Samsung Electronics is pressing ahead with development of its next flagship smartphone processor as it attempts to increase the use of its own chips in Galaxy devices and lessen its dependence on Qualcomm.
According to industry sources, the company plans to produce finalised sample versions of the Exynos 2700 between May and June this year. These production-ready units will allow engineers to finalise testing before the chip enters mass manufacturing. The processor is expected to appear in a large portion of the Galaxy S27 range that is likely to arrive early next year.
Mobile application processors act as the primary computing engine inside smartphones. In premium devices they typically represent about 15 to 30 per cent of total manufacturing costs. Within Samsung, development of these processors is handled by the System LSI division, while the company’s foundry business manufactures the chips before supplying them internally to the Mobile eXperience division that builds Galaxy smartphones.
Samsung’s push to speed up development follows a difficult period for its in-house chip programme. The Exynos 2300 was ultimately cancelled before reaching mass production after failing to meet performance expectations. Later, delays affecting the Exynos 2500 meant Samsung relied entirely on Qualcomm processors for the Galaxy S25 and Z Fold 7 models released in 2025.
The company began to regain momentum this year with the introduction of the Exynos 2600. That processor returned to Samsung’s flagship line-up through the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus models, which were released last week in markets including South Korea and parts of Europe.
However, the higher-end Galaxy S26 Ultra continues to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip across all markets.
Early performance testing suggests the two processors deliver broadly similar results. Qualcomm’s chip holds an advantage in single-core performance, while Samsung’s Exynos processor remains competitive in multi-core processing, graphics performance and certain artificial intelligence workloads.
Sources familiar with development of the Exynos 2700 said its design phase was completed late last year. The chip has since entered the sampling stage, allowing Samsung engineers to examine performance levels and confirm manufacturing reliability before production ramps up.
The processor will be manufactured using Samsung’s second-generation 2-nanometre process technology, known internally as SF2P. The company expects this node to provide stronger yields and improved performance compared with the earlier version used for the Exynos 2600. Samsung is also continuing work on packaging improvements designed to reduce heat buildup, an issue that affected some previous Exynos chips. The Exynos 2600 introduced a feature known as Heat Path Block that directs heat away from the processor more efficiently, and the new design is expected to refine that approach.
Park Yu-ak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, estimates that the Exynos 2700 could power roughly 50 per cent of the Galaxy S27 devices produced. That would represent a significant increase compared with the estimated 25 per cent share achieved by Exynos chips in the current Galaxy S26 series. He attributes the potential increase to improved manufacturing yields, stronger benchmark performance and growing pressure within Samsung to lower component expenses.
The financial motivation for expanding Exynos usage is substantial. Industry figures show Samsung spent about 11 trillion won purchasing external mobile processors during the first three quarters of last year alone. The company also reportedly paid around A$610 million to secure Qualcomm chips for the Galaxy S25 line after delays affected its own processor development.
Park believes that if Exynos 2700 production proceeds smoothly, Samsung’s semiconductor design and foundry operations, which have recorded combined losses since early 2023, could return to operating profit by the final quarter of this year.
Samsung’s ambition to rely less on external suppliers extends beyond a single chip generation. Moon Sung-hoon, vice president of hardware at the company’s MX division, recently said Samsung ultimately hopes to power all Galaxy smartphones with Exynos processors. He added that achieving this goal would require a gradual transition over the medium to long term.
