Samsung Galaxy S26 Series May Drop Snapdragon Chips for Exynos

Samsung has been anticipating a major overhaul for its Galaxy S series for quite some years. It has wished to swap Qualcomm’s chips with its in-house Exynos chips, but the latter’s performance issues, along with production-related problems, have stopped Samsung from implementing that plan. Next year could be when that happens.

According to a tipster who goes by Jukanlosreve on X (formerly Twitter), Samsung plans to use the Exynos 2600 chip on the upcoming Galaxy S26 series entirely. That means all three (or four) Galaxy S26 models will be powered by an Exynos chip, unlike before when Samsung used a mix of Exynos and Qualcomm chips. While the Ultra variants have always used top-end Snapdragon chips, the lower-specced models have used both Snapdragon and Exynos chips, depending on the market they are sold in.

Even with the planned rejig, Samsung may tread carefully with the initial rollout of Exynos 2600-powered Galaxy S26 series. The tipster said these models will be available “mainly” in Europe, adding that the Application Processor (AP) for the Galaxy S26 series shows Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor has a performance advantage over its Exynos counterpart. While it is unclear how the chips were tested, Samsung may limit the availability of Exynos-powered Galaxy S26 to certain markets unless it achieves performance on par with Snapdragon’s flagship chips.

A flagship-level Exynos processor has remained Samsung’s holy grail for years. While the South Korean giant has invested heavily in the development of a processor that can match the performance of top-end Snapdragon chips, it has often run into serious problems, enough for the company to continue relying on Qualcomm’s processors.

For instance, the Galaxy S25 series was expected to use the Exynos 2500 chip, which Samsung had reportedly been developing for almost a year. But, because the company failed to mass-produce the chip due to low yield, it never launched the Exynos 2500, forcing it to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip on this year’s flagship phone series. That fiasco, the tipster said, caused an estimated loss of $400 million to the company’s System LSI department that oversaw Exynos 2500’s development.

Samsung’s quest to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm stems from the fact that its rivals, including Apple and Google, have been successful in equipping their flagship phones with their in-house processors. Apple’s iPhone uses A-series chips, while Google’s Pixel phones draw power from Tensor processors. Another reason why Samsung is pushing for a Qualcomm-free flagship series is to save costs. Samsung already produces low- and mid-end Exynos chips, so producing a high-end Exynos chip is less expensive than paying Qualcomm for using Snapdragon processors.

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