Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S26 series is expected to feature the new Exynos 2600 chipset in the base model, marking a significant step for Samsung’s in-house processors. The Exynos 2600 has recently appeared in benchmarks showing a 10-core CPU configuration, including one prime Cortex-X935 core clocked at 3.55 GHz, three performance Cortex-A730 cores at 2.96 GHz, and six mid cores running at 2.4 GHz. This core arrangement resembles some of MediaTek’s recent chips, eschewing efficiency cores for a focus on performance cores.
Early Geekbench scores from testing devices show the Exynos 2600 achieving around 2,155 points on single-core tests and 7,788 on multi-core. However, these figures are from an engineering sample, so final performance is likely to improve closer to launch. Other leaks suggest higher Geekbench 6 scores potentially reaching around 2,950 single-core and 10,200 multi-core, indicating a roughly 20% single-core and 15% multi-core performance boost over the Exynos 2400 found in the Galaxy S24.
Samsung is expected to continue its dual-chip strategy with the S26 series: while the base Galaxy S26 model may use the Exynos 2600, the higher-end Galaxy S26 Ultra (and possibly the S26 Edge) will likely use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, potentially a Samsung-made variant fabricated by Samsung Foundry or TSMC. The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is rumored to outperform the Exynos 2600, with single-core scores above 4,000 and multi-core scores exceeding 11,000 in benchmarks.
The Exynos 2600 chipset also features the Xclipse 960 GPU, based on AMD’s RDNA graphics architecture, supporting Vulkan 1.4 and promising improved gaming performance over previous generations. The chipset incorporates ARM’s Scalable Matrix Extension (SME), enhancing AI and machine learning tasks.
Despite its improvements, there remain concerns about the Exynos 2600 falling behind Snapdragon variants in performance, battery efficiency, and thermal management. Historically, Samsung’s Snapdragon-powered S Ultra models have been favored for better real-world performance, leaving Exynos-powered variants sometimes seen as less desirable in certain regions. The Exynos 2600-powered Galaxy S26 may mainly target markets like Europe.
Samsung’s Foundry’s 2nm chip production capacity and yield issues have delayed full-scale rollout of the Exynos 2600, which could explain the continued Snapdragon reliance on premium models. Samsung may also tweak clock speeds and optimizations before launch, expected early 2026.
Overall, the Galaxy S26 series looks set to offer a capable, though perhaps regionally varied, chipset lineup with the Exynos 2600 promising a good jump from previous Exynos chips, but still facing stiff competition from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 in flagship variants.