Outside of its devices, Samsung designs and manufactures its own Exynos chipsets, and the company has frequently equipped select Galaxy devices with these in-house processors depending on the region and generation. In the run-up to the Galaxy S26 series, debate inevitably resurfaced over whether Samsung would back its own silicon or once again turn to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform instead.
Today, coinciding with the launch of the flagship series, Qualcomm confirmed that the Ultra variant runs on its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 globally. The chipset is also used in the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+, but only in select regions. In Malaysia, however, those two devices run on Samsung’s Exynos 2600.
Now, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra running on a Snapdragon chipset isn’t particularly new, as we spotted the device’s FCC filings late last year. However, Qualcomm decided to take things further by revealing that the silicon features a custom-built third-generation Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU, and advanced Qualcomm Hexagon NPU. The chip manufacturer claims that these upgrades allow for “faster workflows”, “enhanced camera capabilities”, which includes the Advance Professional Video (APV) capture, and more personalised AI experiences.
The official press release states that Qualcomm worked with Samsung to optimise the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for the Galaxy device, enabling it to deliver the “latest Galaxy AI experiences”. Qualcomm claims that the chip can deliver timely and relevant suggestions and handle actions in the background on the user’s behalf, with these capabilities designed to run smoothly and efficiently.
Furthermore, the chipmaker mentions that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy features Qualcomm Smart Transmit, which optimises the flagship device’s uplink power across 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and satellite links. This addition allows the handset to upload faster, improve coverage and deliver “seamless performance without compromising safety or efficiency”, or so the company says. The Galaxy S26 Ultra also features Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7900 Mobile Connectivity system, which it claims enables more “responsive interactions in everyday use”.
For those who missed it, Samsung officially unveiled the Galaxy S26 family earlier today at 2 am during its Galaxy Unpacked event. While the main highlights were the phones, the tech giant also introduced its newest flagship wireless earphones.
(Source: Qualcomm press release)
