Samsung’s next flagship might be getting a shake-up, with fresh leaks saying that the Galaxy S26 lineup could drop Snapdragon in favour of Samsung’s own Exynos 2600 chip – at least in some regions.
If the rumour that all S26 models will use the Exynos 2600 is true, this would mark a major reversal of Samsung’s long-standing reliance on Snapdragon for its top phones in the market for years.
Industry insider @Jukanlosreve claims that the Exynos 2600 is really quite powerful and could beat Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and even Apple’s A19 Pro.
Korean media reports that the new chip boasts a neural processing unit (NPU) six times faster than Apple’s latest and about 30% stronger than Snapdragon’s. The GPU is even more impressive, said to have a 75% boost over Apple’s and a 29% lead over Qualcomm’s.
That’s a big statement, but if true, the S26 could finally be the moment Exynos steps up and perhaps brings Samsung devices closer together under one ecosystem. It could also catapult the series higher in the best smartphone race.
Performance aside, the rollout strategy could be one of the most interesting parts. Leaks suggest that Samsung is aiming for a 50/50 chipset split, meaning Exynos 2600 models will likely dominate regions like Europe and Korea, while the US, China, and Japan will stick with Snapdragon. That means your S26 Ultra might run a different chip depending on where you buy it.
There’s another twist: Samsung’s own factories are apparently making Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chips on the same advanced 2nm GAA node as the Exynos 2600. So no matter which version you end up with, it’ll still be processor built by Samsung either way.
Of course, this is just a rumour at this stage, so take it with a pinch of salt. If you want to know more, we’ve documented all the S26 Ultra rumours in one place .
