Audiences take photos of a holographic ad at the unveiling event for the Galaxy S25 smartphone in London, Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics is set to unveil its newest Galaxy S25 smartphone families during a Galaxy Unpacked event slated for Wednesday (local time) in San Jose, California. The smartphones are expected to use Micron's LPDDR5X DRAM chips for their memory instead of Samsung's mobile DRAM.

According to industry officials, Samsung has selected Micron as the first supplier for the Galaxy S25's mobile DRAM. The first supplier will be the main vendor for most Galaxy S25 units, including those for the initial batch.

So far, Samsung's Device Solutions (DS) division has been the main supplier of the company's smartphones, while Micron has been playing the second vendor role, primarily responsible for covering the main vendors' supply shortage.

The decision apparently came after Samsung's smartphone division, Mobile Experience (MX), compared the performance and pricing between the two companies' mobile DRAM products.

Industry experts speculate that Micron's chip likely stood out for its power efficiency, as evidenced by Nvidia's selection of Micron's LPDDR5X for its GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchip. However, they also suggested that challenges in Samsung's 10-nanometer-class 1b memory process may have also triggered the MX division to choose an alternative for its colleagues.

In DRAM manufacturing, the 1b process refers to the fifth-generation manufacturing process within the 10-nanometer class, which is divided into six stages — 1x, 1y, 1z, 1a, 1b and 1c. The progress reflects finer node dimensions, with 1b representing approximately 12 nanometers. Currently, the 1b process is mainstream among advanced chipmakers like Samsung, SK hynix and Micron, and they are now working on the 1c process, which will be 11 nanometers.

Samsung Electronics' LPDDR5X memory / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

In recent months, the 1b process has been mentioned as one of the reasons for lingering doubts over Samsung's memory business. Based on the 1b process, Samsung is producing artificial intelligence (AI) specific high-bandwidth memory 3e (HBM3e) chips and LPDDR5 mobile memory chips, but multiple reports have alleged that the company is still struggling with its yield and heat management.

Samsung's HBM3e chip has also been facing questions as it struggles to pass qualification tests for Nvidia's AI processors, while Samsung's chip-making rival SK hynix has become the dominant supplier, providing 12-layer HBM3e chips to Nvidia.

To create a twist in the race, Samsung is reportedly concentrating its resources on the 1c process to gain a competitive edge in next-generation DRAMs, including HBM4, which will likely use 1c DRAM as a core die.

Samsung has reportedly started placing orders for equipment to set up a 1c DRAM production line at its plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in the fourth quarter of last year. In this process, the company is expected to reallocate its engineers for the 1c line, which will likely cause shortages in the production and development capabilities of 1b-based DRAMs, such as those for smartphones.

Samsung Electronics' plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Samsung's smartphone and chip divisions are increasingly showing signs of separation, as the Galaxy S25 series is expected to use Qualcomm's mobile application processor (AP) instead of the DS division's Exynos chipset. An AP functions as the brain of a smartphone, similar to how a central processing unit functions for a computer.

The separation is anticipated to cast a downside effect on the profitability of the DS division. Samsung Electronics announced its fourth-quarter earnings guidance on Jan. 8 and estimated its operating profit to reach 6.5 trillion won ($4.47 billion). The company did not provide the DS division's earnings separately, but brokerages assume that the chip-making division would have posted over 3 trillion won in operating profit.