Samsung could pull off a major surprise in 2027 and ditch Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset in favor of its own Exynos 2700 for the Galaxy S27 Ultra.
With the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series out of the way and Samsung’s Android XR-powered Galaxy Glasses launching soon, attention is now turning toward the Galaxy S27 series, which is expected to arrive early next year.
We’ve already seen leaked renders of the Galaxy S27 Ultra suggesting Samsung could take inspiration from Apple’s iPhone Pro design with a new horizontal camera module. There are also rumors that Samsung could expand the lineup to four models next year with the Galaxy S27 Pro, which would reportedly bring many of the Ultra’s features to a smaller form factor without the S Pen.
And now, a new report claims Samsung could make another surprising change by ditching Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset for its own Exynos 2700 mobile platform. According to a story from Seoul Economic Daily, Samsung has reportedly informed Qualcomm that its Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset hasn’t met the company’s performance requirements.
Seoul Economic Daily’s report hinges on claims from several unnamed industry insiders who say Qualcomm’s new chips are facing overheating and performance issues and have yet to achieve the thermal stability Samsung expects from its flagship smartphones. Samsung
Qualcomm denied these claims in the original story and reached out to AP to further refute the rumor. A spokesperson for the company shared the following statement with AP:
Recent reporting about thermal issues related to Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is inaccurate. We are proud of the innovation and strong momentum behind our next-generation flagship platform and continue to work closely with global OEMs to deliver premium user experiences.
Exynos could return to the Galaxy S Ultra after years away
If the claims of industry insiders are correct, the upcoming Galaxy S27 Ultra could still ship with Qualcomm’s flagship mobile platform, providing it meets Samsung’s performance and thermal requirements. If the reported issues were not fixed, Samsung could use its upcoming Exynos 2700 chipset instead.
During an April 2026 earnings call, Samsung stated its upcoming mobile chipset would be built on a 2nm process (PDF). The October 16, 2026, report from Seoul Economic Daily notes that the chip has already outperformed Qualcomm’s counterpart in internal computing and efficiency tests. If those findings hold, Samsung would have strong motivation to adopt its in-house silicon for the Galaxy S27 Ultra.
This would also mark a major change in Samsung’s recent flagship strategy. The company has largely relied on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets for its Galaxy S Ultra phones over the past few generations, with the Galaxy S22 Ultra being the last Ultra model to feature an Exynos chipset in select markets.
It could also be a financial win for Samsung. The company spent about $9.7 billion on mobile processors in 2025. MediaTek chips were primarily used in its budget models such as the Galaxy A06. Qualcomm’s pricier Snapdragon chips powered its flagship Galaxy S25 series phones, excluding the Galaxy S25 FE. Kiwoom Securities analyst Park Yu-ak said in February 2026 that he expected the Exynos 2700 to reach around 50% of the Galaxy S27 lineup (Korean), which would keep more of that spending in-house.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Galaxy S27 Ultra will be less expensive than its predecessor, but it could give Samsung some room to stall or minimize price increases due to component availability and supply chain issues. Of course, nothing is set in stone just yet, as a lot could change before the launch next year.
Steven Winkelman — 18 October 2026; 11:15 A.M. EDT
An earlier version of this story did not include Qualcomm’s response to the claims that appeared in Seoul Economic Daily’s original story. We have updated our coverage to include that response as well as a quote provided by a Qualcomm spokesperson.
