The world’s first 2nm chip is here, beating Qualcomm and Apple

Samsung has completed the development of Exynos 2600. The chip will begin mass production this month, which means it will be used in the Galaxy S26 series of mobile phones. The new flagship will debut in January next year.

Samsung’s Galaxy S26 series is expected to launch three models: the Galaxy S26 Pro, Galaxy S26 Edge, and Galaxy S26 Ultra. Rumors suggest the first two will be powered by the Exynos 2600, while the last will feature Qualcomm’s newly released Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 chip. Samsung may also adopt a dual-chip strategy based on region.

Compared with the previous generation Exynos 2500, the Exynos 2600 has seen a huge improvement, especially in energy efficiency and thermal management. One of the ways Samsung achieved these achievements is by using heat conduction blocking technology. According to the running data released by Geekbench, the Exynos 2600 runs faster than Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, so the Exynos 2600 is a major breakthrough for Samsung.

If the Exynos 2600 lives up to expectations, it will show that the Exynos team is capable of manufacturing competitive chipsets. It will also prove that Samsung’s semiconductor foundry’s 2nm manufacturing process is up to standard, which will attract a large number of customers and revitalize Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing business, which has been in a slump for some time.

It is worth noting that Exynos 2600 is also the world’s first 2nm mobile phone chip. Qualcomm, Apple, and MediaTek will enter the 2nm process as early as the second half of next year.