[News] Samsung Reportedly Cuts Exynos 2600 Price by $20–30 Below Qualcomm to Spur Adoption

Samsung’s first 2nm chip, the Exynos 2600, has become a crucial test of its foundry strategy and how much it can realistically replace Qualcomm’s offerings. According to Chosun Biz, citing industry sources, Samsung plans to use a mix of Exynos 2600 and Snapdragon chips in the standard and Plus models of next year’s Galaxy S26. To drive adoption, the System LSI division is pricing the Exynos 2600 roughly US$20–30 lower than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon lineup, aiming to increase shipments by highlighting stronger cost-performance.

Rising procurement costs for Qualcomm chips have also pushed Samsung to encourage more aggressive price competition between the two companies, the report indicates. Samsung’s quarterly filing shows that mobile AP purchases reached 10.9275 trillion won in the first three quarters of the year, up 25.5 percent from 8.0751 trillion won in the same period last year.

Maeil Shinmun notes that the mobile AP, which functions as the brain of a smartphone, typically accounts for more than 30 percent of the device’s total cost. Recent price increases in memory products and other key components, including APs, have further intensified the overall cost burden.

Against this backdrop, Chosun Biz suggests that broader adoption of Exynos in the Galaxy S26 could help ease profitability pressures on Samsung’s Mobile eXperience (MX) division, which has been heavily affected by the rising cost of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips.

Exynos and Snapdragon: Market Focus and Design Differences

As Chosun Biz indicates, Galaxy S26 units powered by the Exynos 2600 will be targeted primarily at Korea and other Asian markets. Should the chip secure a solid return to the Galaxy S lineup, it may also open the door for Samsung to use Exynos processors in next year’s new foldable models. Still, some analysts warn of potential performance differences across regions, since the same smartphone model would ship with two different processors.

Meanwhile, Samsung faces a significant challenge: most consumers worldwide continue to prefer Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips. Snapdragon’s customized heterogeneous architecture has also played a key role in the strong performance of recent Galaxy flagships such as the S25, Chosun Biz adds.

Although both Samsung and Qualcomm use Arm’s CPU architecture for their mobile APs, their design strategies differ markedly. Qualcomm develops fully customized cores optimized for smartphones, while Samsung relies on Arm’s standard designs with selective modifications. According to Chosun Biz, these architectural differences can affect real-world performance, power efficiency, and connectivity.

Read more

• [News] Samsung Reportedly Eyes Feb. 2026 Galaxy S26 Launch; Ultra Model May Stick With Qualcomm
• [News] Samsung Reportedly Targets 7 Million Foldable Units in 2026 on Z Fold 7 Momentum

(Photo credit: Samsung)