Samsung hints Galaxy S26 will get Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

At the recent Snapdragon Summit hosted by Qualcomm, a significant announcement hinted at the upcoming Galaxy S26 series of smartphones from Samsung, which are expected to be equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor.

During the keynote presentation, Dr. Won-Joon Choi, the President and COO of Samsung’s Mobile Experience Business, took the stage to emphasize the strategic partnership between Samsung and Qualcomm.

The keynote highlighted the advancements brought by previous Snapdragon chipsets in the latest two generations of Galaxy S flagships, notably achieving milestones such as creating the “world’s first AI phone.”

Dr. Choi stated, “We’ve been proud to be close partners with Qualcomm at every critical moment of market disruption. And looking ahead, we will only deepen our collaboration even further.”

This statement strongly implies that Samsung’s upcoming devices will continue to rely on Qualcomm’s advanced technology.

Image Credit: Chris Martin / Foundry

Samsung was listed among the confirmed brands developing devices with the new Elite Gen 5 chipset, yet specific devices were not disclosed. The timing of Samsung’s appearance at the event, closely following the announcement of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, suggests an intentional alignment with the upcoming device launch schedule.

Qualcomm’s CEO, Cristiano Amon, even joined Dr. Choi on stage for a moment of collaboration—an unmistakable signal of their cooperative efforts.

If the Galaxy S26 range indeed incorporates Qualcomm’s technology, we could expect a special “for Galaxy” edition. This would likely mean a customized, overclocked version of the chipset, already lauded as the “world’s fastest mobile CPU” operating at 4.6GHz for its two prime cores; this places it significantly ahead of the competition, including the iPhone 17 Pro in benchmark tests.

Reflecting on the enhancements experienced with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, we could see clock speeds rise to an impressive 4.75GHz for the Galaxy S26 Ultra—potentially making it the most powerful smartphone developed to date.

Only time will tell, but should we see an S26 powered by MediaTek Dimensity, it would indeed be a surprising deviation from their established pattern.

Qualcomm covered my travel, airfare, and meals during participation in its Snapdragon Technology Summit, though the company did not influence Tech Advisor’s editorial content.