Samsung’s Exynos processors have long trailed Qualcomm’s Snapdragon lineup in many benchmarks, but recent results indicate a potential shift. In the latest Basemark ray tracing leaderboard, the Exynos 2600 posted a leading score, outperforming Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 by a noticeable margin.
According to the Basemark ray tracing results, a device listed as SM-S942B—believed to be the standard Galaxy S26 running the Exynos 2600—scored 8,262 points. By comparison, the BKQ-N49, likely an Honor Magic8 powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, scored 7,527 points. That represents roughly a 10 to 15 percent lead for the Exynos part within this specific test suite.
The primary reason behind this jump appears to be Samsung’s new Xclipse 960 GPU. This graphics unit reportedly leverages a customized implementation of AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture, which introduced significant ray tracing improvements over RDNA 3. The current Exynos 2500 is based on RDNA 3, so a shift to RDNA 4 for the 2600 provides a plausible explanation for the performance gains shown in ray tracing workloads.
Why this matters (and what to keep in mind)
Outperforming Snapdragon in any graphics-related metric is a meaningful milestone for Samsung. Exynos chips have historically struggled with both peak performance and thermal efficiency compared to Qualcomm’s SoCs. A strong showing from the Exynos 2600 in ray tracing benchmarks suggests Samsung’s recent investments—such as a 2nm manufacturing process and improved thermal solutions—may be delivering tangible benefits.
However, several caveats are worth noting. Basemark’s suite has at times favored Exynos GPUs, so synthetic benchmark advantages do not automatically translate into superior real-world performance across all scenarios. Ray tracing on mobile remains a niche feature: relatively few mobile games currently implement hardware ray tracing, and enabling it typically increases power draw and heat, which can shorten battery life and trigger throttling during extended play.
Samsung’s work on thermal management for the Exynos 2600 is notable. The chip reportedly employs fan-out wafer-level packaging and a redesigned thermal path block that makes direct contact with the processor, which Samsung claims reduces thermal resistance by approximately 16 percent. Improved thermal transfer can help maintain sustained performance under heavy loads, reducing the likelihood of performance drops due to overheating.
Timing also matters: the Galaxy S26 is scheduled to launch on February 25, and Samsung is likely to continue its regional strategy of offering Exynos-powered models in Korea and Europe while shipping Snapdragon variants in the U.S. and China. Whether the Exynos 2600’s ray tracing advantage in Basemark results will translate into noticeably better gaming performance on retail Galaxy S26 units depends on several factors, including game support for ray tracing, thermal behavior in real-world device designs, and battery impact during extended sessions.
In short, these benchmark results are an encouraging sign that Samsung’s Exynos team is closing the gap in GPU performance. The Exynos 2600 appears to benefit from architectural upgrades and improved thermal engineering, but real-world gaming results and broader performance metrics will be the ultimate test. Consumers should watch independent reviews and hands-on tests of the Galaxy S26 to see how these theoretical improvements translate into everyday use.