Samsung is all set to launch its upcoming flagship Galaxy S26 series smartphones, expected on February 25th globally. Now, the Samsung Galaxy S26 appeared on the Geekbench listing, offering an early look at Samsung’s upcoming flagship powered by the new Exynos 2600 chipset. While pre-launch benchmark listings are fairly common, this one stands out as the Exynos 2600 is the world’s first 2nm chipset based on Samsung’s 2nm GAA node to debut in a commercial smartphone.
According to the listing, the Galaxy S26 is running Android 16 and is equipped with 12GB of RAM. It posted a single-core score of 3,315 and a multi-core score of 11,310. Samsung claims the new chipset delivers up to a 39 percent improvement in CPU performance over its predecessor, along with significantly enhanced GPU capabilities. While the numbers look promising, early benchmarks rarely reflect real-world performance in full.
The key highlight here is the move to a 2nm manufacturing process. Smaller fabrication nodes generally translate to better efficiency, enabling higher performance with lower power consumption and reduced heat output. This is particularly crucial for Samsung, as past Exynos chips have shown strong peak performance but often struggled with sustained workloads.
The Galaxy S26 is expected to feature a 6.3-inch display and retain a 4,300mAh battery, in line with recent Galaxy S models. Rather than increasing battery capacity, Samsung appears to be banking on the Exynos 2600's improved efficiency to deliver better battery life and more consistent performance. This approach is especially relevant for India, where high ambient temperatures, long screen-on times, gaming, navigation, and extended 5G usage tend to expose thermal and battery limitations quickly.
On the graphics front, the Exynos 2600 integrates the Xclipse 960 GPU, which Samsung says brings a noticeable performance uplift along with improved ray tracing support. This should benefit gaming and graphics-intensive applications, although actual gains will depend heavily on software and game optimisation.
Inevitably, comparisons with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors will follow. While some regions receive Snapdragon-powered Galaxy models, India has traditionally been served with Exynos variants, making the performance and efficiency of this chip particularly important for local buyers.
