Things seem to be starting to look up for Samsung’s semiconductor business. After struggling for a long time with its 3nm process, a company official confirmed yesterday that it managed to stabilize the situation. Now, a leak claims that Samsung plans to return to using Exynos hardware in the Galaxy S26 series.
Samsung Foundry’s main problem was the low yield rates of its 3nm GAA wafers. Insiders revealed that the yield rate was between 10% and 30%, making mass production of the Exynos 2500 chip commercially unviable. This forced the company to resort to the expensive Snapdragon 8 Elite for the entire Galaxy S25 series worldwide. Plus, the firm lost major clients, including NVIDIA, as its factories were not up to par when it came to using the most modern chip production processes.
Samsung to “significantly” implement Exynos chips in the Galaxy S26 series, claims reliable tipster
Samsung managed to stabilize its 3nm chip process, which means that the yield rate now makes mass production viable. While it couldn’t do it in time for the Galaxy S25 series, the company is expected to turn to Exynos hardware for many devices going forward. In line with that, tipster Jukanlosreve said on X/Twitter that Samsung will “significantly” implement Exynos chips in the Galaxy S26 series.
This doesn’t mean that we’ll see Exynos hardware in all Galaxy S26 models but in many of them. It’s possible that the brand will return to its strategy of equipping the non-Ultra models with Exynos chips, reserving Snapdragon hardware for the most expensive variant. Also, according to reports, Samsung will add a “Slim” model to its Galaxy S25 series. If that happens, it will probably keep it for future generations. So, another model with the 2026 flagship Exynos SoC could be the potential Galaxy S26 Slim.
A report from October suggested that even the entire Galaxy S26 series could be powered by Snapdragon chips. At the time, the situation seemed hopeless for Samsung. However, things may have changed after the stabilization of its Foundry wafers.
Exynos 2500 will power the next-gen Galaxy Z Flip models
Recently, Samsung confirmed that it will implement the Exynos 2500 in the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Flip FE. You can expect to see more and more Exynos-powered devices from Samsung in the future. For the company, this is great news as it will allow it to save on production costs. According to reports, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 will be even more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The latter is already 30% more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
