Qualcomm is said to have claimed most of the mobile application processor (AP) volumes built into the new foldable phone and smartwatch lineup that Samsung Electronics unveiled at "Galaxy Unpacked 2026" on the 22nd (local time). While the top-tier foldable phones and all smartwatch models are equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite 5th Gen, Samsung Electronics' AP Exynos series is installed only in some entry-level products, leading to the assessment that it merely kept a toehold.
◇ Fold and watch are effectively dominated by Snapdragon
According to the industry on the 29th, Snapdragon 8 Elite 5th Gen from Qualcomm was installed in the top-tier foldable phones Galaxy Z Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra that Samsung Electronics unveiled, without regional distinction. A high-performance version of the chip optimized for the Galaxy series with boosted clock speeds was applied. Only the entry-level Galaxy Z Flip8 uses Exynos 2600 in some markets such as Korea, Europe and South America, while Snapdragon is installed in major markets including North America, China and Japan.
For chips for wearables, including smartwatches, Exynos has lost its place to Snapdragon. Both of the new Galaxy Watch9 and Watch Ultra2 models adopted Qualcomm's new wearable-dedicated chip, "Snapdragon Wear Elite," for the first time instead of the Exynos W series. Until now, the APs in Samsung smartwatches had consistently used the Exynos series from Samsung Electronics' System LSI business unit.
The new smart glasses "Intelligent Eyewear," introduced jointly by Samsung Electronics, Google, and eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, were also built on Qualcomm's AR1 1st Gen chip. As a result, the only slot Exynos secured at this Unpacked is effectively the Flip8 volumes for some regions such as Korea, Europe and South America.
◇ CPU performance gap narrowed, but GPU and power efficiency decided the outcome
The industry cites two figures as the background for this decision. In pure compute performance, the gap is not large. Based on official Galaxy S26 retail models, benchmark site Geekbench 6 single-core scores were 3,378 for Snapdragon 8 Elite 5th Gen and 3,315 for Exynos 2600, a difference of about 1.9%. Early leaked Exynos 2600 test scores even drew assessments that it outpaced Snapdragon.
The issue is the graphics processing unit (GPU) and power efficiency. The GPU "Xclipse 960" installed in Exynos 2600 has been repeatedly criticized for thermal control problems in which power consumption rises sharply and performance drops when high-load tasks such as gaming or video editing continue for long periods. Because of hinge constraints, the Fold and Fold Ultra have less thermal headroom than ordinary smartphones, which can make this weakness stand out more in real-world use.
The gap is even clearer for smartwatch chips. The big-core clock of the previous Exynos W1000 is 1.6 gigahertz (GHz), whereas the new Snapdragon Wear Elite (SW6100) runs at 2.1 GHz, about 31% higher. In addition, Snapdragon has, for the first time, a high-performance Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of handling AI models with up to 2 billion parameters, widening the gap to effectively about one generation in both performance and features.
Past history is also cited as an important reason the Samsung Electronics MX division chose Qualcomm. Exynos 2400, installed in the Galaxy S24 in 2024, was assessed to trail Snapdragon by about 6% in performance and to be disadvantaged in battery life, and the issue was also raised at that year's National Assembly audit.
A semiconductor industry official said, "If you only look at the benchmark score differences, it might seem like there is an excessive tilt toward the Snapdragon series, but with the foldable phone structure's weak heat dissipation, the watch's overwhelming clock and AI performance gap, and even past performance controversies, it appears Samsung prioritized the safe choice for the premium lineup."