Galaxy S27 Ultra gets Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6

The original tip, which spread in October, claimed the S27 Ultra would use only Qualcomm’s chip, everywhere it’s sold. The cheaper models would split by region: the Galaxy S27, S27+ and a new S27 Pro would get Exynos in Europe and Korea but Snapdragon in the US and China.

Interestingly, the same tipster said the Exynos 2700 was doing well, with good chip yields (the share of usable chips from each silicon wafer). Even so, it called an Exynos Ultra unlikely, partly because of Samsung’s long business relationship with Qualcomm. It also said no final decision had been made, which turned out to be the important part.

In mid-October, Korea’s Seoul Economic Daily reported that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 went past Samsung’s temperature limits during sustained heavy workloads and slowed itself down. That slowdown is called thermal throttling: a chip cuts its speed to protect itself when it gets too hot.

According to that report, Samsung asked Qualcomm in September to fix the chip’s heat behavior by mid-October. As of October 16, the chip still hadn’t met Samsung’s stability target, though the two companies were continuing to tune and retest it. The issue concerns long sessions, like extended gaming, heavy camera use or demanding on-device AI tasks, rather than short benchmark bursts. For a top-priced phone, holding steady speed over a long session matters as much as raw peak power, and some rival phone makers have added active cooling to deal with the same kind of heat.

Samsung hasn’t confirmed the problem, and the Snapdragon chip hasn’t been ruled out. But it puts a clock on the decision, because Samsung needs to lock its chip choice before mass production of the S27 series begins.

The Exynos 2700 is Samsung’s next in-house phone chip, made on its second-generation 2nm manufacturing process, called SF2P. Compared with the first-generation process used for the Exynos 2600, Samsung says SF2P brings 12% more performance, 25% lower power use and an 8% smaller chip.

Samsung has reportedly raised Exynos 2700 production by more than 10% over the previous chip, and early factory benchmarks are said to show it beating the Snapdragon. Treat that with caution: Samsung has promised big things from Exynos before and fallen short in real-world use, and no independent testing exists yet.

A switch would be a big moment. Every Ultra model since the Galaxy S23 Ultra has used a Qualcomm chip in all markets. You have to go back to 2022, when some European buyers got an Exynos version of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, to find the last exception.

If you’re in the US, the earlier tip said all S27 models would use Snapdragon there. But if Samsung moves the Ultra to Exynos, it isn’t clear whether that would be worldwide or only in some markets, so even US buyers can’t count on a Snapdragon Ultra yet. Buyers in the UK, as part of Europe, are the most likely to see Exynos in the cheaper S27 models, based on the regional split described in the first tip. There’s no specific word on Canada.

Price is the other worry. The Galaxy S26 Ultra launched at $1,299 in the US, and Samsung raised it to $1,399 this month. With memory costs rising, there’s speculation the S27 Ultra could start at $1,499, though nothing is official.

Other leaks point to a bigger, more rectangular camera bump to fit a new main sensor and better zoom camera, slimmer bezels around the screen and a larger battery. All of it is unconfirmed. The front bezels are rumored to shrink to 1.28mm, slightly thinner than the 1.32mm on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S27 series in early 2027. Until then, expect more back-and-forth as testing continues. If you’re deciding whether to wait, here are a few practical points:

• When reviews arrive, look for sustained-performance and heat tests, not just peak benchmark scores.
• Check which chip your country’s model uses before you preorder by reading the official spec sheet.
• If you need a phone now, the current Galaxy S26 Ultra uses Snapdragon worldwide.