The chipset which will almost-certainly power at least some of the upcoming Galaxy S26 series has been announced, and while details are currently thin of the ground, Samsung is promising a significant upgrade over its predecessor.
Called the Exynos 2600, in a 30 second teaser-video Samsung claims the new Exynos chip has been “refined at the core”, “optimized at every level” and will “express the exceptional”.
Rumors have already suggested Samsung will reintroduce its own-brand chipset for the Galaxy S26 series, although it may only feature in the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus, with some reports suggesting the S26 Ultra might be Snapdragon only.
A return to form?
Samsung’s line of Exynos chips have a hit and miss reputation, with previous generations experiencing issues with overheating and performance.
This has seen Samsung split its chipset strategy in the past, with some markets receiving the latest flagship phone with its own Exynos chip, while other markets – such as the US – would get the same phone, but with a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC (system-on-chip) instead.
In recent years, Samsung dropped its split-chip strategy completely for some models, with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, S24 Ultra and entire S25 series all coming with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon offering only.
It’s not been ignoring calls for Exynos improvements though, as Samsung admits in the teaser video above “In silence, we listened”.
While the quote does have a touch of movie villain to it, the hope is it has recognized the issues with some of its previous generations, and has readied a competitive powerhouse with the 2600.
The proof will be in the pudding though, and we’ll have to wait for the Galaxy S26 launch – which we expect to happen sometime mid-to-late January – and our testing, to find out if the Exynos 2600 can deliver the performance expected from a flagship chipset.
While you wait for the Galaxy S26, why not checkout Samsung’s latest foldable, the Galaxy Z Trifold and its unique hinge system.
