An in-house feud between Samsung Mobile and Samsung LSI is going to strip the much hyped Exynos 2600 from the Galaxy Z Flip 8.
The dark Satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell-on-earth yarn claiming that Samsung Mobile has had enough of Samsung LSI using the chip like a money-printing machine. Samsung LSI has reportedly spent the past few months hiking the per-unit price of its flagship Exynos 2600 chip.
Samsung Mobile now appears to be responding by cutting the Exynos 2600’s share in the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 8. Instead, it is increasing its use of Qualcomm’s cheaper Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip.
According to tipster Schrödinger, the Exynos 2600 price rose from $220 per unit in December 2025 to $270 per unit in May 2026. By contrast, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 currently costs $230 per unit.
That makes Samsung’s flagship mobile chip 17 per cent more expensive than Qualcomm’s rival.
Qualcomm is reportedly giving Samsung Mobile discounts on top of that baseline price, which makes the situation even more embarrassing. Schrödinger blamed several factors for the Exynos 2600 price hikes.
These include the still-high costs of Samsung’s 2nm GAA process, the PR boom and the “AI game” going to Samsung LSI’s head. He said Samsung Mobile’s fairly small contribution had strengthened Samsung LSI’s refusal to offer any in-house concessionary pricing.
That has apparently forced Samsung Mobile to reduce the Exynos 2600’s role in the Galaxy Z Flip 8. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is expected to benefit from the shift.
The irony is that Samsung Mobile may be hurting its own product to make a point. The Exynos 2600 is said to be the more efficient chip, with a 16-watt TDP. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 reportedly comes in at 19 watts.
This is not the first time Samsung’s complicated internal politics has made a mess. Samsung Mobile nearly derailed its Galaxy Unpacked event in February after margins were squeezed by Samsung’s semiconductor-focused DS division.
The mobile division then tried to claw back cash by squeezing distributor margins and pushing more “direct-to-consumer” sales. That led to a distributor revolt in Dubai.
Those distributors adopted “strategic negligence” as their modus operandi and “tripped over the official embargo dates.”
The result was Galaxy S26 Ultra units slipping into the grey market and ending up in a YouTuber’s paws.
