Last month, Qualcomm made the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor official. It is fabricated on TSMC's 3nm N3P process. While most brands have already atleast one product in-line with the said chipset, Samsung is seemingly going a different route. A new revelation suggests a tweaked variant of the 8 Elite Gen 5 is on its way.
Samsung and Qualcomm will collaborate for a 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
As per South Korean media publication New Daily Economy, Samsung has made an iteration of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, built on the brand's 2nm GAA foundry. This new chipset will reportedly debut with its next clamshell phone, the Galaxy Z Flip 8.
This doesn't come as a surprise, since Qualcomm chipsets powering Galaxy flagships have always carried a “Snapdragon for Galaxy” moniker in the past. The main difference this time is that Samsung is seemingly taking up the fabrication task itself, instead of going for an overclocked version of the TSMC model.
Moreover, Samsung also has its in-house 2nm Exynos 2600 chipset in the pipeline as well. This indicates a strong yield for the 2nm process node. Not to mention the fact that the Exynos 2600 is confirmed to become the world's first 2nm processor.
Hence, bringing the same Gate-All-Around process to the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 could translate to noteworthy efficiency while maintaining the same raw power of the processor. That said, for a 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to become real, Qualcomm will need to actually test the production samples and green lit them. As of now, that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe both brands will announce the tweaked variant in 2026.
If that is the case, then the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26 series will either use the Exynos 2600 processor or the 3nm 8 Elite Gen 5 one. The Galaxy S26 Pro and the Galaxy S26 Edge could draw their power from the Exynos 2600. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip could be reserved for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
So, looks like only the Galaxy Z Flip 8 as of now, is the most likely contender for the 2nm processor. Samsung might use the same chip inside the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as well. However, it is too early to speculate anything. So, take this development with a pinch of salt.
