Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra may use Exynos processor as 5 GHz Snapdragon chipset runs hot

Samsung has reportedly encountered severe processor overheating issues while doing engineering tests on its upcoming Galaxy S27 Ultra flagship powered by the top Snapdragon processor of Qualcomm.

The fastest mobile chip that Qualcomm has ever crafted is dubbed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 Mobile Platform, and it is the first phone processor that can hit 5 GHz clock speed with its prime Oryon cores. Unfortunately, all that power may come with thermal control and hence speed throttling tradeoffs, at least Samsung's implementation of it in the Galaxy S27 Ultra.

Industry sources say Samsung's internal validation found the chip repeatedly exceeding its temperature thresholds. Sustained heavy workloads then caused speeds to drop, which is the textbook definition of throttling. Samsung reportedly passed the results to Qualcomm last month and asked for a fix by the middle of October. The chip apparently has not yet reached the thermal stability Samsung wants, though both companies are said to be iterating and retesting.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 was only unveiled last month and is built around agentic AI, with beefier CPU and GPU cores to handle complex tasks on the device. Samsung is leaning hard on AI features for its next Galaxy phones, so a processor that cannot hold its performance under load defeats the purpose. Peak benchmark scores look great, but they mean little if the phone slows down during a long gaming session. Other phone makers that have announced gaming phones with the Elite Extreme don't seem to have the overheating problem, but the OnePlus 16 comes with active cooling.

Designed by Samsung System LSI and built on the SF2P process, the foundry's second-gen 2 nm node, an Exynos 2700 chip is reportedly the plan B if Qualcomm cannot sort things out. The report even claims Exynos edges out the Snapdragon in parts of the testing. Samsung needs to pick a chip soon, since mass production of the Galaxy S27 series is slated for late this year.

An Exynos-powered Galaxy S27 Ultra would be a rather big deal for Samsung, which now makes way more money from chips that from phones. It last used an Exynos processor in the Galaxy S22 Ultra sold in Europe, and it has gone with Snapdragon worldwide since, including for the Galaxy S26 Ultra in the US that now sells at a $200 discount on Amazon. Lately, Exynos has been limited to regular models in Korea, such as the Galaxy S26 and S26+. Longtime fans will also remember the Exynos 2100 and 2200 and their heat and efficiency complaints, so hopefully Samsung is way past those with its latest 2 nm production node.

As for the business angle, Snapdragon chipsets are way more expensive than the homebrew Exynos, and Samsung reportedly spent over $10 billion on mobile processors last year, up from $4.6 billion in 2021. Going with Exynos would keep more of that money in house and help fill its 2nm production lines, too, at least in case Qualcomm doesn’t manage to fix the Snapdragon’s alleged thermals and throttling woes in time.