Production-ready samples expected by midyear as Samsung targets larger Exynos share in Galaxy S27
Samsung Electronics is moving quickly on its next flagship smartphone chip, preparing production-ready samples of the Exynos 2700 by midyear as the company seeks to expand the use of its own processors in future Galaxy devices and reduce reliance on Qualcomm.
Industry sources said this week that Samsung aims to complete production-ready samples of the Exynos 2700 between May and June. The chip is widely expected to power a significant portion of the Galaxy S27 lineup scheduled for release early next year.
Mobile application processors act as the central computing chip in smartphones and typically account for around 15 to 30 percent of device manufacturing costs in flagship models. At Samsung, the chips are designed by the System LSI division and manufactured by the foundry unit, before being supplied internally to the Mobile eXperience business, which produces Galaxy devices.
The accelerated timeline comes as Samsung attempts to rebuild momentum after a troubled stretch for its in-house chip program. The Exynos 2300 never reached mass production due to underperformance, and delays with the Exynos 2500 forced Samsung to equip its entire 2025 Galaxy S25 and Z Fold 7 lineups exclusively with Qualcomm processors.
Samsung seeks to cut Qualcomm reliance
Samsung regained ground this year with the Exynos 2600, which returned to the flagship lineup in the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus released last week in markets including South Korea and parts of Europe.
The more premium S26 Ultra uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 exclusively across all markets.
Reviewer benchmarks have shown broadly comparable performance between the two chips, with Qualcomm leading in single-core processing while Samsung's Exynos remains competitive in multicore, graphics and several AI-related tasks.
Industry sources said the Exynos 2700 design was completed late last year and has since entered sample production, allowing engineers to validate performance and manufacturing stability ahead of full-scale production.
The processor will be built on Samsung's second-generation 2-nanometer process, known internally as SF2P, which is expected to deliver improved yields and performance over the first-generation node used in the Exynos 2600. Samsung is also refining its chip packaging to address heat management, a persistent weakness for earlier Exynos designs. The Exynos 2600 introduced a technique called Heat Path Block to channel heat away from the processor more efficiently, and the 2700 is expected to build on that approach.
Exynos in 50% of Galaxy S27, if yields hold
Analyst Park Yu-ak of Kiwoom Securities estimates the Exynos 2700 could account for about 50 percent of Galaxy S27 chips, roughly double the estimated 25 percent Exynos share in the current S26 lineup. He cited improving foundry yields, stronger benchmark results and Samsung's growing pressure to cut component costs.
The financial incentive is considerable. Industry data indicate Samsung spent about 11 trillion won ($7.5 billion) procuring external mobile processors through the first three quarters of last year alone. The company also reportedly paid around $400 million to secure Qualcomm chips for the Galaxy S25 series after its own development fell behind schedule.
Analyst Park also projected that if Exynos 2700 production ramps as planned, Samsung's foundry and chip design divisions, which have posted combined losses since early 2023, could return to operating profit by the fourth quarter of this year.
The push to reduce Qualcomm dependence extends beyond the 2700. Moon Sung-hoon, vice president of hardware at Samsung's MX division, recently said the company ultimately hopes to power all Galaxy devices with Exynos processors, though he noted the transition would require "a mid- to long-term" roadmap.
mjh@heraldcorp.com
