Exynos 2600 Could Beat Apple’s A18 Pro…Two Years Too Late

The Samsung Exynos 2500 is expected to make its official debut later this year in the Galaxy Z Flip 7. It is the South Korean tech giant’s first 3nm chipset. In 2026, the company will follow up with the Exynos 2600, a chipset built on the 2nm process. Now, leaked benchmarks suggest that the Exynos 2600 outperforms Apple’s A18 Pro.

The Exynos 2600 puts Apple on notice

According to a post on X by tipster OreXda, Samsung is making an interesting move with the Exynos 2600. Based on what we know so far, the Exynos 2500 is a chipset that features a 10-core CPU. However, for the Exynos 2600, Samsung could scale back the number of cores to an 8-core configuration.

It is rumored to feature two Cortex-X cores and six Cortex-A cores. Initial benchmark results show that it scored around 2,950 points for single-core and around 10,200 points for multi-core on Geekbench 6.

It would be interesting if Samsung scaled back on the number of cores. There aren’t that many chipsets with a 10-core CPU configuration. Other than the Exynos 2500, Xiaomi’s new Xring O1 comes to mind. However, it isn’t always about the number of cores, so maybe Samsung realized that while developing the Exynos 2600.

Also, based on the benchmarks, the Exynos 2600 is faster than Apple’s A18 Pro in multi-core performance. However, we have to wonder if that’s relevant. By the time Samsung’s 2nm chipset launches, the A18 Pro (which is used in 2024’s iPhone 16 series) will be two years old. By then, we can only assume that the A20 will handily smoke whatever Samsung’s putting out there.

Samsung pushes ahead with Exynos

Samsung’s Exynos chipsets have gotten a bad rep over the years. Older models were found to be, in some cases, slower and more battery-intensive than their Qualcomm alternatives. 

This wouldn’t be that big of an issue, except that Samsung uses a dual-chipset strategy. For instance, the Galaxy S24 series is sold with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in North America, while other parts of the world have the version that runs on the Exynos 2400. Obviously, there are discrepancies in performance, but the fact that customers are paying the same amount for a different experience hasn’t sat well.

Clearly, Samsung wants its Exynos chipsets front and center of its products, similar to Google’s Tensor series and Apple’s A-series. This is why the company hasn’t given up yet. Samsung hasn’t confirmed anything about the Exynos 2600 yet, but last we heard, the production of the prototype units has begun.