The Samsung Galaxy S26 series may feature Samsung's self-developed 2nm processor. How much will it improve in terms of performance? Let's take a look.
Samsung is currently working on a state-of-the-art 2 nanometer (nm) process node for its foundry business. The South Korean tech company is aiming to be the first to launch the 2-nanometer chip in the market ahead of well-known processor maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. It is said to have received the first 2 nanometer chip manufacturing order from a Japanese company called Preferred Networks (PFN). It is now known that Samsung has started a 2nm application processor (AP) development project named 'Tethys' and the resulting processor will be released under the Exynos brand. It is also rumored to be used in the Samsung Galaxy S26 series of devices.
The Samsung-branded 2nm project “Tethys” could be related to the Exynos 2600 chip
Samsung seems to be particularly focused on competing with the Qualcomm and MediaTek brands. For now, Samsung is said to be adding only Qualcomm chipsets to its foldable lineup to meet power efficiency requirements.
Incidentally, the 2-nanometer fabrication project “Tethys” is expected to be ready for mass production next year and may be related to the Exynos 2600 chipset expected to be used in the Samsung Galaxy S26 series of phones. The company has already said that they will be commercially producing 2nm chips next year.
Note that last year's Samsung Galaxy S23 series was launched with only Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. This year Samsung is back to their dual platform Flatage. They have launched Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus models with Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipsets across regions. However, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone only has Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. Perhaps for the same reason, they decided to use only Qualcomm chips in the upcoming Z series of foldable smartphones.
It is rumored that the next-generation Exynos 2500 chip will bring improvements in power efficiency and the company will use it in the Samsung S26 series. However, it is not yet clear which markets the Exynos-powered variants will launch in. But it stands to reason that Samsung will want to use the Exynos chip as much as possible, especially if it is able to close the gap with or become equal to Snapdragon in overall performance. Notably, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is also working on 2nm chips and its mass production is also expected to start in 2025.
