Major leaps forward for both Snapdragon and Exynos
The dance between Exynos and Snapdragon chipsets is now expected whenever a new range of Samsung flagships appear, as the former typically powers the cheapest phone of the bunch (and its plus-sized sibling), while the latter is saved for the Ultra phone (unless you live in the US, where Snapdragon exists in all three handsets). Even though that dance is set to continue in the S27 range, it now seems there will be some serious upgrades in both types of chips.
On the Snapdragon side of things, even though Qualcomm is working on the expected Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 processor, there’s word that the company is also developing a more powerful ‘pro’ version designed for uber-flagship phones. Likely titled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, this beefier chip appears to be using vastly superior LPDDR6 RAM, alongside a larger 18MB cache for the GPU. Behind all the jargon, this should pave the way for much better sustained gaming performance, which will then trickle down into a much faster user experience across the board.
Chris Martin / Foundry
We’ve now had further leaks corroborating the idea that the S27 Ultra will be using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, which makes sense given Samsung and Qualcomm’s close relationship. Ahead of its release, it seems like the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max will be the first phone to market with that higher-end chipset in tow.
On the Exynos side of things, Samsung may be looking to bolster performance yet again by using side-by-side (SBS) architecture, which has the RAM and SoC laid out next to one another. The current Exynos 2600 uses a stacked design which isn’t ideal for heat dissipation, something that would be much better optimised by going down the SBS route.
It’s worth mentioning that the Exynos 2600 is as competent an Exynos chip as we’ve ever tested, with the overall performance putting it far more in line with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, although still a touch behind in some areas. If this attempt to optimise the thermal regulation of the Exynos 2700 is successful, it could close the gap even further for the S27 and S27+.
Overall performance could also get a boost from Samsung moving over to using UFS 5.0 storage – the brand’s new standard which promises much faster read speeds of up to 10.8Gbps alongside write speeds of up to 9.5Gbps. For context, that’s over double the current speeds of the existing UFS 4.1 storage framework.
According to Samsung, this should come with a 40% boost to power efficiency, which in everyday terms should make the S27 range far more efficient at opening apps and running complex tasks, all while minimising the effect on battery life. If Samsung doesn’t change the battery capacity on these phones then the storage upgrade might be leaned on as a means of helping users to get more out of the handsets between charges.
Sources: SamMobile (2) | Digital Chat Station
