With the Galaxy S26 just around the proverbial corner, it's absolutely normal to see more and more pieces of the puzzle leak out through the cracks, and the latest one is the potential GPU performance of the Exynos 2600 chipset.
A leaked benchmark result claims to showcase that the 2 nm Exynos 2600 beats the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in a Basemark graphics test by the skin of its teeth. A small win, but a win nonetheless.
Exynos 2600 might be a graphics powerhouse
The Exynos 2600 has just popped up on the Basemark database, where it has run the obscure In Vitro graphics benchmark, which weighs raytracing performance. There, we get to see that a Samsung device carrying the SM-S942B model number (most certainly the base Galaxy S26) outfitted with the Xclipse 960 GPU has achieved a respectable score of 8,262 points.
Samsung's Exynos 2600 makes the rounds on the Basemark benchmark database
That's around 10% better than the closest result achieved by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip in the same test, represented here by the Nubia Redmagic 11 Pro (Nubia NX809J) gaming phone, which comes with the Adreno 840 GPU on deck.
Basemark's current In Vitro hall of fame
The only other device that beats the Galaxy S26 in this In Vitro benchmark is interestingly another Exynos 2600 chipset, but instead of ticking inside a phone, that one is placed on a test board. This makes it achieve a slightly higher result, which should not be really indicative of what the Galaxy S26 would achieve in real life.
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Are you excited for the Exynos 2600 chip?
Still, some fairly impressive results by Samsung here!
This isn't the first time we've seen the Exynos 2600 display more than impressive graphics performance. Roughly half a year ago, the chipset sprung up in a leaked Geekbench benchmark listing, hinting that Samsung is developing one thoroughbred beast of a chip that will be trading blows with other elite chipsets.
And, as Notebookcheck notes, the Basemark graphics test has been historically favorable towards Exynos chips in contrast to Snapdragons, so the actual real life difference in performance might be even more marginal.
Is Samsung preparing a graphics monster?
The Exynos 2600, which was the first 2nm mobile chipset, will power the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus in Europe and other regions around the globe. However, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip will be powering the Galaxy S26 range in the US and exclusively power the Galaxy S26 Ultra worldwide.
This makes the Exynos 2600 much less important. Still, it's good to see Samsung lead the performance benchmarks, even if those are rather obscure ones that cover use cases not many users would care for.
As a refresher, the Galaxy S26 range is getting announced on February 25, 2026, when Samsung will showcase its new but otherwise very familiar flagships.
Let me try that Exynos 2600
Ever since I've been a tech writer, Samsung's Exynos chips have had a bad rep. True, those were mostly terrible, especially on the Galaxy SIII I used to have back in the day, but… A lot of time has passed since then, and even though it rarely comes up on top, Exynos chips are perfectly fine for everyday usage.
A lot is hanging in the balance for the Galaxy S26 series, as the list of potential upgrades from the previous generation is getting shorter and shorter with each week. This makes the performance of the range now more significant than ever, as Samsung is set to clash with Apple, Google, and all its other rivals in the high-end market.
I'm actually intrigued to see if the Exynos 2600 and its 2nm manufacturing node would introduce any power savings that would allow the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus last longer on a single charge. Well, the heart says "yes" and the mind says "no"
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Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.
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