Samsung May Still Make Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, But Not for Galaxy S26

It looks like Samsung is on track to make the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip using its 2nm process. A fresh report now claims that the Korean foundry-made Qualcomm chip is in trial production. This chip could be integrated into next year’s flagship Galaxy smartphones, with leaks pointing to the Galaxy Z Flip 8 rather than the Galaxy S26 series.

Galaxy Z Flip 8 may feature Samsung-made 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Last month, Qualcomm unveiled its latest flagship mobile chipset, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. Built on TSMC’s 3nm node, the chip features two 4.6GHz prime cores and six 3.62GHz performance cores. The company says the chip is 20% faster than the previous generation, Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Rumors suggest we may see the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 inside the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. Of course, Samsung will use the custom version of the chip i.e. “for Galaxy”, which could feature a top speed of 4.74GHz. There’s also chatter that the company’s upcoming in-house Exynos 2600 may power some models of the Galaxy S26 lineup in select regions.

However, according to noted tipster @Jukanlosreve, Qualcomm is also developing a new variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but it is not for the Galaxy S26 series. Note that an earlier report also suggested the same, but now the chip has reportedly reached trial production. If Samsung can achieve the recommended yields, the next stage should be mass production.

Since the upcoming Qualcomm chip will use a 2nm GAA process, we can expect improved power efficiency and performance compared to the 3nm version. The tipster further said that Samsung may use the 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in its upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 8, expected in the second half of 2026.

The current Galaxy Z Flip 7 uses an in-house 3nm Exynos 2500 chip, so this switch will shake up Samsung’s strategy for its foldable lineup. It will be interesting to see whether the book-style Galaxy Z Fold 8 adopts Qualcomm’s 3nm mobile chip or the 2nm variant. We’ll let you know if and when more details regarding the new variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 surface online.