Exynos 2600 Goes Official: Samsung Enters 2nm Era with Big Upgrades

Samsung has officially launched the Exynos 2600, the world’s first 2nm mobile chipset. Built using Samsung Foundry’s cutting-edge 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process, the chip brings major upgrades across CPU, GPU, NPU, imaging, and thermal design. It is expected to power select Galaxy S26 and S26+ models launching in early 2026.

Exynos 2600 launches as the world’s first-ever 2nm GAA processor

After a short teaser earlier this month, Samsung has now shared detailed specifications of the Exynos 2600, its most ambitious in-house mobile processor to date. The chip features Gate-All-Around transistors, allowing tighter control of current flow, reducing leakage while improving power efficiency and transistor density. The company describes it as a “compact processor” that offers high performance in less power.

Unlike previous Exynos designs, the Exynos 2600 drops traditional low-power efficiency cores entirely. Instead, it uses a 10-core, tri-cluster CPU based on Arm v9.3 architecture, optimized for consistent high performance. The chip has one C1 Ultra prime core clocked at 3.8GHz, three C1 Pro mid-cores at 3.25GHz, and six more C1 Pro cores operating at 2.75GHz.

Samsung claims a 39% overall CPU performance uplift compared to the Exynos 2500. The move to all performance-focused cores suggests the company is prioritizing responsiveness, multitasking, and sustained workloads over burst-only gains. “The nine middle cores are optimized separately for performance and efficiency, providing stable operation across both efficiency-focused tasks and broader performance workloads,” Samsung says.

The new AMD-powered Xclipse 960 GPU also delivers two times higher compute performance and 50% better ray-tracing performance compared to the Xclipse 950. It introduces Exynos Neural Super Sampling (ENSS), an AI-powered frame generation and upscaling system. ENSS enables smoother high-frame-rate gaming while keeping power consumption in check.

Display support goes up to 4K screens at 120Hz, HDR10+ playback, and HDR gaming. The chip also boasts LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage support. There seems to be no integrated connectivity modem though, with Samsung relying on an external modem.

NPU and ISP get massive AI upgrades

AI performance sees the biggest leap this generation. The Exynos 2600 features a new AI engine with a 32K MAC NPU, delivering up to 113% faster NPU performance than the previous flagship Exynos chip. In practical terms, it enables support for larger and more diverse on-device AI models, faster image editing, and AI assistant and context-aware tasks.

This is the world’s first mobile NPU with virtualization security, featuring hardware-backed hybrid Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for future-proof AI security. These improvements allow more AI tasks to run fully on-device, reducing cloud dependence and improving privacy.

Coming to photography, the Exynos 2600 features one of the most advanced ISPs on a Samsung chip. It supports up to 320MP sensors, with the company claiming 108MP zero shutter lag capture. Video recording goes up to 8K 30fps or 4K 120fps with HDR.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung has added AI-driven imaging features too. The Exynos 2600 boasts Visual Perception System (VPS) for real-time detection (including eye blinking) and Deep Learning Video Noise Reduction (DVNR) for cleaner low-light video. The new ISP also supports Samsung’s APV codec for enhanced professional workflows, all the while consuming 50% less power compared to the Exynos 2500.

Heat Path Block targets Exynos’ biggest weakness

Exynos chips have been notorious for heat and throttling, but the Exynos 2600 solves that problem, at least on paper. Samsung claims to have addressed this with a new thermal design called Heat Path Block (HPB). Using a High-k EMC material, HPB improves heat dissipation from the processor, allowing the chip to sustain high performance for longer periods.

“That improved heat flow lowers thermal resistance up to 16%, allowing internal heat to move outward more quickly so the SoC’s internal temperature remains stable,” Samsung says. Reports suggest the company will supply this tech to other chipmakers, including Apple.

Samsung confirmed the Exynos 2600 is already in mass production. The chip may power the Galaxy S26 and S26+ in select markets, while Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 should power the Galaxy S26 Ultra globally. The new flagships launch in early 2026, likely in February.