Will the Galaxy S26 have Snapdragon or Exynos? I think it’s time we stopped caring

Another day, another report about which processor the Galaxy S26 will ship with. All evidence points to Samsung reverting to its older strategy of splitting processors by region. This news, expectedly, is being accompanied by discontent from consumers, who were no doubt hoping for another global Snapdragon launch like with the Galaxy S25 series.

So, which is it? Will the Galaxy S26 be splitting processors by region? In my opinion, it’s high time we stopped caring about that.

Exynos 2600 or Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5?

The two options for the Galaxy S26 phones next year are the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2600. As has always been the case, most regions — including Europe and certain parts of Asia — will be getting the Exynos variants. Meanwhile, the U.S., in addition to a select few other regions, will get the Snapdragon versions of the Galaxy S26.

The base model, reportedly being called the Galaxy S26 Pro, and the Galaxy S26 Edge, will be splitting processors by region. Samsung’s top-end model, the Galaxy S26 Ultra, will allegedly ship with Snapdragon all over the world.



So which one is better? In a purely numbers-based comparison, the Snapdragon chipset wins, as is tradition. But does it matter?

It honestly doesn’t matter anymore

Whether the Galaxy S26 phone that you get is powered by the Exynos 2600 or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (what a name, am I right?) doesn’t matter for 99 percent of users.

The Exynos 2600 is being made using Samsung Foundry’s 2 nm process, whereas the Snapdragon chip is being made using TSMC’s 3 nm process. This 2 nm advantage that the Exynos has is extremely noteworthy, and leaked Exynos 2600 benchmarks show that the chip has already surpassed the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Yes, the same Snapdragon 8 Elite that is currently powering the excellent Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it was already overkill. This has been the case for quite a few years now: smartphone processors have gotten stupidly good. Take an older Galaxy S23 or an iPhone 14, and they will still perform flawlessly today. Processing power doesn’t really matter much anymore.

The only way you’ll really notice the difference between the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 or the Exynos 2600, is if you run benchmarking software on both versions of the Galaxy S26. You may notice a very slight difference when playing very demanding games too, but it will be very minor.

Yes, I admit that there’s a reason that Samsung still exclusively uses Snapdragon for certain regions, but most users cannot tell the difference.

It’s high time we stopped caring

Even budget phones nowadays feature chipsets that can run everything almost flawlessly. Flagship processors like the Exynos 2600 and the new Snapdragon are mostly competing in the charts, instead of real-world performance that actually affects a user’s experience.

While I usually advocate the consumer getting the best deal possible — in this case the Snapdragon — I actually really want Samsung to shift to Exynos completely. Unfortunately, the minor gap in performance, as well as some problems with the company’s foundry, mean that this is unlikely to happen very soon.

But, as I’ve been saying for ages, I truly believe that Samsung could have an Apple silicon moment of its own, if it is able to perfect Exynos. With in-house hardware and software, the synergy between the two could be great enough for us to see a legendary leap in performance, like we did when the MacBook shifted from Intel to the M-series chips.

But for now, if you’re thinking of getting the Galaxy S26 but were hesitating because of the news about Exynos, don’t. Go get that phone when it comes out. You will not notice the difference. Pinky promise.

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