In a big shift, it was rumored that Samsung would rely on its own Exynos 2600 chip for most Galaxy S26 devices. That might be a massive exaggeration, as Qualcomm still expects to power the large majority of Galaxy S26 phones in 2026.
During its Q4 earnings call, Qualcomm was pointedly asked about its expectations for the Galaxy S26 lineup and the relationship with Samsung in producing chipsets for the flagship series (via WCCF Tech). In response, Qualcomm notes that it has no reason to assume it won’t be powering 75% of Galaxy devices going into a new year. It doesn’t believe this year is any different.
We have said for a number of years, a number of reasons, and this has been true in the past, I think, several years, that what used to be a normal relationship at a 50% share, the new baseline is about 75% share.
On Galaxy S25, we got 100%. Our assumption for any new Galaxy is always going to be 75%. That is our assumption for Galaxy S26.
Previous reports indicated that Samsung would be moving into a position to power its Galaxy S26 devices with the Exynos 2600 chipset in most regions. That SoC is reportedly proving to be a strong competitor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in pre-release testing, though there are no real-world comparisons to make.
The Exynos 2600 is reportedly superior to Apple’s A19 Pro SoC and up to 6 times faster at AI NPU tasks. That extends to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is reportedly 30% slower than Samsung’s new chipset.
With that, early reports began to suggest that Samsung would incorporate the Exynos 2600 into all Galaxy S26 devices – including the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This generally happens in regions like the US, but it was expected that Samsung would be strengthening its efforts to move to its own chips.
The latest statement from Qualcomm would say otherwise, as it still expects to produce SoCs for the Galaxy S26 series in large numbers. At 75% of devices, that’s generously more than rumors made it sound like Samsung would power.
The remark from the chipmaker doesn’t seem to suggest that the company has orders in place. It simply sounds as if it’s waiting for Samsung to make the call, though it very well might be that Samsung has decided to roll back its efforts to push the Exynos 2600 full steam.
These rumors hit the extreme at both ends, so a grain of salt is needed.
The Galaxy S26 series is expected to launch in January, at which point it will become clear which chipmaker will power millions of Samsung’s new devices.
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