Galaxy S26 Ultra surpasses S25 Ultra on Geekbench despite underclocked Snapdragon chipset

The flagship Samsung Galaxy S26 series is expected to debut in late February 2026. Ahead of the official announcement, multiple leaks and rumors have surfaced. The series is expected to introduce three models: the standard S26, the S26 Plus, and the S26 Ultra.

A new Geekbench listing spotted by tipster Ice Universe on X reveals the preliminary benchmark scores of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The listing is for the US model of the Galaxy S26 Ultra with model number SM-S948U. It comes with 12GB of RAM and runs on the Android 16 operating system.

The phone uses an underclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor with six cores clocked at 3.63 GHz and two cores at 4.19 GHz. The listing reveals a single-core score of 3,466 and a multi-core score of 11,035. 

According to the tipster, the processor was running below its maximum capability during testing. With the large cores operating at only 4.19 GHz instead of the full 4.74 GHz, the tipster projects that the single-core score could reach approximately 3,920 points when running at peak frequency. Nevertheless, even running underclocked, the S26 Ultra surpasses the S25 Ultra, which scored 3,200 in single-core and 10,020 in multi-core in our testing.

According to rumors, the S26 Ultra is expected to use the Exynos 2600 chipset in certain markets. However, most regions are still expected to get the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Apart from the processor, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to feature a new camera module design. Moreover, the charging speed is rumored to increase to 60W, up from 45W on its predecessor.