A Snapdragon 8 Elite roughly on par with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3?
Curiously enough, the SM-S9380, which is almost certainly the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and this presumed US-bound S25 Slim variant appear to share a “sun” motherboard and a top 4.47 GHz CPU clock speed that are both representative for the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
Instead, it’s far more likely that this is an earlier S25 Slim prototype with unfinished software and experimental hardware, which often yields eyebrow-raising benchmark scores with no relation to the eventual commercial reality.
Could the Galaxy S25 Slim be unveiled on January 22?
So, yes, you probably want Samsung to have more time to improve the Galaxy S25 Slim ahead of a release potentially scheduled for the spring or even summer.
A hot new Geekbench listing might be just what you’ve been waiting for this Christmas, if you needed concrete proof that the much-anticipated Galaxy S25 Slim is real and not just the fantasy of a growing number of industry insiders and social media leakers.
I must admit that, if this data is accurate, I’m not impressed by the first scientific assessment of the upcoming phone’s processing power.
About the same as a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a Snapdragon 8 Elite.
The S25 Slim’s first-ever benchmark has both positive and negative news. The former is definitely the processor’s apparent use of a cutting-edge new Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, while the latter is the processor’s lackluster (or downright disappointing) performance ratings.
Less than two weeks ago, a “Samsung SM-S9380” device was capable of much more than the “Samsung SM-S937U” prototype, which was put through its paces on Geekbench on January 9, 2025. It only managed to produce 3,005 single-core and 6,945 multi-core scores, respectively.
The SM-S9380, which is most likely the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and this rumored US-bound S25 Slim variant, oddly enough, seem to have the same “sun” motherboard and top 4point 47 GHz CPU clock speed, both of which are indicative of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
Stranger still, that sub-7,000 result is roughly in line with what Qualcomm 8 Gen 3-powered smartphones, such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, frequently achieve on this benchmarking platform. However, that probably doesn’t mean you should expect the Galaxy S25 Slim to have that antiquated high-end processor after all, and it likely doesn’t mean that there will be such a significant real-world performance difference between it and the S25 Ultra when both phones are eventually released.
It is much more likely that this is an earlier S25 Slim prototype with experimental hardware and unfinished software, which frequently produces startling benchmark scores that have nothing to do with the final commercial reality. The fact that all of the information presented here is genuinely false is an additional theory you might want to consider, as this regrettably frequently occurs.
Will January 22nd see the release of the Galaxy S25 Slim?
In summary, I don’t believe so, and I also don’t believe that’s something you should hope for following this listing on Geekbench. This is because if the Galaxy S25 family is announced at this month’s Unpacked event alongside the rest of the Galaxy S25 family, it would indicate that this is not an unpolished prototype.
Indeed, you would like Samsung to have more time to refine the Galaxy S25 Slim before it is released, which may be in the spring or even the summer. Though its sales figures are unlikely to compete with those of the S25 Ultra or “vanilla” S25, we do anticipate this incredibly thin Android flagship to be released globally (contrary to some early speculation).
According to a rumor from last month, the S25 Slim’s wasp waist may be less than 7mm, and like all three of its “cousins,” it is anticipated to come with a substantial 12 gigabytes of RAM in an entry-level configuration. Although Samsung may make up for that shortcoming with a better camera system, Apple’s iPhone 17 Air is still expected to have an even thinner profile when it launches alongside the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup in the fall.
