New leak bears good news for prospective Galaxy S26 Ultra buyers

As is the case with every release cycle, confusion around Samsung's Exynos-Snapdragon division continues to dominate the discourse. Despite the Exynos 2500 skipping the Galaxy S25 series entirely, insiders insist the Exynos 2600 will make a comeback with the Galaxy S26 series. A South Korean media outlet now gives the story yet another twist.

Apparently, the global (Europe, Asia, etc.) Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ (or Galaxy S26 Edge) variants will launch with an Exynos 2600. A Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 will power the Galaxy S26 Ultra everywhere and the entire S26 lineup in the US, Japan, South Korea and China. This is nearly identical to Samsung's strategy from 2024, but this time, they will use an off-the-shelf Snapdragon chip instead of a 'For Galaxy' variant.

That's because earlier reports indicated the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for Galaxy would be manufactured on Samsung's SF2 node. In contrast, the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is made on TSMC N3P. The Samsung Foundry-made SoC won't be ready until H2, 2026 and is said to power the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8. If true, this will be the first lineup to launch with three distinct chipsets.

While the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 and Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 are fundamentally the same chips, they're made by two different foundries. Those who have been around the block have seen this play out with the Apple A9 SoC (iPhone 6s) that resulted in the infamous Chipgate scandal. Ironically, Apple, too, dual-sourced its chip from TSMC and Samsung, and the TSMC variant came out ahead.

Qualcomm's decision to repeat history might seem puzzling at first, but it makes sense from a cost POV. TSMC's 3 nm wafers reportedly cost $18,000 a pop last year, and that figure will almost certainly shoot up by the time Samsung launches the Galaxy S26. The SF2-based Exynos 2600 and Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for Galaxy have a theoretical advantage over the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 due to its GAA FET architecture.