Samsung's Exynos 2700 outperforms the Snapdragon SoC that will power the Galaxy S27 Ultra
There could be a new silicon powerhouse for 2027 in the making.
Exynos 2700 shows surprising performance in tests | Image by Samsung
There was a time when Samsung's Exynos application processor (AP) was known for overheating more than anything. Not wanting to use an inferior chipset for its top-of-the-line Galaxy S Ultra model, even Samsung knew to power those phones with that year's top Snapdragon 8 SoC. Samsung eventually fell into the habit of dual sourcing the APs for its Galaxy S premium flagship series and I will use this year's already released models to explain how this worked.
How dual-sourcing worked out on the flagship Galaxy S26 series
The Samsung Galaxy S26 premium flagship series is made up of the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The Galaxy S26 FE, expected to be introduced this coming week, is not a premium flagship so it is not part of this conversation.
In most markets globally, the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ are powered by Samsung's own Exynos 2600 AP. However, in the US, Canada, China, and Japan, those models are sold with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy under the hood. In all markets worldwide, the top-of-the-line Galaxy S26 Ultra sportd the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.
It should be noted that the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ models that feature the Exynos 2600 AP are the first smartphones ever powered by a chip produced using a 2nm process node. Before this year, the iPhone had been first to use the last three new process nodes (7nm, 5nm, and 3nm). A lower process node is important because it typically means that the transistors are smaller allowing transistor density to increase.
Why transistor density is so important
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Transistor density measures the millions of transistors inside the chip over a square millimeter. Because a lower process node usually means smaller transistors, transistor density rises as more transistors fit in that square mm. With the transistors tightly packed together, electrical signals don't have to travel as far increasing switching speed (when a transistor is flipped from "off" to "on" and vice versa) increasing power and reducing energy consumption.
Samsung is working on the Exynos 2700 AP and the company has trillions of reasons to continue to beef up the performance and the efficiency of its in-house chip. Samsung spends as much as 14 trillion won ($10.15 billion) on chips made by suppliers such as Qualcomm. If it could improve the performance of its Exynos chips, it could save some money by paying less for its own chipsets instead of purchasing them from Qualcomm or other chipmakers.
Placeholder image of the Exynos 2700 AP. | Image by @Kaulenda on X
Which chips will be used on the devices that are part of the Galaxy S 27 flagship line
We should see the Exynos 2700 AP used to power the Galaxy S27 and the Galaxy S27+ in all markets except for the US, Canada, China, and Japan. In those markets, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 for Galaxy will be used and the latter chip will power the Galaxy S27 Ultra in all markets.
Eventually, Samsung hopes to end the dual sourcing. A Samsung Mobile eXperience executive said earlier this year that Samsung's goal is to use its own Exynos chips on all Galaxy phones, including Galaxy S Ultra models. Secondly, Samsung would love to have other phone manufacturers buy Exynos chips to power their phones instead of using processors made by Qualcomm or MediaTek.
In-house testing by Samsung led to a huge surprise
A fresh report says that according to industry sources, an in-house performance evaluation performed on August 23 by Samsung's Mobile eXperience unit revealed that the Exynos 2700 outperformed Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. Samsung's chip outperformed Qualcomm's in categories including the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), AI computation and power efficiency.
Measuring CPU performance, the Exynos 2700 scored 19% higher than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 on Geekbench 6.5 multicore. Sammy's chipset even outperformed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro by 9.5%.
Measuring GPU performance, the Exynos 2700 topped the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro by 5%. Testing GPU in a low-power environment of 2.5W, it scored 24% and 22% higher than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro respectively.
Which AP will prove to be the best performer?
In AI computation, testing using the Llama 3.1 8-billion (B) parameter model, the Exynos 2700 responded 18% faster than Qualcomm's next-gen Pro component. It also was 5% faster recognizing and processing prompts from users.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but for now the Exynos 2700 just might be powerful enough to end dual-sourcing and allow Samsung to save money on AP procurement for its next flagship series.
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