Samsung Galaxy S26 series: More AI power, special chips and Galaxy S26 Edge
Samsung has released its financial report for the third quarter and taken the opportunity to reveal some details about the upcoming Galaxy S26 series and Samsung’s strategy for Galaxy smartphones in general. There’s also exciting news about the S26 Edge.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Series: More Power, More AI, and Special Chipsets
“The Samsung Galaxy S26 series will revolutionize the user experience with next-generation, user-centric AI, a second-generation custom application platform, and enhanced performance, including new camera sensors.”
Daniel Araujo, Samsung Vice President Mobile Experience Division (MX)
AP stands for “application processor” and is the industry term for chipset. But why second generation? Although not explicitly named as such, the Exynos 2600 is the first smartphone chipset manufactured using a 2nm process. This would be the first generation. Or perhaps the second one, if you include the Exynos 2500, which is exclusively used in the Galaxy Z Flip7.
According to reports, Qualcomm will source some Snapdragon 8 chips from two different manufacturers, and the “for Galaxy” variants are said to be manufactured by Samsung’s contract manufacturers – this would fall under the “Custom AP” category, so these could be the chips that are being discussed. Araujo refers to.
According to some reports, the Exynos 2600 will be used in most regions for all Samsung Galaxy S26 models, while in select regions (US, China, Japan) the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will be used instead. The final decision has not yet been made – “AP evaluation is still underway, so we cannot yet confirm our flagship lineup for next year,” said Araujo.
According to recent reports, the Samsung Galaxy S26 series will be equipped with a new Exynos network chip that will handle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, among other things. This is not an access point (AP), of course, but it is still interesting because the Galaxy S25 series uses Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7800 for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – so a replacement could occur regardless of the main chipset. Apple recently introduced the N1 network chip in the iPhone Air, which replaces the previous Broadcom chip.
Next year, Samsung will focus on AI features for its smartphones, new AI-based health tracking features for its Galaxy smartwatches, and new true wireless headphones, while simultaneously strengthening its position in the foldable device market.
Is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge still coming?
The rumor mill surrounding Samsung has been churning in recent weeks. Initially, it was said that the Korean company would replace the Galaxy S26+ with the Galaxy S26 Edge, but then it seems the opposite happened: the S26 Edge was canceled, and the S26+ returned.
A new rumor now suggests that the story isn’t over yet. While the originally planned Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge was indeed scrapped, it will likely be replaced by another smartphone. Apparently, a device codenamed “More Slim” is in development, which is interesting given that the Galaxy S25 Edge was codenamed “Slim.”
Furthermore, the development of the More Slim began later than that of the smartphone presumably the Galaxy S26 Edge. It seems Samsung may have changed its mind and abandoned the project in favor of a different S26 Edge. Since development started later, this device, like the S25 Edge, might be released later this year compared to the main S series, whose release, we recently heard, has been pushed back to March to allow sufficient development time for the S26+.
With a codename like “More Slim,” we expect the S26 Edge to be even thinner than its predecessor. This begs the question: Was the S25 Edge’s lack of slimness its main problem? We would argue that battery life and the camera are the biggest drawbacks for most users, but Samsung apparently sees things differently. We’re eager to see just how slim the S26 Edge will actually be and what compromises it will make.
