Summary
- Samsung might prioritize using Exynos chips in the Galaxy S26 lineup in 2026.
- The change to Exynos could be limited to certain regions, with the US models still using Snapdragon.
- Samsung’s shift to Exynos could be a response to Qualcomm’s rumored price hike for the Snapdragon 8 Elite (v2) chip.
All rumors point to Samsung going all-in with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip for its upcoming Galaxy S25 series. With its Exynos division struggling, some reports even suggest that Samsung will stick to a Snapdragon chip for the 2026 Galaxy S26 lineup. Given that Exynos chips have typically lagged behind Qualcomm’s offerings, this sounded like a wise move from the Korean company’s end. A new leak indicates this might not be the case, though, with Exynos making a strong comeback with the Galaxy S26 in 2026.
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According to leaker @Jukanlosreve, Samsung plans to “significantly” use Exynos chips in the Galaxy S26 lineup. This could point to the company returning to its Galaxy S24 strategy, using Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon chip on the S26 Ultra while equipping the Plus and regular variants with its in-house Exynos SoC.
The change should be limited to Asia, Europe, and Middle Eastern countries, with all Galaxy S26 variants in the US sticking to the Snapdragon chip.
Besides performance issues, Samsung’s foundry is reportedly facing yield issues with its new process nodes. This has seemingly forced the Korean company to rely more on Snapdragon chips for its 2025 flagship Galaxy phones. However, Samsung appears confident that it can resolve the yield issues by next year and is planning to rely heavily on Exynos once again for the Galaxy S26 in 2026.
While not the Galaxy S25, Korean media believes Samsung will use the Exynos 2500 inside the Galaxy Z Flip 7.
A Korean report from October of this year claims that Samsung is working on the Exynos 2700 chip for the Galaxy S27 series. It will supposedly use the company’s second-generation 2nm process (SF2P) process to bring a 12% performance boost while reducing power consumption by 25% over the previous generation.
Qualcomm’s price hike could be the reason behind Samsung favoring Exynos
Qualcomm is again rumored to significantly bump the price of its next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. This may further explain Samsung’s decision to prioritize using its in-house Exynos SoC on the majority of Galaxy S26 units next year. The increased Galaxy S25 component pricing due to the expensive Snapdragon 8 Elite chip has already led to rumors of Samsung charging more for the phone in some regions.
If Samsung’s foundry division can resolve its yield issues, we could see the company return to its dual-SoC sourcing strategy in the future.
