Samsung reportedly plans a return to custom CPU and GPU cores for the Exynos 2800

Samsung is reportedly preparing to develop its own custom CPU and GPU architectures for the upcoming Exynos 2800. According to reports from the Smart Chip Guide on Weibo, the Exynos 2800 will be the first chipset to use Samsung's fully in-house design. If the reports hold, this would mean Samsung would have full hardware independence, much like Apple’s silicon.

This is the second attempt at a custom CPU design for Samsung. The company previously relied on "Mongoose" cores developed by a team in Austin between 2016 and 2020. That project faced criticism for overheating issues and high battery consumption, which often resulted in lower efficiency compared to standard ARM cores or Qualcomm's Kryo alternatives.

Samsung eventually disbanded that development team around 2020 and reverted to "vanilla" ARM cores. Samsung’s management now believes that more mature experience, combined with advanced fabrication processes like 2nm GAA, will allow them to overcome these past issues. Samsung also plans to end its partnership with AMD regarding graphics processing units. High-end Exynos chips have used AMD's RDNA-based Xclipse GPU for gaming features like ray tracing since 2022.

If the rumor is to be believed, the Exynos 2800 will als feature an entirely new GPU design designed in-house. This is a good thing since custom GPUs provide opportunities for deeper optimization across AI, gaming, and the Galaxy ecosystem without external licensing restrictions.

The Exynos 2800 will likely debut in the Galaxy S28 series in 2028. The upcoming Exynos 2600 slated for the upcoming Galaxy S26, will reportedly be the first Exynos to use AMD's RDNA4 GPU technology. However, while it uses the RDNA4 architecture, the entire GPU development was completed by Samsung internally.