Samsung's Galaxy S25 lineup is based entirely on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, none discriminated with an under-powered Exynos variant this time. Its hand was forced since the company couldn’t mass produce the Exynos 2500 chip this year. That’s why we see Snapdragon 8 Elite across all the regions with this year’s S25 family. This won’t be the case next year with the Samsung S26.
Samsung plans to revive the Exynos in a big way, so it may turn out to be good news after all. We are hearing chatter in the South Korean streets that the Exynos 2600 chip next year will break away from the foundry’s terrible reputation. This is what we know.
Reports say that Samsung has been working on performance stabilization with the Exynos 2600 chipset. This SoC will use the SF2 process for mass production using the foundry’s 3rd gen Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology. We also hear that plans are in motion to start large-scale production in the next half of 2025.
The company even tested the initial samples to yield around a 30% performance gain over the parent Exynos 2400 chip, and this is only the beginning. These results will only get better over time. People are also taking note of the rumored 25% efficiency gain and 5% smaller size of the chip in the latest Samsung S mobiles.
If executed right, Samsung will not only have enough chips for the next Galaxy S26 lineup but also a stabilized high-end chip that should keep up its Snapdragon equivalent. Since there’s a chance that Snapdragon’s chipset pricing will surge again in 2026, it gives a small opening for the Exynos chips to take over the playing field.
Another good sign: we hear the Galaxy S26 series may use Si/C Li-ion batteries instead of regular Lithium-ion cells. Chinese phone makers have been using this technology for a while, and the results have been impressive to see.
Si/C batteries have the upside of storing more charge while keeping the same size and heft as a regular Li-ion pack. That’s why we see some phones these days getting thinner, disproportionate to their high-volume batteries. We should have seen it by now on Samsung's S25 Ultra but better late than never as the Korean brand wants to use the same technology now. Pair that with the new Exynos 2600 Chip, and Samsung might finally have the product that people will prefer over the previous generations.