Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 8 may stick with this bold hardware choice

Samsung took a big step with the Galaxy Z Flip 7 this year. By outfitting the foldable with its own Exynos 2500 chipset, the company has reduced its reliance on Qualcomm's Snapdragon-branded silicon to an extent. Now that the company's newly announced 2nm Exynos 2600 chipset is entering mass production, a report out of South Korea suggests the powerful new chip could power Samsung's next flip-style foldable.

According to The Bell, Samsung is currently "considering" using the Exynos 2600 in the slimmer Galaxy Z Flip 8, reportedly based on the chipset's performance in certain Galaxy S26 variants. Discussions on outfitting the Galaxy Z Flip 8 with the new silicon are reportedly ongoing between the Samsung LSI and MX divisions (via Jukan on X).

This is contrary to a report in October, which suggested Samsung might produce a 2nm version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, offering a significant improvement over the 3nm version produced by TSMC. That report also indicated that Samsung may outfit some of these 2nm versions of Qualcomm's chip with the Galaxy Z Flip 8 next summer.

How much better will the Exynos 2600 be over the Exynos 2500?

It's no secret that Samsung's Exynos chipsets have garnered a poor reputation over the years. While things have improved in some areas with the Exynos 2500 chipset on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, we didn't find the foldable's performance to be among its strongest attributes in our review.

We're still several months away from the Galaxy Z Flip 8's debut, though we won't have to wait that long to get an understanding of the next-gen Exynos chipset's performance.

Some Galaxy S26 models are expected to feature this chip. Rumors so far suggest the base and Plus versions could be made available with the Exynos 2600 in some markets, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra is reportedly sticking to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

Samsung's product page states that the Exynos 2600 brings multiple advancements, including an NPU that delivers 113% improvement in generative AI performance over the Exynos 2500 and 39% better CPU computing performance. Additionally, this chipset will adopt the new APV codec.

Despite these seemingly impressive specifications, it's wise to reserve judgment on the new Exynos 2600 chipset until we've had a chance to try it out on a smartphone. According to a recent report, the Galaxy S26 series may only arrive in February, so we may have to wait a couple more months to determine what the Exynos 2600 brings to the table.