Samsung Might Use More Exynos Chips to Cut Processor Spending

While Samsung has its own mobile chips, it still relies heavily on Qualcomm, especially for flagship devices. The company’s spending on chips increased 26.5% last year, showing its growing dependence on external suppliers. To reduce costs and improve profitability, it could expand the use of its Exynos chips in the next-gen Galaxy S27 series.

Samsung chip spending rises as flagship phones rely on Qualcomm

According to Samsung’s 2025 business report (via Chosun), the company spent 13.8272 trillion won on mobile application processors (APs) last year. In comparison, in 2024, the figure was 10.9326 trillion won. As such, the company’s Device Experience (DX) division saw an increase in the share of total raw material costs (from 16.1% to 18.5% over the same period).

In 2025, Samsung failed to use its Exynos 2500 chip in the Galaxy S25 series due to low production yields. As a result, the company equipped all Galaxy S25 models (globally) with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 used the same Snapdragon processor for solid foldable performance. As a result, the firm’s spending on external chips increased significantly. However, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 used the Exynos 2500, which slightly helped reduce the overall chip-purchasing burden.

Industry estimates that application processors account for around 30% of total smartphone manufacturing costs. This makes them one of the most expensive components in premium devices. So, Samsung needs to increase the use of in-house Exynos processors in its flagship models.

The company has already taken a step in that direction with the latest Galaxy S26 series. The Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ feature an in-house Exynos 2600 chip in most markets, including India, Europe, and South Korea. In the future, it should expand the use of its own chips to more regions if it wants to lower processor costs and improve profitability. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 Ultra uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip globally. Could we see the region-chip split strategy (Exynos and Snapdragon) in the next-gen Galaxy S27 Ultra? Only time will tell.