Samsung has been going back and forth on which chip goes inside the Galaxy S27 Ultra since July, and Ice Universe added the newest line to that story today. There are still no signs of an Exynos 2700 Ultra for Europe, he says, so European buyers should expect the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, while South Korea remains open.
How The Story Has Changed Month By Month
- July: the Ultra would run Snapdragon everywhere, with the S27, S27 Plus and S27 Pro on the Exynos 2700 outside North America
- Early September: insiders claimed Samsung was building Exynos 2700 Ultras for Korea and Europe
- Early October: mass production of the Exynos 2700 started, reportedly at more than 10% above Exynos 2600 volumes, with the Ultra still undecided
- A few days later: SammyGuru reported the Ultra would ship worldwide with Qualcomm’s chip
- Mid October: Android Authority reported the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 was running too hot in Samsung’s testing, which Qualcomm denied
- Last week: The Elec reported internal Geekbench 6 tests showing the Exynos 2700 ahead of the Qualcomm chip by 9.5% in multi-core, putting it above 14,000 points
- Today: Ice Universe says no Exynos Ultra for Europe, Korea uncertain
Money Is The Reason The Fight Is Still Going
Korean outlet Money Today reported that Samsung has ordered a mainboard for an Exynos 2700 Ultra and that its chip division and phone division have agreed supply terms, which is unusual this late when the Snapdragon version is already most of the way through development. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is believed to cost more than $300 a unit, and some analysts have put a Qualcomm-only Ultra at more than $1,599. An Exynos Ultra for Korea would let Samsung keep its home-market price down while it keeps paying Qualcomm for the rest of the world.
What The Benchmark Lead Does And Does Not Prove
The 9.5% multi-core lead comes from Samsung’s own testing and has not been confirmed outside the company. The Exynos 2600 also looked better than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on paper and did not match it in daily use, which is why Samsung ended up putting Qualcomm in about 75% of the S26 line. Single-core performance is still expected to trail Qualcomm.
If the Korean Exynos Ultra goes ahead, it will be the first Exynos chip in an Ultra since the Galaxy S22 in 2022. Samsung has confirmed none of this, and with the S27 launch expected in early 2027 there is time for the reports to change again.
