Did Google just reveal the Galaxy S25's MediaTek connection? (Update: Nope)

Update, October 8, 2024 (1:42 PM ET): OK, let us remove all doubt from your mind. First Google backpedaled on the language it was using to reference Samsung’s interest in MediaTek silicon. But even without explicitly making the same previous claim, could the idea it raised still prove true?

We’ve now heard back from our inquires to both Google and MediaTek, and while MediaTek declined to comment, Google’s DeepMind team is explicitly labeling the original text that caught our attention as “erroneous.”

Update, October 8, 2024 (10:46 AM ET): Google’s curious word choice when discussing MediaTek chips and their use in Samsung smartphones raised some eyebrows for us, and fueled plenty of speculation into the choice of chip that will power the Galaxy S25. Well, that may have all been a little premature.

Google has updated its DeepMind blog post to remove mention of Samsung in the passage under discussion, as well as references to specific devices:

External organizations are also adopting and building on AlphaChip. For example, MediaTek, one of the top chip design companies in the world, extended AlphaChip to accelerate development of their most advanced chips while improving power, performance and chip area.

Keeping our healthy dose of skepticism, it’s still possible that Samsung is embracing MediaTek SoCs for a future round of flagships, but just didn’t intend for Google to make that move public. That said, the more straightforward reading would suggest that the original language was in error, and we should just take this cleaned-up version at face value.

Original article, October 8, 2024 (02:49 AM ET): Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S25 series in early 2025, and questions have been raised over the choice of chipset. However, Google’s DeepMind website may have just hinted at MediaTek flagship power for a future Samsung phone. Or did it?

AlphaChip technology is part of Google’s DeepMind AI division, and this is an AI method to design processors. A blog post mentioning some AlphaChip successes (via Gizmochina) seems to hint at a flagship MediaTek chip coming to Samsung phones. The post specifically notes that AlphaChip was used “to accelerate development of their (MediaTek’s) most advanced chips — like the Dimensity Flagship 5G used in Samsung mobile phones — while improving power, performance and chip area.”

Could this mention be an error, then? Could the post be referring to the recently released Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 series, which uses the Dimensity 9300 Plus flagship processor? It’s possible, but this isn’t the only Google source to mention MediaTek chips in Samsung phones.

“Beyond Google, AlphaChip’s influence is spreading. MediaTek, a leading chip designer, has adopted AlphaChip to enhance their own chips, including those found in Samsung mobile phones,” read an excerpt of a LinkedIn post by Googler Steve Soleimani.

This would nevertheless be an interesting turn of events as Samsung has never used Dimensity flagship chips in its phones. Instead, the company has long preferred to use Snapdragon chips in concert with its own Exynos processors where possible. So this tradition is one reason to be skeptical of a Galaxy S25 or S25 FE with MediaTek power.

It’s also possible that both the AlphaChip blog post and Soleimani could be referring to mid-range Samsung phones with MediaTek chips. However, the blog post’s mention of “most advanced chips” and “Dimensity flagship 5G” silicon suggests otherwise.

Would this be a step in the right direction?

However, there are also a few reasons why a Dimensity chip makes sense for the Galaxy S25 or S25 FE. For one, Samsung’s Exynos 2500 has reportedly experienced production issues related to low yields. An earlier report out of Korea suggests Samsung has until the end of the year to improve yields, but the Dimensity 9400 could be a handy fallback option if this Exynos issue isn’t solved.

MediaTek’s flagship chips are also thought to be cheaper than Snapdragon SoCs, which could translate into higher profit margins for Samsung or lower prices for consumers. And we know that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 — expected to be used in some Galaxy S25 models — will be more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 used in some Galaxy S24 series devices.

Samsung’s use of the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 Plus in the Galaxy Tab S10 series also undoubtedly gave employees some experience with high-end MediaTek silicon. So that experience could be useful for phones with MediaTek flagship chips.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the Galaxy S25 series getting MediaTek power in some capacity, either. A Korean outlet made this unsourced claim back in June. More recently, tipster Jukanlosreve reported on October 1 that the base S25 would get a MediaTek chip. Tipster Yogesh Brar also made this claim yesterday.

Either way, we’re taking the AlphaChip blog post with a pinch of salt for now. But it certainly seems like more sources seem to think a MediaTek-powered Galaxy S25 model is on the cards. We’ve nevertheless contacted Google and MediaTek for comment on the matter and will update our article accordingly.