Samsung is reportedly testing another Galaxy S27 Ultra prototype with an Exynos chipset inside. This could be why Qualcomm didn’t mention Samsung with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series last week at Snapdragon Summit. At this point, it looks like Samsung hasn’t quite decided which chip to use in the Galaxy S27 Ultra, at least globally.
Earlier this year, the Galaxy S26 series in the US used the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy across all three models. In Europe, the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus both use an Exynos chip, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra uses a Snapdragon chip globally. So we could be looking at Samsung doing a dual-chip approach for the Galaxy S27 Ultra this year. Something that Samsung hasn’t done in quite a while.
Why would Samsung want to use Exynos?
It’s no secret that Qualcomm’s chips are pretty pricey, likely the most expensive mobile chips on the market. Not only does Qualcomm charge you for the chip, but they also charge you royalties to use some of the tech inside the chip. Something Apple did not like at all, which forced them to build their own modems.
Samsung spends a crap ton on Snapdragon chips. It’s reported that Samsung spends between $8 billion and $11 billion on mobile chips every year, with much of that going to Qualcomm. Of course, Samsung also makes chips, and they’d prefer that money to move to another division – similar to RAM and NAND storage – rather than paying that out to Qualcomm, which is technically a competitor.
Exynos is finally starting to pick up and become a pretty decent alternative to Qualcomm’s and MediaTek’s latest chips. Could we see the Exynos 2700 in the Galaxy S27 series? Probably. But I wouldn’t count on it being used in the US.
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