terms of battery size, and then we got to see a leak showing it alongside the other Galaxy S25 devices which made some of us wonder about its point entirely, as it may not even be that much slimmer…
Now, Yogesh Brar is giving us some slightly disappointing news: the Galaxy S25 Slim (or Special Edition, however it ends up being called) may come with the 7-core Snapdragon 8 Elite, which misses one core from the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. Although the leaker doesn’t specifically indicate that info is for Samsung’s phones, given earlier leaks, he’s likely referring to them.
The 7-core Snapdragon 8 Elite version is rumored to come to the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip 7 foldables in the summer, and apparently, may also be the chip powering the Galaxy S25 Slim. It should be more power efficient which should help a slim device not get as hot when performing heavy tasks, but it’s also possible to be a tad slower than the standard 8 Elite. Brar mentions that the first phone we’ll see with this chip is the Oppo Find N5 (or the OnePlus Open 2). Earlier it was believed that the thin foldable will sport the regular 8 Elite, but it seems it may come with the 7-core version, so we’ll probably know for certain how it performs soon. The leaker also corroborates earlier rumors about the foldable Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 getting this chip as well.
Meanwhile, leaked Geekbench results show the 7-core SoC measures 14% slower on multi-core performance (via TecnNetBook), which is only logical as it doesn’t have 8 cores. The multi-core test measures how the chip performs for tasks like multitasking or heavier games which require several processes running simultaneously.
Of course, the difference is probably not going to be huge in real life. It’s worth mentioning that the 7-core Elite 8 is still a flagship chip and should still be faster than many other mobile processors. However, a downgrade is a downgrade nonetheless, and with other rumors about the Galaxy S25 Slim or Special Edition (smaller battery, not US-focused), our hype seems to be dwindling a bit.
If this leak is true and the S25 Slim would indeed come with a 7-core chip, this would explain its slightly underwhelming results leaked earlier, which, at the time, we believed was due to the device being an early prototype.
The S25 Slim was expected to compete against the rumored iPhone 17 Air (a rumored slim iPhone to come with the 17 series, replacing the iPhone 17 Plus) for some slim-chic flagship-ness, but this is becoming less likely with each new leak we get. The phone may not be available in the US anyway, so maybe the iPhone will steal the crown of the best slim flagship of 2025 (if it comes, that is).
