Early chipset leaks suggest Samsung’s next flagship could arrive with a familiar concern attached: performance that looks good on paper, but may struggle to keep pace with its closest rivals.
According to well-known tipster Ice Universe, the Exynos 2600 — expected to power most Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ models outside the US and China — will be built on a cutting-edge 2nm manufacturing process.
That’s a technical achievement in itself, especially when competitors like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 are still using 3nm processes. However, raw efficiency doesn’t always translate directly into headline-grabbing speed.
The leaked specs point to a 10-core CPU with a peak clock speed of 3.9GHz, which puts it noticeably behind Qualcomm’s latest chip, topping out at 4.6GHz, and even MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 at 4.21GHz. In pure processing terms, that gap could be hard to ignore, particularly for users who expect Samsung’s flagship to match or beat the competition.
There is some perspective to keep in mind. The Exynos 2600’s peak speed still edges out Google’s Tensor G5 found in the Pixel 10 Pro, although performance has never been Google’s main selling point.
More importantly, multiple reports suggest Samsung has been focusing heavily on GPU and NPU improvements, areas that matter increasingly for gaming, photography, and on-device AI features rather than just benchmark numbers.
That said, Samsung’s likely strategy raises a familiar issue. If history repeats itself, global Galaxy S26 and S26+ models will use Exynos, while US and China variants along with the Galaxy S26 Ultra worldwide, will rely on Snapdragon.
Previous generations have shown noticeable performance and efficiency differences between these versions, leaving some buyers feeling short-changed depending on their region.
For now, these leaks don’t mean the Galaxy S26 will be slow, far from it. But they do hint that Samsung’s next flagship might prioritise efficiency and AI over outright speed, a trade-off that won’t please everyone. We’ll find out whether that balance pays off when Samsung officially unveils the Galaxy S26 lineup early next year.
