Samsung fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the Galaxy S26, and recent leaks about the Exynos 2600 chip that will power most models have sparked some interest. According to renowned Samsung tipster Ice Universe, the Exynos 2600 chip will be built on an efficient 2nm process, making it more advanced than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 found in the OnePlus 15.
However, the leaked specifications suggest that the Exynos 2600 may fall short in terms of processing power compared to its competitors. The 10-core CPU is said to have a peak speed of 3.9GHz, which is lower than the 4.6GHz Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and the 4.21GHz MediaTek Dimensity 9500. While this speed is faster than the Tensor G5 in the Google Pixel 10 Pro, it may not be as impressive as some had hoped.
Despite the potential shortfall in processing power, reports indicate that the Exynos 2600 chip excels in other areas such as the NPU and GPU departments. If Samsung follows its usual strategy, we can expect to see the Exynos 2600 in global models of the Galaxy S26 and S26+. However, US and China models may still use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, as will all models of the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
In the past, Samsung’s Exynos models have been criticized for lagging behind in terms of performance and efficiency compared to their Snapdragon counterparts. Fans are hopeful that Samsung has addressed these issues with the Galaxy S26 generation, and all eyes will be on the official release in January to see if the Exynos 2600 chip lives up to expectations.
