Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Edge: Larger batteries, faster chips
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Galaxy S26 Edge are expected to be released next year, but rumors are already in full swing. Given that most Chinese competitors have recently significantly increased their battery capacity, the question is how long Samsung intends to stick with its 5,000 mAh cell, which already made its rounds in the Galaxy S20 Ultra in 2020.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra with 5,500 mAh battery
According to a new tip, the Korean company’s next top-of-the-line model has finally reached its end— The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is said to have a capacity of 5,500 mAh. While that’s a 10% increase, battery sizes among Chinese competitors are now at the top of the list, with a 6 or 7. At least the charging speed is finally supposed to increase, to 65 watts. This marks the first time that a Samsung smartphone has exceeded the previously insurmountable 45-watt limit.
Of course, we don’t yet know how this will affect the charging time of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and how much this has improved, but it is still good news. It will also be interesting to see how much a Samsung 65-watt charger will cost, as Samsung has been selling its smartphones without chargers for years.
Interestingly, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is said to be thinner than its predecessor (8.2) despite its higher battery capacity. mm). It also supports the recently introduced Qi2 25W Wireless Charging Standard, with 25 watts also representing a new wireless charging record for Samsung smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge: Larger Battery, Yet Thinner
Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 Edge launched in May. Since then, numerous rumors have been circulating that the Galaxy S26 Edge will replace the Plus model next year and will be released in January alongside the Galaxy S26 and the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. A new rumor from Chinese tipster Ice Universe promises interesting changes to the next Edge. It’s said to be even thinner than its 5.8 mm predecessor and also have a larger battery.
The larger cell is made possible by the use of a “new battery material technology,” which suggests the new silicon-carbon technology. It is precisely because of this technology that the Chinese competitors have made such a huge leap in recent months.
In fact, the predecessor of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge has a 3,900 mAh battery on board. At the same time, the 6.7-inch display is so large that the two combined factors result in rather limited battery life.
Samsung’s Exynos 2600 chipset discovered on Geekbench
Samsung announced the Exynos 2500 chipset last month, which will be used in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7. However, the Korean manufacturer hasn’t yet revealed anything about the Exynos 2600, which could be used in the successor and also in the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Edge. Thanks to a new Geekbench test, we now know what to expect from Samsung’s next flagship CPU.
A Samsung device with the model number S5E9965 was spotted on Geekbench with the Exynos 2600 chip. It’s a deca-core CPU, similar to the Exynos 2500, but with a different arrangement. The 1+3+6 configuration is led by a main core clocked at 3.55 GHz. There are also three performance cores clocked at 2.96 GHz and six efficiency cores clocked at 2.46 GHz. Samsung’s Xclipse 960 GPU is responsible for the graphics.
The tested Samsung Exynos 2600 phone had 12 GB of RAM and ran Android 16. It achieved scores of 2,155 and 7,788 points in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 with the Exynos 2500 processor achieved scores of 2,099 and 7,433 points in the Geekbench test. However, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 2,910 and 9,152 points, puts it in a different league.
However, the Exynos 2600 is currently still in development and the clock rates of its CPU could still increase. Bloomberg reports that Samsung is currently examining the use of Qualcomm and own chips for the Galaxy S26 series and thus also for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. The result of this test depends on the one hand on the performance of your own chips and on the other hand on the performance and the price of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 beats Dimensity 9500 in the CPU clock rate
Besides Qualcomm, there is another competitor in the semiconductor market: MediaTek with its upcoming Dimensity 9500 chipset. This is expected to break the 4 GHz barrier for the first time in the company’s history, thus catching up with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is scheduled to be unveiled at the end of September and, according to a new rumor, will clock at 4.6 GHz instead of 4.32 GHz for the regular model and a whopping 4.74 GHz in the faster “for Galaxy” version, which is a very likely candidate to power the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Whether the rest of the Galaxy S26 series will also rely on Qualcomm depends, as mentioned, on the performance of the Exynos 2600.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is rumored to have a 1.2 GHz GPU and achieve an AnTuTu score of over 4 million. Qualcomm will also use its custom Oryon cores in the second generation of the Elite and will manufacture them in a 3 nm N3p process at TSMC. The CPU has two Pover 4 million. Qualcomm will also use its customer-specific oryon cores in the second generation of the elite and and manufactured in a 3 NM-N3P process at TSMC. The CPU has two prime cores and six performance cores, and the GPU is marketed as Adreno 840.
