Samsung is expected to return to its dual-chip strategy for the Galaxy S26 series, which it plans to launch in 2026. Under this strategy, the phones are planned to use both Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Samsung’s own Exynos 2600 chipsets. However, recent statements from Qualcomm management indicate that Qualcomm will once again hold the lion’s share of this partnership. The company anticipates that its own chips will be used in the vast majority of devices in the S26 series.

Did the Exynos 2600 fail to meet expectations? Qualcomm expects a 75% share for the Galaxy S26

Qualcomm made important announcements during its 2025 fourth-quarter earnings call. During the meeting, the company was asked about Samsung’s potential plan to use its own modem, described as a “leading Android customer.” The impact of this development on Qualcomm’s share of the business relationship with Samsung was a matter of interest. Qualcomm management, in response to this question, defined the new normal in its relationship with Samsung.

Qualcomm officials stated that their normal relationship with Samsung had been around a 50% share in the past. However, they emphasized that this has changed in the last few years, and that the new baseline ratio is approximately 75%. They also confirmed this for the Galaxy S26 series. The statement read, “We secured a 100% share on the Galaxy S25. Our assumption for any new Galaxy model will always be 75%. This is our assumption for the Galaxy S26.”

This clear statement from Qualcomm was considered noteworthy within the tech community. It demonstrates the American chipmaker’s unwavering confidence in the overall superiority of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. This 75% share, expected to be achieved against Samsung’s own Exynos 2600, reinforces Qualcomm’s strong market position.

In fact, the Exynos 2600 performed surprisingly well against the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in pre-launch benchmarks. Samsung’s first 2nm GAA chipset even surpasses Apple’s A19 Pro chip in performance per watt. The tests show that the Exynos 2600 consumed 7.6W of power in the Geekbench 6 multi-core test and 3.6W in the single-core test.

Despite these positive results on paper, Samsung appears to be unsure of the chip’s real-world performance. Qualcomm’s ambitious prediction of a 75% share of the Galaxy S26 series supports this. It appears that Snapdragon processors will also dominate the 2026 flagship phones. So, why do you think Samsung hasn’t been able to fully compete with Snapdragon in terms of Exynos processors?