Samsung Galaxy S26 Series May Get Exynos 2600 Chipset Exclusively in South Korea: Report

Samsung recently teased Exynos 2600, its upcoming processor developed by Samsung Foundry for flagship mobile devices. In recent weeks, the rumour mill has suggested that the South Korean tech giant's upcoming flagship Galaxy S26 series could be powered by this chipset. However, a recent report claims that while the Galaxy S26 models will indeed get the Exynos 2600 SoC, it will be limited to models sold in Samsung's home turf.

Exynos 2600 for Samsung Galaxy S26 Series

According to an IT Home report, Samsung Galaxy S26 series will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in the global markets, with the Exynos 2600 SoC reserved only for the units in South Korea. This is attributed to two reasons.

To begin with, the publication cited an analysis by the South Korean research organisation CTT Research, which noted that Exynos chips have historically been afflicted by three core issues — kernel security vulnerabilities, severe overheating, and low yield. Due to these shortcomings, Samsung reportedly lacks the confidence to bring its flagship proprietary chip to the global stage.

The analysis claims that the performance of previous Exynos chips has failed to meet expectations, and consumers are more likely to choose devices powered by the “more stable” Snapdragon chips.

Samsung, however, seems to have taken steps towards tackling the core issues. Exynos 2600, fabricated using Samsung Foundry's 2nm process, will reportedly introduce a new technology called Heat Pass Block. It is claimed to be as effective as a heat sink, lowering the chip temperature by up to 30 percent.

Further, the Samsung chip may reportedly also use the existing fan-out wafer-level packaging technology for performance optimisation. The report claims that the yield of Samsung Foundry's 2nm GAA process has reached 50 percent — a significant improvement over the 3nm node.

However, these upgrades may not be enough. Industry reports suggest that Samsung and Qualcomm have signed an agreement that will see the US-based company power 75 percent of Galaxy devices in the coming year. Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon shared these details about the firm's role in Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S26 series during the chipmaker's Q4 earnings call.

“On Galaxy S25, we got 100 percent. Our assumption for any new Galaxy is always going to be 75 percent. That is our assumption for Galaxy S26,” Ramon was quoted as saying.