Almost every year over the past decade, Samsung has used a dual-source strategy for chips in Galaxy S phones. It used in-house Exynos chips in some countries and equivalent Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm in others.
After exclusively using the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 series, the company is rumored to go back to its usual ways and use a new Exynos chip in some models of the Galaxy S26 lineup next year.
Samsung could use its first 2nm chip—Exynos 2600—for Galaxy S26 series
According to a report from South Korea, the Galaxy S26 and the Galaxy S26+ will use the Exynos 2600 processor next year in at least some countries. In China, Japan, South Korea, and North America, Samsung will reportedly use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 chip. The Galaxy S26 Ultra will reportedly come equipped with the Snapdragon chip globally.
The Exynos 2600 is reportedly a 2nm chip designed by Samsung's System LSI division and fabricated on Samsung Foundry's latest process node. Its detailed specifications haven't been revealed yet, but it could bring an AMD RDNA4-based GPU. Samsung will reportedly start the mass production of the Exynos 2600 in the second half of this year.
Samsung could beat Apple, MediaTek, and Qualcomm in launching a 2nm chip
If this report is accurate, Samsung will beat Apple, MediaTek, and Qualcomm in launching a 2nm chip. Apple's A20 2nm chip is expected to launch in the second half of 2026. Similarly, MediaTek's and Qualcomm's 2nm chips could launch in the second half of that year.
So, the Exynos 2600 will compete with MediaTek's 3nm Dimensity 9500 chip that is coming later this year and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 3nm processor that will be unveiled in September. Both those chips are made using TSMC's 3nm process node. It remains to be seen if Samsung's 2nm process is actually better than TSMC's newer 3nm (N3P) process.
The report also claims that the Galaxy Z Flip FE will use the Exynos 2400 chip, which has been claimed by other reports as well. It also lines up with our report about the Galaxy Z Flip 7 using the Exynos 2500 chip.
An industry insider reportedly told the publication that Exynos' success is important to Samsung, as it not only improves the profitability of its smartphone and chip businesses but also secures its market leadership in the future. If this report is accurate, good times will come back to Samsung's semiconductor chip divisions that have been lagging quite a lot lately.
The post Galaxy S26 and S26+ rumored to use 2nm Exynos 2600 chip appeared first on SamMobile.
Loading ... 
