Samsung is officially firing up the fabs for the Exynos 2600 this month, according to industry sources — and if you’ve been following the company’s silicon soap opera over the past few years, you know this is kind of a big deal. After sitting out the Galaxy S25 lineup entirely, Samsung’s in-house chips are poised to make a dramatic return in next year’s Galaxy S26 series, reports the Korea Herald.
And we do mean dramatic: the Exynos 2600 is built on Samsung’s shiny new 2nm gate-all-around (GAA) process, marking a major milestone for the company’s foundry business. If all goes well, the chip could deliver not only better performance for Galaxy owners but also much-needed credibility for Samsung’s system LSI division, which has been bleeding red ink and reputation points thanks to years of yield headaches.
Exynos in the S Series, but for real this time
At least, in some markets, much like before
The EU version of the S26 Pro will likely be among the S series models to get Exynos.
This time around, Samsung seems intent on proving it’s learned from the Exynos 2200’s, let’s call it thermal enthusiasm. The 2600 will reportedly feature a new thermal management trick called a heat path block, which should make it run cooler and sip less power; two areas where previous Exynos chips often lost out to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon counterparts.
Early Geekbench results suggest the effort is paying off. The Exynos 2600 scored 3,309 in single-core and 11,256 in multi-core tests, putting it within striking distance of Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 (3,393 / 11,515). If those numbers hold up in shipping devices and Samsung avoids another round of performance-throttling controversies, we might finally have an Exynos worth getting excited about.
For Samsung, this isn’t just about bragging rights. Putting the 2600 back in its own Galaxy S-series phones could cut reliance on Qualcomm, save money for the mobile division, and boost foundry utilization rates. Analysts are already forecasting a turnaround: Daishin Securities expects the company’s Device Solutions division to swing to a $3.6 billion profit in the third quarter, up from a paltry $250 million in the second quarter.
With additional orders reportedly coming from the likes of Nintendo and Tesla next year, Samsung’s foundry unit could be on a genuine recovery path. For now, though, the big test is still ahead, and it’ll come when Galaxy S26 owners start running benchmarks, posting screenshots, and simply holding their phones to see if they get hot.
For all the posturing, though, it’s worth noting that some models and markets will probably still use Snapdragon. Earlier rumors suggested Samsung could return to the strategy of shipping all Qualcomm S series variants to markets like South Korea and the US, while only using Exynos in non-Ultra models in specific markets.
Because the truth is, Samsung can’t afford another Exynos flop. But if the 2600 delivers what early numbers suggest, we might finally be able to say “Exynos is back” — and actually mean it.