According to media reports on November 6th， Samsung is reportedly planning to re-adopt a “dual-chip strategy” for its flagship smartphone series， the Galaxy S26， slated for release in 2026. This strategy will involve launching two distinct versions: one powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and the other by Samsung’s in-house developed Exynos 2600 processor.
Qualcomm indicated during a recent earnings call that the Exynos 2600 is expected to be featured in only a limited number of models， with Qualcomm’s flagship chips dominating the market share for the series. In response to investor inquiries regarding the potential impact of Samsung’s rumored shift towards in-house modem and processor development on Qualcomm’s business， Qualcomm stated that while their chips historically accounted for approximately 50% of the collaboration， the baseline proportion for the new generation of products has been increased to 75%.
Qualcomm further elaborated， “We achieved 100% market share in the Galaxy S25. For any new generation of Galaxy products， including the Galaxy S26， our default allocation remains at 75%.” This statement clearly demonstrates Qualcomm’s confidence in the competitive edge of its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip over the Exynos 2600.
However， it is noteworthy that the latest leaked benchmark performance data for the Exynos 2600 has been exceptionally impressive， even suggesting the potential to rival Qualcomm’s flagship offerings. The Exynos 2600 is said to be based on Samsung’s 2nm process technology and features a 10-core CPU architecture with a “1+3+6” tri-cluster core design. Geekbench 6 test results indicate that the prime core of its engineering sample reaches a frequency of 4.20GHz， three performance cores operate at 3.56GHz， and the remaining six cores run at 2.76GHz. In terms of single-core CPU performance， the Exynos 2600’s capabilities are reported to be comparable to Apple’s M5 chip.
Despite these promising advancements， Samsung appears to remain cautious regarding the overall stability of the Exynos 2600 in practical applications. Coupled with ongoing challenges in achieving optimal yield rates for Samsung’s 2nm process technology， these factors could influence the final allocation ratio of the Exynos 2600 in the Galaxy S26 series.
