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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 may feature a surprise hardware return after all

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A person using the open Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

With the launch of any new Samsung phone comes the will-they-won’t-they debate around Exynos hardware. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 – expected to launch in July 2025 – is no different, with new information suggesting that Samsung’s next folding phone will be Exynos powered.

The details come from a leaker who has given us useful information in the past. Jukanlosreve has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to say that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 will use an Exynos chip, while the Flip 7 FE will not.

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We first heard this claim in December 2024, when it was reported by The Elec that Samsung planned to use its latest hardware to power its compact folding phone. Since then it’s emerged that Samsung had wanted to use Exynos 2500 for the Galaxy S25 family, but the yields weren’t high enough and it never came to pass.

It seems, then, that the Z Flip 7 is the next target for Samsung, so it will get to use the Exynos hardware in a significant device, rather than moving on to the next-generation Exynos hardware (Exynos 2600), which is expected to power the Galaxy S26 family.

Flip 7 will be powered by Exynos 2500, while the Flip 7 FE will not use an Exynos chip. https://t.co/eJGSU3RJz9

— Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) May 11, 2025

There’s traditionally been a regional divide to the Snapdragon vs Exynos debate, so those in the US might find that this is just an amusing aside that impacts the rest of the world, but not those in North America.

Samsung has used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon hardware in its North American devices for the last decade and that’s unlikely to change. If the company sticks to previous form, we’ll see Exynos in Europe, while China and USA still get Snapdragon.

As to the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, rumour suggests that this is going to be basically a Z Flip 5 with updated hardware, allowing Samsung to offer a cheaper folding phone to compete with the likes of the Moto Razr 2025.

Previously it was reported that the Z Flip 7 FE would be powered by the Exynos 2400e, but now it seems that this model might be flipping back to an older Snapdragon chip, potentially the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

The next-generation of Samsung’s folding phones are expected to be announced at a bumper Galaxy Unpacked event, which rumor suggests will take place in New York in early July. That event should reveal the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE; it’s also expected that we’ll see the Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic, and there could be some more details on the Project Moohan headset and possibly Samsung’s smart glasses.

It could be a very busy summer for Samsung.

Chris Hall
Chris has been writing about consumer tech for over 15 years. Formerly the Editor-in-Chief of Pocket-lint, he's covered just…
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