Snapdragon for the US Galaxy S26, Exynos for others? Samsung still undecided

Yesterday, Samsung mentioned that it will leverage the competitiveness of Exynos to bolster key flagship models next year. It didn't outright mention the upcoming Exynos 2600 chip or the Galaxy S26 series, but the two have been named in the same sentence by leaks and rumors before.

However, according to the Korean media, citing Samsung during the conference call for Q3 earnings, the company is still evaluating the Exynos 2600 chip, particularly regarding its potential use in the Galaxy S26 flagship phone series. It hasn't yet decided whether to play the Exynos or Snapdragon card.

Yesterday, as per the recent reports, Samsung said that it has “clear criteria for what we want to offer customers through flagship products,” and as a result, the company “evaluates and selects APs (application processors) based on these standards.”

More importantly, Samsung said that even though Exynos chips have been adopted by the Galaxy A series and, more recently, the Galaxy Z lineup, things aren't as straightforward for the Galaxy S family of devices. The evaluation process seemingly differs for the top-selling premium lineup.

Samsung explained, “For the S26, AP evaluation is currently in progress, and it's difficult to confirm the finalization for next year's flagship lineup.”

In other words, according to this report, Samsung hasn't yet decided whether or not its in-house SoC should power the Galaxy S26 series.

That may very well be the case, meaning the US could be one of the few markets that get the Snapdragon variant, or maybe Samsung is simply not yet ready to spill the beans on the matter. The company doesn't usually share specs for upcoming phones this early, so it makes sense for Samsung to want to avoid giving a clear answer even in the case that it already knows the Galaxy S26's hardware configuration.

But all things considered, the future of the Galaxy S series for 2026 has been quite uncertain. There were rumors that the Galaxy S26+ will be canned in favor of a new Edge model, but those rumors have now been replaced by others, stating the opposite: that the S26+ is real and will go on sale next year.

Only time will tell what chip Samsung will choose for the Galaxy S26. The last time the company split the series between Exynos and Snapdragon was in 2024.