The decision to exclusively use the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the current-generation Galaxy S25 series was a combination of poor Exynos 2500 yields and Samsung’s admission that its own SoC could not compete with Qualcomm’s flagship chipset. As one can imagine, the Korean giant’s components expenditure rose exponentially this year, not to mention that the decision to drop the Exynos 2500 from its top-end smartphone family resulted in a loss of $400 million. Likely not wanting to repeat the grim event, Samsung is rumored to bring the Exynos 2600 next year, but a tipster notes that it will arrive to a few Galaxy S26 variants.
Assuming the European shipments of the Galaxy S26 range are only treated to the Exynos 2600, it could hint that Samsung wishes to introduce its flagship SoC, despite the low yields
During Samsung’s Q1 2025 earnings, the company reminded relevant individuals that it aims to stabilize 2nm GAA yields, with the intention to kick off mass production in the second half of 2025. Back in February of this year, it was reported that trial production of the Exynos 2600 on the next-generation manufacturing process achieved an impressive 30 percent, which is still considerably less, but a massive improvement when compared to the 3nm GAA technology. If Samsung successfully brings that figure to 60 percent, it will be an acceptable number to kick off full-scale manufacturing of the Exynos 2600.
However, tipster @Jukanlosreve believes that due to a lack of available shipments as a result of low yields, only the European versions of the Galaxy S26 series will be equipped with the Exynos 2600. Additionally, an unnamed industry source admitted that even with the latter powering Samsung’s new flagship models, the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 will have a clear performance advantage over its rival, suggesting that the decision to bring to the Exynos 2600 to the new lineup will purely be to reduce Samsung’s rising chipset costs.
Latest industry note related to Samsung:
Exynos 2600 is indeed planned to be used in the S26.
Currently, due to reportedly low yield, it is likely to be equipped mainly in European models.
An industry source emphasized that even in the AP for the S26, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon…
— Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) May 3, 2025
In the post on X, Samsung LSI, which designed the Exynos 2500, incurred a whopping $400 million loss since it chose to omit this silicon from the Galaxy S25 line. A previous report estimates that the Exynos 2600’s design needs to be completed by Q3 2025 to have even a sliver of a chance that the chipset will power the Galaxy S26 models. In short, Samsung does not have the luxury of time on its hands.
News Source: @Jukanlosreve
