Half of the Samsung Galaxy S26 models may use Exynos rather than Snapdragon chipsets, new leak says

• We’ve got hints about the Galaxy S26 CPU picks
• A mix of Exynos and Snapdragon is now expected
• The chipset choice by vary depending on country

Every time Samsung^[1] launches a new Galaxy flagship series, we wait to see which will use Qualcomm chipsets and which will go with Samsung’s own Exynos brand – and a new leak may have given us the answer for the Galaxy S26 range of phones.

As per evidence seen by the team at SamMobile, the Samsung S26 Pro (the standard model) and the S26 Plus will use the Exynos 2600, while the S26 Edge and the S26 Ultra are set to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor from Qualcomm.

However, the SamMobile report also states that the Snapdragon CPU “may” be used in all the models sold in the US and China, which is a strategy Samsung has used before (though it’s used so many strategies in the past, it’s hard to be sure).

Samsung certainly saves money by using its own Exynos chips, but there are questions around whether or not they can quite match the performance levels of their Qualcomm counterparts – questions that will no doubt be asked again in 2026.

New year, new phones

You might be surprised to see the Galaxy S26 Plus mentioned there, if you saw the rumors that the model had been cancelled^[2] in favor of the Galaxy S26 Edge. More recently though, it’s been suggested that the Plus model is back in production.

As for the Galaxy S26 being renamed the Galaxy S26 Pro, it doesn’t appear to be much more than a branding exercise^[3]. It will still be the most affordable of the phone series, while the Ultra will again be the model with the most power and the most features.

Earlier this year we saw the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25^[4] series, which went all-in with Snapdragon processors – reportedly because of production problems with the Exynos 2500 chipset, which eventually showed up in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7^[5].

We’ll have to wait and see what Samsung decides to do next time around: if it sticks to its usual schedule, then the four expected Galaxy S26 phones will be unveiled sometime in January, and we’ll bring you all the announcements here.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!^[6][7]

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.^[8][9]

You might also like