The Exynos 2600 is slated to be Samsung’s first 2nm GAA chipset, with the company’s typical strategy for next year being that it would incorporate the SoC in the Galaxy S26 Pro and Galaxy S26 Edge, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 would be reserved for the more premium Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, likely thanks to the advanced lithography, an analyst believes that next year, Samsung’s top-end offering will ship with the company’s own silicon, marking the first time in three years since the last time we witnessed any Galaxy S Ultra device shipping with an Exynos chipset.
Switching to the Exynos 2600 will help to reduce its massive chipset expenditure incurred from using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon family
Since 2023, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoC has been exclusive to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S24 Ultra, and this year’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, irrespective of where you purchased it from. For 2026, The Korea Herald reports that according to Park Kang-ho, an analyst at Daishin Securities, the Exynos 2600 is expected to be used in the Galaxy S26 Ultra and ‘drive continued earnings improvement.’ The most recent single-core and multi-core performance example of the chipset was when it competed with an underclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, showing it is ready to duke it out with the industry’s heavy hitters.
Additionally, a previous Geekbench 6 comparison revealed that Samsung’s first 2nm GAA SoC beat Apple’s A19 Pro in multi-threaded workloads, though the latter was 15 percent faster in single-core tests; nonetheless, it is a feat that no company has broken so far. Compared to the Exynos 2500, the Exynos 2600 has delivered a major performance leap, with Samsung also reported to have addressed other concerning attributes such as overheating by employing ‘Heat Pass Block’ technology. This addition should allow the Exynos 2600 to maintain its thermals and, as a result, deliver sustained performance levels.
What is even more impressive is that the troubles Samsung faced with its 3nm GAA manufacturing process appear to be a distant memory because the Exynos 2600 will reportedly enter mass production by the end of this month. This milestone not only represents Samsung’s continued focus on becoming a worthy rival to TSMC’s dominating semiconductor business but also to leverage its in-house technology to reduce dependency on the likes of Qualcomm, minimize its chipset expenditure, and boost its smartphone margins.
News Source: The Korea Herald
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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