Samsung reportedly didn’t get a shoutout at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit last week, and now we might know why. According to Android Headlines, Samsung is actively testing a Galaxy S27 Ultra prototype running an Exynos chip. That’s a big deal. The Galaxy S27 Ultra has used Snapdragon globally for a while now, so this signals something is shifting behind the scenes.
Here’s the current situation. The Galaxy S26 series split things like this: US buyers got Snapdragon across all three models, European buyers got Exynos in the standard S26 and S26 Plus, but the S26 Ultra stuck with Snapdragon everywhere. That was a compromise Samsung seemed comfortable with. But now, Samsung appears to be weighing whether to extend the Exynos option all the way up to the Ultra tier for certain markets. That would be a regional chip split at the top of the lineup, something Samsung hasn’t done in quite some time.
So why is this even on the table? Money, mostly. Samsung is spending somewhere between $8 billion and $11 billion every year on mobile chips, and a huge chunk of that goes straight to Qualcomm. And it’s not just the chip price — Qualcomm also collects royalties on top of that. You’re paying for the silicon and for the right to use the tech inside it. Apple got so frustrated with this model that they built their own modems. Samsung’s situation is a little different because Samsung actually makes chips through its own semiconductor division. Paying Qualcomm billions annually when you could be sending that money to your own chip team? That math doesn’t sit right with any CFO.
The other part of this story is that Exynos has gotten genuinely better. For years, Exynos chips ran hotter, drained faster, and underperformed compared to whatever Snapdragon was doing at the time. European Galaxy users were getting a noticeably worse experience and everyone knew it. But the gap has been closing. If the Exynos 2700 lands in a strong position, Samsung has real motivation to push it into more devices, including the Ultra.
That said, don’t expect this to affect US buyers. American consumers will almost certainly still get Snapdragon. Qualcomm’s grip on the US market is tight, and Samsung knows that high-end buyers here are paying close attention to chip specs. Shipping an Exynos Ultra stateside would be a PR headache Samsung probably doesn’t want.
The bigger picture here matters though. More competition between Exynos, Snapdragon, and MediaTek is good for everyone buying a phone. When Samsung has a real alternative it can credibly threaten to use, it has more leverage in negotiations with Qualcomm. And if Exynos keeps improving, consumers in markets that receive it get a better product than they used to. That’s a win either way.
Still, Samsung hasn’t made a final call yet. The company is testing prototypes, not announcing products. A lot can change between now and whenever the Galaxy S27 series lands. But the fact that an Exynos Ultra prototype exists at all tells you Samsung is serious about rethinking its chip strategy from the top down.