The Exynos 2600 is an application processor (AP) that will be manufactured by Samsung Foundry using its 2nm process node. If things go as expected, this SoC could make the any of the Samsung Galaxy S26 series handsets the first to use a 2nm chipset. While you might expect the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ to be equipped with the Exynos 2600 AP in most markets, there is a rumor that the Galaxy S26 Ultra will also sport the Exynos 2600 in Europe and South Korea.
Exynos 2600 reportedly generates M5-like scorers on Geekbench
All Galaxy S26 models in the U.S., China, and Japan could be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Eliter Gen 5 for Galaxy. In the past, any hint that a Galaxy S Ultra model would feature a Samsung Exynos chip would have been laughed at. But Sammy has been working on the chipset which seems to be greatly improved. Besides being made with the 2nm process node, it will use Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors which prevent current leaks and improve the drive current. This leads the chip to be more powerful and energy efficient.
In addition, the Exynos 2600 has a deca-core CPU with the 10 cores using a 1 + 3 + 6 cluster. That Prime Core is clocked at 4.20GHz and the three performance cores are clocked at 3.56GHz. The remaining six core carry a clock speed of 2.76GHz. On "X," @lafaiel posted an image of the Geekbench 6 score for the Exynos 2600 which included a single-core tally of 4,217 and a multi-core score of 13,482. That's quite an impressive result and tops the previously leaked Geekbench 6 result of single-core: 3,455, multi-core: 11,621.
This is reportedly a Geekbench test result for the Exynos 2600 AP. | Image credit-Wccftech
We must put an asterisk next to these numbers because a visit to Geekbench's own data fails to show these results. So we can conclude that either the results were taken down, the numbers are made up, or the benchmark test never occurred. And these numbers are important because if legit, the single-core results would match those put up by Apple's M5 chip and would be the fastest smartphone SoC in the single-core category, a metric that Apple's A-series AP has historically owned.
The 2nm Exynos 2600 has a higher benchmark tally than the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Assuming that the score is legit, even more exciting for Samsung, the Exynos 2600 Geekbench score beat out the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 single-core and multi-core scores of 2,865 and 9,487 respectively. This could be an exciting time for Samsung Foundry which is a distant number two in the contract foundry business, well behind TSMC. As of the second quarter, TSMC had 70.2% of the foundry market compared to 7.3% for Samsung Foundry.
Samsung also might be able to save some money by using the Exynos 2600 to power most of the Galaxy S26. Last year, when Samsung Foundry's low yield rate meant that not enough Exynos 2500 APs could be produced for use with the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+, Sammy had to reach deeper into its wallet to shell out an additional $400 million to pay Qualcomm for the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy APs that replaced the Exynos 2500 in most regions.
Would you buy a non-Samsung phone powered by the Exynos 2600?
Sure. It seems like a powerful and efficient AP.
72.09%
No way. I can't get the past out of my mind.
20.93%
I don't care about the processor powering my phone.
6.98%
Samsung Foundry's yields are believed to have improved sharply. While Samsung doesn't give out this information, it became apparent in 2022 that there was a problem with Samsung Foundry's yields as Qualcomm took its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 AP business away from Samsung and moved it to TSMC. After a slight design change, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Since then, Qualcomm has relied on TSMC to produce all of its flagship application processors.
It's been an impressive rise for Samsung's Exynos AP
It's hard to imagine the Exynos 2600 being mentioned in the same breath as the Apple M5. In 2019-2020, Samsung shut its custom core development team as its "Mongoose" cores were leading its Exynos chips to constantly underperform Qualcomm's Snapdragon components while also being less efficient. By the way, M5 achieved a single-core score of 4,263 or 1.09% higher than the Exynos 2600 results. The M5 multi-core score of 17,862 was 32% above the Exynos 2600 tally.
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Still, the Exynos APs have come a long way since 2020. That's when Samsung angered the Exynos team in South Korea by releasing the Galaxy S20 in its home country powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 AP. It has been a slow but steady rise but the Exynos 2600 might have finally taken Samsung's application processor to a place reached only by its memory and imaging chips.
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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