Samsung Galaxy Snapdragon Costs Rise 29%

[benb]

Snapdragon 8 Elite costs rise 29% compared to 2024
Exynos 2600 yields about 40% vs. TSMC 60%
All Galaxy phones but Ultra to use Exynos 2600 in 2026

Samsung may be preparing to lean more heavily on its in-house silicon for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series, with a new report suggesting a cost-driven return to Exynos processors. Qualcomm’s rising prices, combined with TSMC’s higher production costs for 3nm chips, have put extra pressure on Samsung’s margins. By relying more on its own 2nm Exynos, built at Samsung’s foundry, the company could cut costs significantly while still offering competitive performance thanks to a 10-core CPU design and improved power efficiency.

Here's why Samsung is choosing Exynos 2600 over Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for Galaxy S26 series - Gizmochina

The move comes as Samsung faces higher component expenses. In the first half of 2025, chipset procurement costs for its DX division reportedly rose 29.2%, largely due to pricier Snapdragon 8 Elite chips used in the Galaxy S25 series and the popular Galaxy Z Fold 7.

www.gizmochina.com

Exynos 2600 Prototype Mass Production began in June

Samsung Says Its Exynos 2600 Will Be The Company’s First 2nm GAA Chipset, But Only Says That Its NPU Performance Will Deliver Significant Improvements Compared To The Previous-Generation SoC

When asked about the Exynos 2600, Samsung says that the latter will be its first chipset mass produced on the 2nm GAA process

wccftech.com

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Samsung and Qualcomm used to have a deal. Qualcomm would use Samsung Foundry and Samsung would use QCOM SoCs in their products. This broke at 10nm. Samsung started selling QCOM good die rather than wafers due to historically low yields. When the Samsung 10nm PR went out claiming HVM they were at 8% yield with QCOM. Samsung 7nm went well but yield again faltered at 5nm, and 3nm was horrible. Qualcomm of course embraced TSMC thus the Samsung shift to internal SOCs.

I do wonder if the SoC makes that big of a difference? How much CPU power do you really need to scroll, record, and text? I know AI is supposed to change all of that but will it really? China is making AI light and easy, I'm sure Samsung could as well.

 

[siliconbruh999]

Well All that processing power is being neutralized by showing more ads, more apps running in backgrounds , user telemetry

 

[hist78]

Snapdragon 8 Elite costs rise 29% compared to 2024
Exynos 2600 yields about 40% vs. TSMC 60%
All Galaxy phones but Ultra to use Exynos 2600 in 2026

Samsung may be preparing to lean more heavily on its in-house silicon for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series, with a new report suggesting a cost-driven return to Exynos processors. Qualcomm’s rising prices, combined with TSMC’s higher production costs for 3nm chips, have put extra pressure on Samsung’s margins. By relying more on its own 2nm Exynos, built at Samsung’s foundry, the company could cut costs significantly while still offering competitive performance thanks to a 10-core CPU design and improved power efficiency.

Here's why Samsung is choosing Exynos 2600 over Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for Galaxy S26 series - Gizmochina

The move comes as Samsung faces higher component expenses. In the first half of 2025, chipset procurement costs for its DX division reportedly rose 29.2%, largely due to pricier Snapdragon 8 Elite chips used in the Galaxy S25 series and the popular Galaxy Z Fold 7.

www.gizmochina.com

Exynos 2600 Prototype Mass Production began in June

Samsung Says Its Exynos 2600 Will Be The Company’s First 2nm GAA Chipset, But Only Says That Its NPU Performance Will Deliver Significant Improvements Compared To The Previous-Generation SoC

When asked about the Exynos 2600, Samsung says that the latter will be its first chipset mass produced on the 2nm GAA process

wccftech.com

Samsung Galaxy phones will not use Exynos only because they can't and they don't have to. Smartphone business is one of Samsung's cash cows. Samsung has been using a combination of Exynos, Qualcomm, and MediaTek processors for different target markets for a long time.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Samsung Galaxy phones will not use Exynos only because they can't and they don't have to. Smartphone business is one of Samsung's cash cows. Samsung has been using a combination of Exynos, Qualcomm, and MediaTek processors for different target markets for a long time.

True, from what I remember in South Korea it was Samsung chips. The other regions were a mix depending on the competition. Maybe Taiwan is MediaTek and the US is QCOM?

 

[hist78]

Samsung and Qualcomm used to have a deal. Qualcomm would use Samsung Foundry and Samsung would use QCOM SoCs in their products. This broke at 10nm. Samsung started selling QCOM good die rather than wafers due to historically low yields. When the Samsung 10nm PR went out claiming HVM they were at 8% yield with QCOM. Samsung 7nm went well but yield again faltered at 5nm, and 3nm was horrible. Qualcomm of course embraced TSMC thus the Samsung shift to internal SOCs.

I do wonder if the SoC makes that big of a difference? How much CPU power do you really need to scroll, record, and text? I know AI is supposed to change all of that but will it really? China is making AI light and easy, I'm sure Samsung could as well.

I must tell you that I’ve been suffering from using Pixel phones with Samsung manufactured Google SoCs for a while. I constantly endure the anxiety of the battery running out after just three or four hours of use. It has been this way since the very first day I got my Pixel phone.

This year, Google is switching from Samsung Foundry to TSMC to manufacture the Pixel phone SoCs. I hope I will finally be set free.

 

[hist78]

True, from what I remember in South Korea it was Samsung chips. The other regions were a mix depending on the competition. Maybe Taiwan is MediaTek and the US is QCOM?

Samsung smartphones use various SoCs not only based on geographical regions but also based on price level considerations. For mid to low end models, MediaTek is often a good choice, including models sold in the US market.

 

[benb]

This year the Flip used Exynos 2500 in all markets while the Fold used Snapdragon. Snapdragon is faster in Geekbench in a head to head comparison.

So there you have it. First gen Samsung GAA process on the left, vs. highly refined TSMC Finfets on the right.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

This year the Flip used Exynos 2500 in all markets while the Fold used Snapdragon. Snapdragon is faster in Geekbench in a head to head comparison.

View attachment 3551
So there you have it. First gen Samsung GAA process on the left, vs. highly refined TSMC Finfets on the right.

Completely different SOCs but this is Samsung 3nm versus TSMC N3. Interesting considering Samsung 3nm did not yield yet it is slower than TSMC N3 which did yield. I'm guessing the Samsung 2nm comparison with TSMC N2 will be more of the same. Hopefully Elon Musk can help with Samsung 2nm yield because he does live right down the street from the fab.

I used to say exciting times in the semiconductor industry but now I should say entertaining times in the semiconductor industry.

 

[Xebec]

I must tell you that I’ve been suffering from using Pixel phones with Samsung manufactured Google SoCs for a while. I constantly endure the anxiety of the battery running out after just three or four hours of use. It has been this way since the very first day I got my Pixel phone.

This year, Google is switching from Samsung Foundry to TSMC to manufacture the Pixel phone SoCs. I hope I will finally be set free.

Are you using your Pixel for both personal and work apps use?

 

[Xebec]

This year the Flip used Exynos 2500 in all markets while the Fold used Snapdragon. Snapdragon is faster in Geekbench in a head to head comparison.

View attachment 3551
So there you have it. First gen Samsung GAA process on the left, vs. highly refined TSMC Finfets on the right.

Phone on left uses off the shelf ARM cores, while device on right uses a custom made ARM cores and has a larger surface area to dissipate heat.

 

[Paul2]

Samsung and Qualcomm used to have a deal. Qualcomm would use Samsung Foundry and Samsung would use QCOM SoCs in their products. This broke at 10nm. Samsung started selling QCOM good die rather than wafers due to historically low yields. When the Samsung 10nm PR went out claiming HVM they were at 8% yield with QCOM. Samsung 7nm went well but yield again faltered at 5nm, and 3nm was horrible. Qualcomm of course embraced TSMC thus the Samsung shift to internal SOCs.

I do wonder if the SoC makes that big of a difference? How much CPU power do you really need to scroll, record, and text? I know AI is supposed to change all of that but will it really? China is making AI light and easy, I'm sure Samsung could as well.

Not much for mainstream, but what matters is power efficiency. Even latest and greatest Samsung SOCs are terrible at that, and can't match standby times of 5 years old Snapdragon models, and most of this has nothing to do with the node being used.

Samsung has just plainly worse design when it comes to powersaving in everything it seems. And it was for this reasons Samsung SoCs have disappeared from the open market. Tons of Chinese phones were once using Exynos in the past, but not nowadays.

 

[benb]

Samsung shut down custom core development in 2019. Exynos 2500 uses 10 ARM-licensed Cortex cores: One Cortex X925 (3.3 GHz), two Cortex A725 performance cores (2.74 GHz), 5 Cortex A725 efficiency cores (2.36 GHz), and 2 Cortex A520 efficiency cores (1.80 GHz).

In 2025, Qualcomm 8 Elite has 8 custom Oryon cores, 2 Prime (4.32 GHz) and 6 Performance (3.52 GHz). Oryon is the product of Nuvia which Qualcomm acquired in 2021.

Samsung has been working with AMD since 2019 to differentiate graphics performance on the Exynos products. The Exynos 2500 graphics core, the Xclipse 950, is based on RDNA 3. Snapdragon Adreno 830 is the core in the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

I'll make some guesses about the differences and the results: The highest clocking Oryon core at 4.3 Ghz vs. Exynos 3.3 GHz explains a lot about why Snapdragon performs better. That is probably in part due to TSMC process which permits higher clocks, and in part due to the Nuvia design optimizations in the custom ARM core.

The Xclipse 950 remains a weakness of the Exynos, almost a repeat of the prior custom core development. Gaming is not smooth, with thermal throttling. It provides moderate, not great, battery life.

I'd be happy to see Samsung produce an all-ARM Cortex and Mali-based Exynos 2600 but most likely the Xclipse underperformance saga will continue next year. It's possible the thermal throttling due to the Xclipse core is causing Samsung. yield problems. A more industry-standard product might work better in that regard too.

 

[Paul2]

Samsung shut down custom core development in 2019. Exynos 2500 uses 10 ARM-licensed Cortex cores: One Cortex X925 (3.3 GHz), two Cortex A725 performance cores (2.74 GHz), 5 Cortex A725 efficiency cores (2.36 GHz), and 2 Cortex A520 efficiency cores (1.80 GHz).

In 2025, Qualcomm 8 Elite has 8 custom Oryon cores, 2 Prime (4.32 GHz) and 6 Performance (3.52 GHz). Oryon is the product of Nuvia which Qualcomm acquired in 2021.

Samsung has been working with AMD since 2019 to differentiate graphics performance on the Exynos products. The Exynos 2500 graphics core, the Xclipse 950, is based on RDNA 3. Snapdragon Adreno 830 is the core in the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

I'll make some guesses about the differences and the results: The highest clocking Oryon core at 4.3 Ghz vs. Exynos 3.3 GHz explains a lot about why Snapdragon performs better. That is probably in part due to TSMC process which permits higher clocks, and in part due to the Nuvia design optimizations in the custom ARM core.

The Xclipse 950 remains a weakness of the Exynos, almost a repeat of the prior custom core development. Gaming is not smooth, with thermal throttling. It provides moderate, not great, battery life.

I'd be happy to see Samsung produce an all-ARM Cortex and Mali-based Exynos 2600 but most likely the Xclipse underperformance saga will continue next year. It's possible the thermal throttling due to the Xclipse core is causing Samsung. yield problems. A more industry-standard product might work better in that regard too.

Just to note, Exynos loses out even to a few nodes lagging MediaTek SoCs on standby consumption, and power during media playback. And as we know MediaTek are cookie cutter SoCs with off the shelf IP