Samsung has officially lifted the curtain on the Exynos 2600 with a short teaser video, confirming in everything but name that the chip will debut inside next year’s Galaxy S26 lineup. After months of leaks and quiet speculation, the company has now acknowledged the chipset directly—opening the teaser with a pointed message: “in silence, we listened.” It’s hard not to see that as Samsung responding to years of criticism toward its Exynos line.
The video then flashes phrases like “refined at the core” and “optimized at every level,” hinting that Samsung has gone for a deep redesign rather than another incremental update. And expectations are high: the Exynos 2600 is set to become the world’s first 2nm smartphone chip, with early benchmarks showing that it can match or even surpass Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. That alone puts Samsung’s in-house silicon back in the flagship race after sitting out the Galaxy S25 generation entirely.
Historically, Samsung only teases a flagship Exynos chip when it’s ready to use it in an upcoming device. Earlier this year, the company did exactly that with the Exynos 2500 before launching the Galaxy Z Flip 7 with that same processor. So the appearance of this new teaser is as close to confirmation as we’re going to get: the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus will likely ship with the Exynos 2600 in Europe and other global regions, while U.S. buyers may still receive Snapdragon-powered models.
Still, Samsung might deviate from tradition if the Exynos 2600 turns out to be as good as early numbers suggest. Benchmark leaks claim it outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and even approaches the performance territory of Apple’s M5 chip—a huge leap for Samsung’s silicon division. If these results hold, the Galaxy S26 models running Exynos could be the most competitive they’ve been in years.
The timing of Samsung’s teaser also hints that the official launch isn’t far off, possibly within the month. The Galaxy S26 family is rumored to debut in January or February, and Samsung usually unveils its flagship chipset roughly one month before the phones themselves. Once the company showcases the Exynos 2600 in full, we should also get a sharper idea of the S26 release schedule.
For now, though, the mood among fans is cautiously optimistic. Qualcomm has consistently outperformed Exynos chips in real-world use, year after year, leaving many users naturally skeptical of Samsung’s promises. But the 2600 represents Samsung’s best chance in a long time to flip that narrative. And until we see real-world tests inside actual Galaxy S26 units, everyone is keeping their expectations measured but hopeful that this might finally be the generation where Exynos catches up.
