Galaxy S26's Exynos: Samsung may be planning something strange, and you can probably guess why

A new rumor now suggests the Exynos 2600 may get surprisingly rebranded. It sounds logical but the tipster is not a big name just yet, so take it with a grain of salt for now.

Samsung is reportedly working hard to get next year's Galaxy S26 phones equipped with its own Exynos 2600 chip. Rumors have been swirling about the chip for quite some time, and now a fresh new rumor indicates Samsung may choose to rebrand it.

The leaker that this info comes from is not one of the reliable names yet so take it all with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, in a post on X, the tipster claims the South Korea-based tech giant is looking to rebrand the 2nm Exynos 2600 chip. This is the first time we've heard this rumor, and the tipster didn't specify what name the chip may adopt.

Although the tipster is somewhat shady and the rumor hasn't been around yet, if it indeed is true, it would make sense in a way. Exynos chips have somewhat of a bad reputation because of a gap in their performance and more specifically power efficiency when compared to Qualcomm's Snapdragon flagship processors.

The Exynos 2400 in the Galaxy S24 closed this gap quite significantly, but previous generations didn't fare quite as well... so the reputation stuck, with Exynos being deemed by many to be inferior to its Snapdragon counterpart.

Therefore if Samsung would rebrand the chip, maybe it would help with dispelling the expectations of a disappointing performance. Well, the thing is if Samsung does manage to make the chip equal to the Snapdragon chip, because if it doesn't, no amount of name changes will help.

We've heard recently Samsung is pushing hard to fine-tune its 2nm chip-making process, and it seems it's possible next year it will have a Galaxy S26 split just like in previous years. This year, Samsung reportedly couldn't make enough Exynos 2500 chipsets to equip the Galaxy S25 series with and all phones are rocking the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which, presumably, Samsung wasn't quite pleased with.

Samsung Foundry is expected to begin producing prototypes in May. Of course, if Samsung is able to pull this off, it would get higher profit margins per Galaxy phone unit.

Also, Samsung is close to being the first on the market to produce 2nm chips. Apple and Qualcomm are expected to announce their 2nm chips sometime in the second half of 2026, so if Samsung succeeds with the Exynos 2600, it may beat them by at least half a year. And in this competitive market, that matters.