The annual Exynos vs Snapdragon debacle is back as Samsung has once again taken a two-chipset approach with Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ depending on the region. This year, we have the Exynos 2600 SoC for the majority of markets, but buyers in the US and China are getting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Luckily, the folks over at Android Addicts managed to secure both a European model Galaxy S26 with the Exynos 2600 chip alongside a US version with the SD 8 Elite Gen 5 and put both through a battery drain test.
The two units in the video are identical in terms of specs, both featuring 4,300mAh batteries, 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. Both were connected to the same 5G network with Wi-Fi switched off.
The first part of the comparison involves a 1-hour call test where the Snapdragon version lost 3% of its battery charge while the Exynos sipped an extra percent. That was followed by a 30-minute 4K30 video recording and a quick encoding, where the Exynos variant failed to complete the task due to overheating.
From then on, the Exynos version consistently displayed higher energy consumption across Google Maps, social media apps (TikTok and X), benchmarks, and video calls over WhatsApp. The video host also remarked that the Exynos version got notably hotter to the touch than the Snapdragon model.
After exactly 6 hours and 48 minutes, the Exynos 2600-equipped Galaxy S26 turned off while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 variant stayed on course for another 2 hours and 38 minutes. In other words, the Snapdragon version of the S26 lasted almost 39% longer than its Exynos 2600 counterpart.
