The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is all set to hit retail shelves early next year. As with any major Samsung flagship launch, there has been no dearth of leaks and early info about the smartphones.
Among the notable rumored changes to the lineup is the adoption of Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2600 chipset across all three models, including the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Separately, another report suggested that Samsung may push the announcement of its new flagships to late February.
A report by the Korean-language publication Chosun contradicts some of these notions, claiming that Samsung is gearing up to announce the Galaxy S26 series by late January, with the phones set to hit the market by mid-February (via Jukan on X/Twitter).
As per an insider cited by Chosun, Samsung initially delayed the launch of the Galaxy S26 series due to a brief reorganization of the available models in the lineup. However, those concerns have reportedly been dealt with since then, thereby allowing the manufacturer to proceed with a late January announcement.
No Exynos for the Galaxy S26 Ultra yet
Meanwhile, the Chosun report also debunks the initial theory that the Exynos 2600 chipset will be used on all three Galaxy S26 variants. An anonymous industry insider told the publication that Samsung will use the Exynos 2600 chipset only in the vanilla Galaxy S26 and the Plus versions of the flagship.
This means the Galaxy S26 Ultra will utilize Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, potentially attached with the “for Galaxy” suffix. However, as a downside, this will almost inevitably lead to increased costs due to rising component prices, as well as trade tariffs.
What we don’t know at this point is where these Exynos 2600-toting Galaxy S26 models will be sold. In the past, Samsung has sold its Galaxy flagships with Exynos chips across select markets in Asia, Europe, and other regions. It will be interesting to see if the manufacturer will take the leap with the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus by offering them with the Exynos 2600 across all markets.
While we don’t have a date to mark on our calendars for Samsung’s next Unpacked event, the mention of late January suggests that Samsung may not miss the Galaxy S25’s announcement date (January 22) by much.
In the meantime, we continue to learn more about the entry-level models in the Galaxy S26 lineup, with a recent leak shedding light on their modest camera upgrades. Leakers have been less decisive about the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera improvements, however.
