The rumors have been all over the place. Some call for the Exynos 2600 application processor (AP), manufactured by Samsung Foundry using its 2nm GAA node, to power most of the Samsung Galaxy S26 models in the line, even the Galaxy S26 Ultra in some markets. Last year, Samsung Foundry had issues with the yield on its 3nm production which meant that there weren't enough Exynos 2500 APs available for the Galaxy S25 line.
Despite the rumors, Qualcomm says it will supply the AP for 75% of the Galaxy S26 series
As a result, the latter series was entirely powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite AP. This lead Samsung to shell out an estimated $400 million extra to pay Qualcomm for the additional Snapdragon chips it needed to replace the Exynos 2500 SoCs that Samsung Foundry couldn't build.
Will the Galaxy S26 Ultra use an Exynos or Snapdragon processor?
Qualcomm Snapdragon AP.
74.64%
Samsung Exynos AP.
25.36%
Samsung Foundry has been able to get its yield up for the 2nm Exynos 2600, which uses Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors to cover the channel on all four sides. This prevents current leaks and improves the drive current helping the chip become more powerful and energy efficient. The Galaxy S26 models that will be powered by the Exynos 2600 could be the very first smartphones powered by a 2nm chipset.
The performance of the Exynos 2600 comes close to the rival Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 application processor
During Qualcomm's recent earnings call following the release of its fiscal Q4 earnings, the company said that it expected its new Snapdragon chip to be found in 75% of the Galaxy S26 handsets. Qualcomm said that it used to expect to get 50% of the AP orders for the flagship Galaxy S line. The San Diego based fabless chipmaker says that the new baseline with Samsung is 75%. "On Galaxy S25, we got 100%. Our assumption for any new Galaxy is always going to be 75%. That is our assumption for Galaxy S26," Qualcomm said.
Samsung has made remarkable improvements to its flagship Exynos chipsets. | Image credit-Samsung
If Qualcomm is correct, even with the huge improvement in the performance and availability of the Exynos 2600, Samsung plans to turn to Qualcomm to power a huge percentage of its flagship line next year. Samsung has done a great job with its flagship Exynos AP which is said to be outperform Apple's A19 Pro by a factor of six in handling AI tasks.
While Samsung seems to have sharply closed the gap between the flagship Exynos and Snapdragon APs, for now Qualcomm remains extremely positive that it will continue to supply Samsung with a huge majority of the APs for its upcoming flagship line.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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