November 18 – According to South Korean media reports, Samsung is planning to partially adopt its self-developed Exynos 2600 chip in the upcoming Galaxy S26 series to mitigate cost pressures caused by Qualcomm's significant price increases for flagship chips. This move aims to reduce reliance on Qualcomm's supply and alleviate supply chain cost burdens.

Reports indicate that the procurement cost for Qualcomm's latest flagship chip is expected to range between $240 and $280 per unit, a notable increase compared to the $170–$200 price range of the previous-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. This price surge has been a major factor behind Samsung's 25% year-over-year rise in mobile processor procurement costs last year.

In contrast, the Exynos 2600 chip, designed by Samsung's System LSI division, could reduce per-unit costs by $20–$30. If widely adopted in the Galaxy S26 series, this could save the company tens of millions of dollars over the product lifecycle, demonstrating significant cost advantages.

However, the return of a dual-platform strategy has reignited market concerns over performance disparities. Historically, Galaxy S series models equipped with Exynos chips have often lagged behind their Snapdragon counterparts in processing power, thermal management, and network efficiency.

Although both companies develop chips based on Arm architecture, their core design approaches differ: Qualcomm tends to deeply customize CPU cores for optimized performance and efficiency, while Samsung primarily refines Arm's reference designs. These divergent approaches ultimately impact the overall user experience of end devices.