The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could make use of a special custom chip that lifts its performance level above its rivals.
According to South Korea’s Business Post , Samsung could once again be receiving a special enhanced edition of the forthcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chip for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (and, presumably, US models of the Samsung Galaxy S26 ).
However, there’s set to be an extra dose of special sauce applied to this particular ‘For Galaxy’ chip edition.
Samsung could have the performance edge
Previous Snapdragon for Galaxy chips have essential been slightly overclocked versions of the standard chip, but still produced by Taiwan chip maker TSMC.
With the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, that could change. In a weirdly circular move, Qualcomm has been tipped to turn to Samsung itself to fabricate the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 For Galaxy.
Luke Baker
Samsung Foundry has struggled to keep pace with TSMC in the past, just as the company’s Exynos chips have consistently fallen short of their Snapdragon counterparts.
However, Samsung’s chip division appears to have made progress on its 2nm process, which is even smaller and more efficient than the 3nm process that TSMC will use for the off-the-shelf Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
As a result of this, we could be in a position where Samsung’s own version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 (codenamed Kaanapali S) is even more performant than the version used by its rivals.
What about Samsung’s Exynos chips?
Of course, with reports that Samsung is rolling back on its all-Snapdragon provision with the Galaxy S26, those performance gains could be unevenly applied.
It’s believed that Samsung will return to its custom Exynos chips – specifically the Exynos 2600 – for the global model of the Samsung Galaxy S26. Whether we’ll be getting a Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge or a Galaxy S26+ seems up in the air right now , thanks to the underperformance of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge .
Historically (like with the Samsung Galaxy S24 ), this chip division has meant a measurable performance disparity between Samsung’s global model and those sold in the US and China, with the latter regions getting the more capable Snapdragon provision.
Of course, it stands to reason that the Exynos 2600 will be built using Samsung’s new 2nm process, so perhaps Samsung will be able to close that performance gap for its 2026 flagship phones.
Samsung Galaxy S24
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.
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