New Galaxy S26 leaks indicate some devices will feature an Exynos 2600 chip — and some bad news about the Galaxy S26 Ultra

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It's looking like it could be a tough sell

SmartPrix renders of the galaxy s26 phones
(Image credit: SmartPrix / Tom's Guide)

Buying a new phone is a delicate balancing act of weighing the upgrades against the price. However, new leaks about the Galaxy S26 series indicate that Samsung could face a challenge next year.

The first leak comes to us from Chosun Biz and seemingly expands on the rumor that Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus could ship with the Exynos 2600 chip in certain markets. According to the report, the Exynos 2600-powered devices will primarily be sold in Asia, including Korea.

What about the Galaxy S26 Ultra?

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra concept image

(Image credit: Technizo Concept/YouTube)

The chip expected to feature on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a little more complicated. Some rumors have indicated that it may launch with an Exynos chip in some markets, while others state that it will internationally feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon. Unfortunately, regardless of the chip, a recent post from leaker Ice Universe has some bad news about the rest of the phone's hardware.

For the most part, many of the best Android phones to date have been released with at least the option for 16GB of RAM. However, Samsung's phones, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra, typically have a maximum capacity of 12GB. According to IceUniverse, this is unlikely to change with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is expected to feature the same memory and storage options as its predecessors.

If accurate, this would mean that the Galaxy S26 Ultra could launch with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. That’s a noticeable difference compared to devices like the Google Pixel 10 Pro, which comes with 16GB of RAM, or the OnePlus 15's options for either 12 or 16GB of RAM.

On the plus side, IceUniverse has posted in the past that the Galaxy S26 Ultra could use the LPDDR5X RAM module, which reportedly offers a speed of 10.7 GBPS. In comparison, the module used in the Galaxy S25 Ultra reaches speeds of 8.5 GBPS. So, while the phone may not see an improvement in quantity, the RAM should offer faster speeds for memory bandwidth-intensive tasks, such as image processing.

The Galaxy S26 series could struggle in the eyes of consumers

Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup

(Image credit: Future)

With all of this in mind, Samsung's next range of smartphones looks to be a hard sell in some ways. While the RAM might be faster in the Galaxy S26 Ultra, it’s hard to really quantify that to consumers, with people tending to focus on RAM quantity. Add to that the Galaxy S26 launching with a potentially weaker chip (although recent leaks might question this) for the same price will always be a hard sell.

With all that being said, it is still relatively early days when it comes to Samsung’s phones, and it’s entirely possible that things could change in the coming months. As such, it’s worth taking all of this with a pinch of salt until we have seen the official release of the phones.

Let us know what you think and if these changes — or lack of — would change your mind about buying the next generation of Samsung phones.

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Josh Render
Josh Render
Staff Writer

Josh is a staff writer for Tom's Guide and is based in the UK. He has worked for several publications but now works primarily on mobile phones. Outside of phones, he has a passion for video games, novels, and Warhammer. 

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