Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Samsung set to power Galaxy S26 models with in-house Exynos 2600
Samsung Electronics' mobile application processor Exynos / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Nam Hyun-woo
Uncertainty remains over adopting new AP for flagship ultra model
Samsung Electronics is set to power several variants of the upcoming Galaxy S26 family with its in-house application processor (AP) Exynos 2600, in an apparent expression of confidence in its foundry capability.
Industry sources said Monday Samsung Electronics has recently decided to use its Exynos 2600 AP for the upcoming S26 series in a number of markets, reviving its two-chip strategy.
Samsung Electronics officials declined to comment on the matter.
In recent years, Samsung has used its Exynos chips alongside Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors for the Galaxy S series, except for the S23 and S25 series. The S23 series exclusively adopted the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 after mass production of the Exynos 2300 was canceled, and the S25 series relied solely on the Snapdragon 8 Elite due to low yield rates of the Exynos 2500.
The sidelining of Exynos 2500 came as a critical blow to Samsung’s foundry and chip designing divisions, whose accumulated losses in recent months undermined the overall profitability of the company’s semiconductor business.
During the second-quarter earnings call in July, the company said it would focus on maximizing the competitiveness of the Exynos lineup, aiming to have it adopted in flagship smartphones for 2026.
Though it remains uncertain what portion of the Galaxy S26 lineup will feature the Exynos 2600, past trends suggest the chip is likely to be used in models sold in Korea and Europe.
The return of the Exynos chip to the Galaxy S series is seen as a result of improvements in both chipset performance and foundry yield rates. Citing an unidentified source, Yonhap News Agency reported that the chipset’s neural processing unit outperformed comparable Apple processors by six times.
Questions remain over whether Samsung Electronics will adopt the Exynos 2600 for its flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra, as the company has relied exclusively on Qualcomm chips for the top-tier model in each series from the Galaxy S23 to the S25.
The Exynos 2600 is expected to be built on Samsung’s 2-nanometer process, meaning it will have greater energy efficiency. Reportedly, Exynos 2600 has achieved about 85 percent of its targeted performance level.