Every phone in the Galaxy S25 range has the same super-fast processor inside: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. But things may not be so simple in next year’s flagship phones. Samsung also makes its own silicon, the Exynos series, and it looks like it may be bringing it back for European users, at least.
Samsung’s 2026 flagship phone could come with a different processor depending on where you buy it.
That’s according to a new report from SamMobile. “Just because Samsung used the Snapdragon 8 Elite across the entire Galaxy S25 lineup doesn’t mean it won’t be bringing Exynos back to the lineup. There have already been multiple reports suggesting that the Exynos 2600 will be utilized for the Galaxy S26 series. What remains unknown at this point in time is how this Exynos/ Snapdragon split would be managed,” the report says.
As it says, there have already been indications that Qualcomm’s chips wouldn’t be in every S26, but what it describes as new information suggests that European customers will be the recipients of Exynos chips.
“Based on the rumors in the X leaks echo chamber, the Exynos 2600 will be used for the Galaxy S26 but due to yield constraints on the 2nm process, it may only be shipped in Europe. This means that the Snapdragon chipset would be used everywhere else,” it goes on.
So, why is this bad news? The rumors referred to come from an industry note published on X by @Jukanlosreve, a Korea-based commentator, who comments that Exynos 2600 is the chip that’s expected to be used. “An industry source emphasized that even in the AP for the S26, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon shows a ‘clear’ performance advantage over Exynos,” they say.
In past years when there has been a split of different processors, it’s routinely been the users with Exynos chips who have complained.
What’s not clear yet is whether the split will be across all models or whether the top-flight phone, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will be Snapdragon-only worldwide, something that would reflect what happened when the S24 was released. In that year, the S24 Ultra had Snapdragon worldwide.
