Samsung Electronics' (005930.KS) next-generation mobile application processor (AP), the Exynos 2700, outperformed Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 in an in-house performance evaluation, according to industry sources. Samsung, which spends as much as 14 trillion won a year buying APs from suppliers such as Qualcomm, is seen as able to ease its cost burden by strengthening the competitiveness of its own chips.
Samsung Electronics' MX division recently ran internal benchmark tests comparing the Exynos 2700 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, industry sources said on the 23rd.
Exynos is Samsung's own mobile AP brand, designed by the company's System LSI division. The Exynos 2700 is a next-generation mobile AP that handles a smartphone's computing, graphics and artificial intelligence (AI) processing. Its predecessor, the Exynos 2600, was used in some models of the Galaxy S26 series and the Galaxy Z Flip 8.
The internal tests showed the Exynos 2700 leading Qualcomm's product across major categories, including the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), AI computation and power efficiency.
On CPU performance, the Exynos 2700 scored 19% higher than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 on Geekbench 6.5 multicore. Even against the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, it was 9.5% higher. Geekbench is a benchmarking program that measures the CPU and GPU performance of processors in smartphones and computers and expresses the results as scores.
The Exynos 2700's edge was even more pronounced in the GPU category. On peak performance, it delivered 5% higher results than Qualcomm's Pro product.
In particular, in a low-power environment of 2.5 watts (W), it recorded 24% higher performance than the standard Qualcomm chip and 22% higher than the Pro product. This means it excels at delivering strong graphics performance while curbing power consumption during smartphone use.
It also showed an advantage in AI computation. In a test using the Llama 3.1 8-billion (B) parameter model, the Exynos 2700 generated responses 18% faster than Qualcomm's Pro product. Its speed in recognizing and processing user prompts was also measured at 5% higher than the Qualcomm chip.
It also showed improvement in power efficiency. In a power-consumption measurement simulating real-world use, the Exynos 2700 recorded 161 milliamperes (mA), 12.7% lower than the 185 mA of Qualcomm's Pro chip.
The Exynos 2700, expected to launch next year, will be produced on SF2P, the second-generation 2-nanometer process at Samsung's foundry. Through the process upgrade, Samsung aims to improve power efficiency over its predecessor while also strengthening thermal management and computing performance.
The industry is also watching the possibility that Samsung will further increase its use of Exynos starting with the Galaxy S27 series. If the competitiveness of its own APs improves, the company could lower its reliance on Qualcomm products while also reducing the cost burden on its smartphones.
Samsung spent 13.83 trillion won on AP solution purchases last year, up 26.5% from 10.93 trillion won a year earlier. In the first half of this year, its spending on mobile APs from suppliers such as Qualcomm and MediaTek reached 7.44 trillion won, equal to 17.9% of total raw-material purchase costs for its Device eXperience (DX) division.
Meanwhile, a Samsung official said the company could not confirm the specific results of the internal tests.
