Samsung Galaxy S26 series could return to Exynos

Samsung's Galaxy S25 family, which just became available today, is using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset across the world, because Samsung has had yield issues with its own Exynos 2500 SoC which was supposed to be used in some markets. That chip is now apparently going to power the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip7.

Next year, the Galaxy S26 series might return to Exynos, however. According to a new report, pre-production steps for the Exynos 2600 SoC are all on schedule, and yields are higher than expected at this stage at over 30% in test production. If nothing goes wrong, then expect mass production of the chip to start in the fourth quarter of this year, in order for it to make it into the Galaxy S26 devices launching in January 2026.

The Exynos 2600 is going to be made using Samsung's SF2 2nm process, which is expected to be stabilized for production in the second half of 2025. This process should improve performance by 12%, power efficiency by 25%, and it's 5% smaller compared to the 3nm SF3.

Samsung's System LSI division is reportedly pouring resources into the mass production of the Exynos 2600 in a timely manner, so as to not repeat the Exynos 2500 delays. Another year of issues would severely impact the company's non-memory business which would suffer a "large operating deficit" if things go badly once again.

Source (in Korean)