Although it seemed that the industry was approaching the limits of semiconductor scaling, Samsung has shown that those boundaries can still be pushed. The new Exynos 2600 is built using a 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) manufacturing process, which replaces traditional FinFET transistors. According to Samsung, this new lithography enables higher performance while reducing power consumption — a critical factor for smartphones increasingly reliant on advanced AI features and on-device processing.
The chip is based on a new CPU architecture featuring ARM Cortex-X, Cortex-A, and Cortex-E cores, designed to better balance performance and energy efficiency. Samsung emphasizes that the Exynos 2600 has been optimized for multi-threaded workloads and usage scenarios typical of modern mobile applications, including generative AI, computational photography, and gaming.
A key component of the new SoC is the integrated Xclipse GPU, developed in collaboration with AMD and based on the RDNA architecture. According to Android Authority and GSMArena, the GPU delivers a noticeable leap in 3D graphics performance and offers hardware support for advanced visual effects — important both for mobile gaming and applications leveraging augmented reality.
Samsung also highlights major advances in on-device AI. The Exynos 2600 features a next-generation NPU designed to accelerate machine-learning models without sending data to the cloud. The company says the chip handles image recognition, natural language processing, and real-time system personalization more efficiently than previous generations.
While Samsung has not yet confirmed which devices will use the Exynos 2600, it is widely expected to power future Galaxy S smartphones, most likely the Galaxy S26. By becoming the first manufacturer to introduce a 2nm mobile chip, Samsung is signaling its readiness to commercialize this technology ahead of competitors. Qualcomm and Apple are both expected to unveil their own 2nm-based processors in the near future.
