What you need to now
- Samsung’s expected Exynos 2600 is rumored to have been granted upgrades that’ll push it into the spotlight with Apple and Qualcomm.
- Supposedly, the chip sports notable upgrades that could make it “faster” and graphically stronger than both its competitors.
- The chip may only arrive in Europe and South Korea, leaving Qualcomm’s Snapdragon in the U.S., Japan, and China.
There’s a report coming from overseas that’s making a major claim about Samsung’s in-house chip and its potential performance.
Another round of Exynos 2600 rumors, Samsung’s next custom chip, claim consumers will see it in the Galaxy S26 series, per Hankyung (via Junkanlosreve). However, this South Korean report suggests that Samsung’s advancements may have pushed the Exynos 2600 over the speed of Apple’s and Qualcomm’s latest chips. The report compares the chip to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, purporting that Samsung’s is roughly 29% better in graphical performance and 30% better in NPU.
When it comes to Apple’s A19 Pro, rumors state the Exynos 2600 is ~75% graphically and potentially ~14% better in multi-core (CPU) performance.
These rumors reiterate what we’ve heard before, that the Exynos 2600 is built on Samsung’s 2nm process. AI is another major part of the chip that’s reportedly going to shine through on the Galaxy S26 series. The publication claims that Samsung “focused heavily on AI performance,” seeking to surpass that of Apple’s devices.
Such a report makes it seem like Samsung is going to utilize its chip in as many places as possible, but that might not be the case. The publication’s post alleges that Samsung will use this Exynos on its South Korean and European models, leaving S26 models in the U.S., Japan, and China with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Samsung’s taking it seriously
[Exclusive] Galaxy S26 confirmed to feature ‘Exynos 2600’—six times faster than Apple’s chipThe upcoming Galaxy S26 series, set for release early next year, will be equipped with Samsung’s in-house application processor (AP), the Exynos 2600. It is reported that not only the… pic.twitter.com/kGk9277Xs1October 20, 2025
These rumors about Samsung potentially using its Exynos 2600 for the Galaxy S26 series trio started late in 2024. Those reports said Samsung was looking to use the new chip “significantly” across its 2026 flagship series, but what the word “significantly” meant wasn’t explained. Perhaps this just meant that we’d see it on the Galaxy S26 Ultra in its rumored European and South Korean regions, instead of just on the first two models.
Regardless, rumors evolved a little more, with rumors a few months ago claiming Europe would see the Exynos 2600, despite Samsung’s in-house chip being a tough sell because of its historically lower performance. It was then rumored that Samsung was taking the Exynos 2600 development quite seriously—even “urgently”—as it supposedly created a “task force” to ensure its quality is up to par.
This task force was responsible for overseeing the performance and stabilization of the Exynos 2600 to enhance its competitive nature against the competition.
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