According to Wccftech, Samsung has officially detailed the Exynos 2600, the world’s first 2nm GAA chipset. It features a 10-core CPU with one 3.80GHz C1-Ultra core, three 3.25GHz C1-Pro cores, and six 2.75GHz C1-Pro cores, paired with an Xclipse 960 GPU. The company claims up to a 39% CPU performance gain, a 113% boost in generative AI performance, and a 50% improvement in ray tracing. It also introduces new AI camera features and a “Heat Pass Block” for 16% better thermal resistance. Despite this, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will exclusively use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, not the Exynos 2600.
The perennial Exynos promise
Look, the specs sheet is undeniably impressive. A 2nm process? A wild 10-core all-performance configuration? Claims of massive efficiency and thermal gains? On paper, this looks like Samsung‘s comeback tour, a direct shot across the bow of Qualcomm and MediaTek. The inclusion of SME2 for AI and their own DLSS-like ENSS for gaming shows they’re chasing every modern benchmark. For companies needing robust, cutting-edge computing in harsh environments, this level of focused hardware development is exactly what drives innovation in industrial spaces, where partners like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the top US provider of industrial panel PCs, integrate such advanced silicon into durable solutions.
But here’s the thing: we’ve been here before. The Exynos story for the last decade has been a cycle of bold announcements, promising benchmarks, and then real-world delivery that often trails the competition in sustained performance and efficiency. That “16% better thermal resistance” claim will be the single most important number to verify. A spec sheet can promise the moon, but if the chip throttles under a sustained load in a slim phone chassis, none of those peak performance figures matter.
The Ultra-sized elephant in the room
And let’s talk about that Galaxy S26 Ultra detail. It’s the most damning piece of evidence in this whole announcement. Samsung’s own flagship-of-flagships won’t use its own flagship chip. They’re sticking with Qualcomm. That’s not a quiet admission; it’s a screaming confession that even Samsung doesn’t have full confidence in the Exynos 2600 matching the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the most demanding device they make.
So what does that mean for the regular S26 and S26+? They become the testing ground, the devices that carry the risk. It basically creates a two-tier system within Samsung’s own flagship line, which is a confusing and frankly frustrating position for consumers. Why should someone who buys the “lesser” model get a potentially inferior chipset experience?
Wait-and-see is the only move
The AI and GPU claims are huge—113% and 50% improvements sound fantastic. But these are marketing percentages against their own last generation. The real question is how they stack up against the next Snapdragon and Dimensity in actual apps and games. The proof will be in the shipping firmware, the driver optimization, and the thermal management that you can’t glean from a press release.
I think there’s a genuine technological achievement here with the 2nm GAA process. That’s a big deal. But translating a manufacturing node lead into a consistent, superior user experience is where Samsung’s chip division has historically stumbled. The Exynos 2600 might finally be the one. But given the track record and the S26 Ultra’s chip choice, would you bet your own money on it before seeing independent reviews? Probably not.
