Samsung has officially announced the Exynos 2600, the world’s first 2-nanometer mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC) built on the Gate-All-Around (GAA) . The 10-core ARM-based design aims to improve performance and efficiency for high-end devices, such as the upcoming Galaxy S26 series.
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The chip uses Arm's latest cores and supports new instructions for improved CPU and AI speed on the device, with Samsung claiming up to a 39% increase in CPU performance and 113% faster NPU performance, enabling larger and more efficient AI workloads. The GPU is based on the latest Xclipse, with Samsung stating that it doubles previous graphics performance and increases ray tracing by up to 50%.
Previous Exynos processors have gained a bad reputation for overheating and throttling performance, especially compared to competing chips from Apple. To address these weaknesses, Samsung has introduced a new thermal approach called Heat Path Block (HPB). The technique uses a High-k EMC material to improve heat dissipation, allowing the Exynos 2600 to maintain higher levels of performance for longer periods, even under continuous heavy workloads, according to Samsung.
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Apple is widely expected to adopt the 2nm process for several devices in 2026, but will use TSMC. Apple has reportedly secured a significant portion of TSMC's initial N2 production capacity, with the A20 and A20 Pro chips for the iPhone 18 series expected to be the first Apple chips to be built on this node. The N2-based processors will succeed Apple's A17 Pro to A19 Pro chips, which are built using TSMC's 3nm process series.
Compared to current 3nm chips, TSMC's 2nm process promises up to 15% higher performance at the same power level or 25 to 30% lower power consumption at the same performance level. The process also achieves about 15% higher transistor density, allowing more functionality to be integrated into the same physical space.
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Apple's first 2nm chips are likely to debut in the iPhone 18 Pro models and Apple's first foldable iPhone, which are expected to launch in late 2026. Beyond iPhones, Apple's M6 series for future Macs could also use TSMC's 2nm process, although we haven't heard any concrete rumors that this will happen.
