Samsung’s $400 Million Loss from Exynos 2500 Cancellation for Galaxy S25; Galaxy S26 in Europe to Feature Exynos 2600

Samsung’s recent choice to exclusively feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor in the Galaxy S25 series stemmed from disappointing yields associated with the Exynos 2500 SoC. Furthermore, the South Korean conglomerate acknowledged that its internal chipset was unable to compete effectively against Qualcomm’s premier offering. This decision has led to a significant increase in component costs for Samsung this year. Moreover, the elimination of the Exynos 2500 from their flagship smartphone range resulted in a staggering financial setback, costing approximately $400 million. To prevent a recurrence of this costly situation, Samsung is anticipated to introduce the Exynos 2600 in its upcoming Galaxy S26 variants next year.

Potential Deployment of Exynos 2600 in the Galaxy S26 Series

If the European models of the Galaxy S26 series are equipped solely with the Exynos 2600, this could indicate Samsung’s strategy to roll out its flagship SoC despite continuing low manufacturing yields. During its Q1 2025 earnings call, Samsung reiterated its goal to stabilize yields at the cutting-edge 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, aiming to commence mass production by the latter part of 2025. Recent reports from February highlighted that trial runs of the Exynos 2600 under this next-gen manufacturing process achieved a yield of around 30 percent. While this figure is still below par, it marks a substantial uptick compared to the previous 3nm GAA technology. Should Samsung manage to elevate this yield to 60 percent, it would pave the way for full-scale production of the Exynos 2600.

However, tipster @Jukanlosreve indicates that the limited production capabilities may restrict the Exynos 2600’s deployment primarily to the European variants of the Galaxy S26 series. An unnamed industry insider also suggested that, even with the Exynos chip featured in Samsung’s forthcoming flagship models, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 is likely to hold a definitive performance edge. This insight implies that Samsung’s decision to incorporate the Exynos 2600 may primarily be a tactic to mitigate its rising chipset expenses.

Latest industry note related to Samsung:

Exynos 2600 is indeed planned to be used in the S26.

Currently, due to reportedly low yield, it is likely to be equipped mainly in European models.

An industry source emphasized that even in the AP for the S26, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon…

— Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) May 3, 2025

Further elaborating on the consequences of the prior Exynos 2500 exclusion, Samsung LSI, which spearheaded the design of this chipset, reported a hefty loss of $400 million. Additionally, to have any shot at powering the Galaxy S26 models, the completion of the Exynos 2600’s design must occur by the third quarter of 2025. In essence, time is not on Samsung’s side.

For more insights, refer to the industry update from @Jukanlosreve.

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