Samsung considers replacing Qualcomm chips with in-house Exynos processors for next top flagship

Samsung is considering dropping Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 from its upcoming Galaxy S27 Ultra in favor of its in-house Exynos 2700 processor, according to Seoul Economic Daily. Internal testing reportedly revealed that Qualcomm's top-tier 2nm chip caused severe overheating and performance throttling, falling short of requirements to reliably run high-end cameras, graphics, and AI features. [1][2][4]

Samsung alerted Qualcomm to the thermal issues and gave the chipmaker a tight deadline through mid-October to resolve the problems. If Qualcomm cannot deliver stable performance within mass-production schedules, Samsung plans to pivot to the Exynos 2700, which is rumored to feature an updated Heat Path Block cooling design. Qualcomm strongly pushed back against the claims, issuing a statement calling the reports of thermal defects inaccurate. [1][2][4]

A full transition would mark a dramatic shift for Samsung's premier smartphone lineup. While the manufacturer historically divided markets between chips, it has relied almost entirely on Qualcomm for US flagships since overheating forced a similar switch to Exynos during the Galaxy S6 generation a decade ago. [1][2]