韩媒称高通第六代骁龙8 Elite Extreme在Galaxy S27 Ultra验证中过热，三星要求月底前解决，否则或五年后首次在Ultra上改用自研Exynos 2700

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) has found that Qualcomm's next-generation application processor slated for the Galaxy S27 Ultra, its top-tier smartphone due early next year, suffers performance degradation from overheating. Samsung has asked Qualcomm to resolve the problem by the end of this month. If Qualcomm fails, industry watchers say Samsung's in-house Exynos chip could be adopted for the first time in five years.
The Mobile eXperience (MX) business under Samsung's Device eXperience (DX) division is conducting performance validation to equip the Galaxy S27 Ultra with Qualcomm's sixth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme, industry sources said on the 16th. According to multiple people familiar with the matter, the chip has repeatedly exceeded temperature thresholds and shown slower processing speeds when subjected to sustained heavy workloads.
"We understand that Samsung notified Qualcomm of the overheating problem last month and asked for improvements by mid-October," an industry official said. Qualcomm has yet to achieve the level of thermal stability Samsung requires.
The sixth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme is Qualcomm's flagship mobile processor, unveiled last month. It focuses on boosting performance for agentic artificial intelligence, which recognizes a user's situation on a smartphone and carries out multiple tasks on its own. Samsung is concentrating on strengthening AI features as the centerpiece of its next-generation Galaxy phones, making the performance and stability of Qualcomm's processor essential.
With overheating now degrading key performance metrics, however, the chip's inclusion in the Galaxy S27 Ultra has become uncertain. When a processor runs excessively hot, throttling can kick in to slow operating speeds and protect the device. That can hurt the experience of users who play games for long stretches or rely on AI for work.
Samsung is in talks with Qualcomm to resolve the overheating issue within this month, according to sources. If Qualcomm meets the required performance levels, Samsung will adopt the Snapdragon as originally planned. If not, the company will have little choice but to consider the Exynos 2700 as an alternative, weighing performance stability and mass-production timelines.
The Exynos 2700 is a next-generation processor designed by Samsung's System LSI business and built on SF2P, the foundry business's second-generation 2-nanometer process. It focuses on improving computing performance and power efficiency over its predecessor, and is said to have outperformed Qualcomm's chip in undisclosed internal tests.
Adoption of the Exynos 2700 in next year's Galaxy S27 Ultra would carry significant symbolic weight as a return after five years. Samsung equipped the domestic Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Exynos 2100 in 2021 but faced controversy over overheating and performance degradation at the time. The Exynos 2200 was then used in the S22 Ultra sold in Europe in 2022, but Samsung's Ultra flagship has relied solely on Qualcomm processors since the S23 Ultra in 2023, while the non-Ultra Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, and the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus released this year, have continued to use the in-house Exynos series.
Selecting the Exynos 2700 would also benefit Samsung's semiconductor business. The System LSI business could increase in-house processor shipments, while the foundry business could raise utilization rates at its advanced 2-nanometer production lines. The MX business, for its part, would gain room to cut spending on externally sourced processors. Samsung spent 7.4383 trillion won (about $5.2 billion) on mobile processor purchases in the first half of this year alone.
"If Qualcomm cannot fix the overheating problem, the Exynos 2700 is the likely choice to meet the mass-production schedule," an industry official said.