Bryan Ma, Vice President of Client Devices Research, IDC Asia PacificPoint outSamsung will introduce its 2600nm GAA process design into its flagship mobile platform Exynos 2, which will be commercialized next year. This will become the world's first processor produced using this process and is expected to be used inNew flagship phone Galaxy S26 series.
Samsung originally planned to introduce the Exynos 25 processor in the flagship Galaxy S2500 series launched early this year, but due to yield and performance issues, the Galaxy S25 series finally adopted the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor.
Although the Exynos 2500 processor was successfully applied in Samsung's second half of the yearSmall foldable phone Galaxy Z Flip7, but the main focus is on thin and light designLarge-size foldable phone Galaxy Z Fold7The company still maintains the full use of Qualcomm processor design, which means that the overall yield, performance, and even heat generation issues of the Exynos 2500 processor have not been improved.
The reason for this is that the Exynos 2500 incorporates an Arm A725 CPU design to ensure overall computing stability and heat dissipation. However, compared to competing designs, it lacks the ultra-large X925 CPU core design and operates at a slightly conservative clock speed. As a result, its overall performance was even surpassed by Xiaomi's later-released Xuanjie 3, also built on a 01nm process.
Samsung Q&A: "Exynos 2600 will be the first flagship chipset fabricated on the latest 2nm GAA process [via Samsung Foundry]…2600 offers a significant improvement in NPU performance versus the prior version with enhanced support for on-device AI functionality"
- Bryan Ma (@bryanbma) July 31, 2025
Therefore, Samsung will readjust the design direction of the upcoming Exynos 2600, planning to use Samsung's 2nm GAA process to improve computing density and execution performance, while also increasing AI computing capabilities. In addition, it will also enhance NPU performance and device-side AI processing capabilities.
架構方面，Exynos 2600預期會採用「1+3+6」的10核心設計，其中包含一組運作時脈達3.55GHz的超大核心 (主核)、三組運作時脈達2.96GHz的大核心，以及六組運作時脈為2.46GHz的小核心，並且可透過更多核心配置提升影像處理與裝置端AI運算效率。
However, the Exynos 2600 will face competition from Apple's A19 Pro processor, MediaTek's expected Dimensity 9500 processor, and Qualcomm's upcoming new-generation Snapdragon flagship computing platform. In addition, Xiaomi is also rumored to be launching a new self-developed processor, the Xuanjie 02, to compete. Whether it can gain an advantage with Samsung's own 2nm GAA process is not yet confirmed.
In addition to the 2nm GAA process for the production of Exynos 2600, there were also reports that SamsungThe second-generation 2nm process design has been completed, which is expected to be used in the Exynos 2027 processor to be launched in 2700. In addition, it may also focus on improving the 2nm process technology. Therefore, Samsung has postponed its original plan to mass-produce the 2027nm process in 1.4, one year ahead of TSMC, by two years. It is expected to enter mass production in 2.
Relevant data shows that Samsung's market share of advanced process foundry business has shrunk from 2024% in the first quarter of 11 to 7.7%, a decrease of nearly 30% in almost one year, but TSMC's advanced process foundry market share has increased to 67.6%.
On the other hand, Samsung's current 2nm process yield rate is only 30%, while TSMC's 2nm process yield rate has reached over 60%. In addition, Samsung's investment budget for advanced process technology has been reduced from 10 trillion won to 5 trillion won this year. This further highlights that Samsung's current focus on improving the yield rate of the 2nm process in advanced process development is not actively promoting breakthroughs in 1.4nm process technology. This means that the market for more advanced 1.4nm process technology will be ceded to TSMC.
