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The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S26 collection is nearly upon us, and whereas the telephone could also be doubling down on some new software program options, the collection is reported to have an vital {hardware} change in retailer for us as properly.

As in earlier years, Samsung reportedly has two chips lined up for the Galaxy S26 collection, which fluctuate by mannequin and area. Many world clients of the baseline and Plus handsets seem set to obtain a Samsung Exynos 2600 chip of their telephones. In the meantime, US clients, choose markets like China, and everybody who buys an Extremely worldwide will discover their telephone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. This isn’t confirmed but, however it will line up with Samsung’s earlier releases.

Whereas we’ll have to attend till now we have each variants in hand to verify early efficiency expectations, we already know the official particulars of each flagship chips. So let’s dive into what’s totally different, what’s related, and what this implies for Galaxy followers and first-timers this 12 months. For a fast overview, listed below are the lower-level specs.

Proper up entrance, the Exynos versus Snapdragon debate facilities on the acquainted use of in-house Arm Cortex and Qualcomm’s customized Oryon CPU cores constructed on the Arm structure. Whereas Oryon has held the efficiency lead for some time now, our time testing the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 reveals that the single-core efficiency of the newest Arm C1-Extremely just isn’t as far behind the third-gen Oryon huge core (someplace within the area of 10%). It seems that Arm has caught up with the core designs of its licensees.

Nonetheless, Samsung’s setup is clocked barely decrease than MediaTek’s powerhouse. The Exynos 2600 gives 1x C1-Extremely at 3.8GHz, 3x C1-Professional at 3.25GHz, and 6x C1-Professional at 2.75GHz. This implies Exynos’ single-core efficiency is likely to be a way behind Snapdragon’s, however the additional core rely may stage the taking part in area in multi-core and on a regular basis duties. For comparability, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 has 2x Oryon Prime cores at 4.6GHz and 6x Efficiency cores at 3.65GHz. Nonetheless, these clocks may change barely if the Galaxy S26 sports activities one other “for Galaxy” variant of the 8 Elite Gen 5.

An equally attention-grabbing however extra obscure distinction between the 2 chips is help for CPU-level machine studying compute. Qualcomm’s Oryon cores help Arm’s first-gen SME extension, whereas the Exynos 2600 comes with SME2. SME and SME2 use devoted cores that sit outdoors the CPU clusters however are related to them, permitting them to crunch via AI directions quicker and extra effectively than a CPU alone.

The newer SME2 extension helps multi-vector directions, weight compression, and tiny binary networks. This allows lighter AI workloads, akin to text-to-speech or summarization fashions, to run quicker on the CPU with out booting up the devoted NPU, which ought to save on energy consumption and start-up latency.

In fact, Samsung will do its greatest to make sure function parity throughout all its Galaxy S26 smartphones, so don’t anticipate these variations to translate into drastically totally different consumer experiences. Nonetheless, we might properly see slight variations in efficiency and battery life throughout demanding apps and lighter AI workloads, which could barely favor Snapdragon on one hand and Exynos on the opposite.

One other important architectural distinction between Exynos and Snapdragon is their selection of graphics processor — the important thing element for rendering your favourite video games and even operating some AI workloads.

Snapdragon sticks with its powerhouse Adreno, that includes its sliced structure and high-bandwidth reminiscence that enhance its already industry-leading efficiency up a notch. Whether or not the compact telephone kind issue can push this GPU to its limits with out overheating is an ongoing dialogue. Samsung is onto its third-generation Xclipse mannequin constructed on AMD’s RDNA structure. Whereas we don’t know an terrible lot about both’s deeper workings, reviews recommend that the newest Xclipse GPU strikes as much as a brand new RDNA structure with a notable enhance to compute efficiency and a peak clock velocity within the area of 980MHz — closing in on Qualcomm’s 1.2GHz peak this technology (not that this comparability actually issues).

Samsung can also be closing the hole on a number of different Qualcomm options. The chip debuts Exynos Neural Tremendous Sampling (ENSS) expertise, primarily AI-based decision upscaling and body technology, which ought to supply capabilities just like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sport Tremendous Decision, which doesn’t use AI so far as we’re conscious. Samsung additionally notes the brand new GPU boasts 50% quicker ray-tracing efficiency than its predecessor. Exynos was already very snappy in that regard, and that enhance may properly nudge it forward of Qualcomm’s 8 Elite Gen 5 in these admittedly area of interest eventualities.

Crystal ball gazing at efficiency is at all times a danger, however I’d wager that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will nonetheless come out simply forward in commonplace rasterization — because it’s had a wholesome lead right here for a number of generations now. Nonetheless, whether or not that really interprets right into a significant efficiency leads for actual video games stays to be seen. In my expertise, final 12 months’s flagship processors can simply lock 60, 90, and even 120fps in the most well-liked Android video games, so this technology might be overkill.

There are many different variations scattered throughout the chips, a lot of that are fairly onerous to match immediately. Samsung says its NPU is twice as highly effective as final 12 months, which is little doubt powering a lot of the telephone’s renewed give attention to AI options. Likewise, Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU setup is outwardly 37% quicker than earlier than, suggesting that Exynos is as soon as once more closing the hole with its largest rival, however it’s very tough to know which can truly come out forward.

The newest Exynos additionally has one other trick up its sleeve. It’s constructed on Samsung’s cutting-edge 2nm GAA course of that, at the least on the floor, needs to be smaller and doubtlessly barely extra power-efficient. Nonetheless, evaluating nodes throughout producers is fraught with difficulties and inconsistencies, so it’s not a given if there’s a lot significant benefit right here both. Plus, TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing course of is extra mature and more likely to have greater yields, which can permit Qualcomm to be that bit extra formidable with the efficiency of its design.

Talking of design, the Exynos 2600 doesn’t come paired with an built-in modem, which is normally the extra environment friendly route. This implies the chip has the added silicon, engineering, and energy expense of connecting as much as separate Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 5G, and different networking chips. As such, I wouldn’t place an enormous wager on the Exynos setup essentially being the extra power-efficient possibility. We’ll simply have to attend and see.

Together with energy consumption and uncooked efficiency, endurance and stress-induced throttling might properly be a defining issue. Samsung is anticipated to implement Warmth Move Block (HPB) expertise on the Exynos 2600 for superior warmth dissipation. Qualcomm isn’t anticipated to learn from it till next-gen’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. The 8 Elite Gen 5 has been slightly sizzling on handsets we’ve seen to this point, so this may very well be a key differentiator. We’ll simply must see in actual video games.

General, we’re doubtless two very totally different chips powering the Samsung Galaxy S26 worldwide. Function- and architecture-wise, these is likely to be the furthest aside that the Exynos vs Snapdragon battle has ever been. And but, after a number of years lagging behind, indicators recommend that Samsung could also be closing at the least a number of the efficiency hole. A quicker CPU, revamped GPU, and impressive AI capabilities definitely sound promising on paper. We solely have a short while longer to attend to see simply how a lot, or little, the Exynos vs Snapdragon debate actually issues this 12 months.