Snapdragon-Powered Galaxy S26 Ultra Leads Exynos-Powered S26 in Early Benchmarks: Report

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is scheduled to go official later this month. As we wait for its official debut, the purported Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra have surfaced in early benchmark listings, revealing notable performance differences between chipset variants. The Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S26 Ultra reportedly delivers significantly stronger single-core scores compared to the Exynos-powered Galaxy S26, highlighting the performance gap between Qualcomm and Samsung's in-house silicon in certain markets.

Samsung Galaxy S26 vs Galaxy S26 Ultra Benchmarks

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to be powered by a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in all markets. Meanwhile, the standard Galaxy S26, along with the Plus model, could get the Qualcomm chip or the Exynos 2600 processor, depending on the region it is sold in.

According to a report by TechManics, benchmark results show that the Snapdragon variant of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra outperforms the Exynos-powered Samsung Galaxy S26 in single-core performance tests.

In a Geekbench 6 listing believed to be from the Snapdragon S26 Ultra, the phone scored 3,710 points in single-core and 11,284 points in multi-core testing, compared to 3,336 points in single-core and 11,369 points in multi-core tests for the Galaxy S26, reflecting strong CPU performance for everyday tasks and multitasking workloads.

The benchmark leaks suggest that Samsung's dual-chip strategy may continue to divide performance expectations across regions. In previous years, Samsung has offered Snapdragon-powered flagships in the US and China, while largely reserving its own Exynos silicon for India, the European and other markets.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for the purported Galaxy S26 Ultra is tipped to feature a custom high-performance core clocked at up to 4.74GHz, paired with multiple performance and efficiency cores in a new cluster configuration. The listing suggests a 2+6 CPU layout, combining two prime cores with six performance cores.

Meanwhile, Samsung's Exynos 2600 is reportedly built on the company's 2nm Gate All Around (GAA) process and is expected to use a 10-core CPU configuration. Leaks indicate a 1+3+6 layout, consisting of one high-performance core, three performance cores, and six efficiency cores.