One phone, two brains: that was the Galaxy S24 launch in January 2024. Samsung shipped the S24 and S24 Plus with its own Exynos 2400 in Europe, the UK, India, South Korea, Bangladesh and most other markets, while buyers in the US, Canada, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong got Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, per Android Authority's country list. The S24 Ultra carried the Snapdragon everywhere, and the S24 FE shipped worldwide with a slightly slower chip called the Exynos 2400e.
Nearly three years later, this generation matters more than ever, because the 2026 Galaxy lineup restarted the same debate with the Exynos 2600 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and PetaTech24 has already covered that split in the Galaxy Z Flip8. So which Galaxy phones actually got the Exynos 2400, what did they score, and what did careful testing find beyond the headline benchmarks? Here is the full picture, phone by phone.
At a Glance
- Exynos 2400 phones: Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus in most markets, including Europe, UK, India, Bangladesh and South Korea; Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy: S24 and S24 Plus in the US, Canada, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, plus the S24 Ultra everywhere.
- Caveat that shapes every number below: Samsung never sold both chips in the same S24 market, so CPU and GPU scores compare Exynos S24 and S24 Plus units against Snapdragon S24 Ultra units, a different, larger phone with more cooling room. No identical-body performance comparison exists.
- Geekbench 6 puts the Snapdragon unit about 7 percent ahead single-core and 4 percent ahead multi-core; AnTuTu 11 crowd aggregates show a 15 percent total gap, almost all GPU.
- The surprise: in Android Authority's same-body battery comparison, the Exynos S24 lasted 36 percent longer in web browsing and led most tests.
- In one 3DMark Solar Bay ray tracing run, the Exynos phone edged ahead by about 4 percent, a synthetic result with limited real-game relevance.
- Chip history in one line: Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 went Snapdragon-only for volume reasons, Z Flip 7 went Exynos worldwide, Z Flip 8 split again.
- In September 2025 Samsung quietly relaunched the S24 in India with the Snapdragon inside.
Why This Matters
The Exynos versus Snapdragon split decides what a buyer actually gets for the same money, and in the S24 generation the two chips were unusually close in CPU work while remaining far apart in graphics. Knowing where the gap sat matters for anyone buying a used Galaxy today or comparing the new 2026 split.
The generation also set the template Samsung still follows in 2026: Qualcomm for North America and Greater China, in-house silicon for everyone else, including Bangladesh. That is why this history keeps repeating.
Main Story
The S24 generation was Samsung's first true dual-chip flagship year since the criticized Exynos 2200 era of the Galaxy S22. After the Snapdragon-only Galaxy S23, which even Samsung's home market received, the S24 put the 4nm Exynos 2400, with a 10-core CPU and AMD-based Xclipse 940 graphics, back into most of the world, and kept the TSMC-built Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in the five markets where Qualcomm partnerships run deepest.
Which Galaxy got which chip in the S24 generation:
Before the scores, one honest limitation, stated up front. Because Samsung never offered both chips in one country, every published CPU and GPU comparison pairs an Exynos S24 or S24 Plus against the Snapdragon S24 Ultra, which is a different phone with a bigger body and more thermal headroom. Treat the deltas as indicative, not lab-grade equivalents. The one true same-body comparison of the generation came from Android Authority, which tested both S24 variants separately and is flagged where used below.
What each Galaxy S24 phone actually scored, Geekbench 6:
On those numbers, from HiTechCentury's phone tests, the Snapdragon unit leads by roughly 7 percent single-core and 4 percent multi-core, matching NotebookCheck's early comparison of development units, which measured an 8 percent and 4 percent lead. The FE's underclocked 2400e sits a further 5 percent behind the full 2400, per Nanoreview and 91mobiles data.
The full-gap picture needs graphics. In AnTuTu 11 aggregates at Nanoreview, a crowd-sourced database rather than a single lab, the Snapdragon averages 2.35 million against the Exynos 2.05 million, a 15 percent total gap, while the CPU sub-scores are nearly tied at around 700,000 each. The entire difference sits in the GPU sub-score, where the Adreno 750 leads the Xclipse 940 by about 26 percent. In HiTechCentury's 3DMark runs, the Snapdragon Ultra phone won Wild Life Extreme by roughly a third, 4,043 against 3,047, yet the Exynos S24 narrowly edged the Ultra in the ray tracing test, Solar Bay, 8,072 to 7,782, a margin of about 4 percent. Ray tracing remains a synthetic measure with limited game support, so treat it as a curiosity rather than a purchase argument.
The two chips, briefly:
Then came the generation's biggest plot twist, and it was not about speed. Android Authority ran the only documented same-body comparison, testing both S24 variants across real workloads, and found the Exynos phone lasting 36 percent longer in automated web browsing, with leads of at least 15 percent in most battery tests, while the Snapdragon unit lasted 16 percent longer while recording 4K video. Their verdict: marginally higher gaming performance for Snapdragon buyers, better battery life for most everyday tasks on Exynos. This measured result cuts against the forum-level assumption that Exynos automatically means worse battery, and the site noted similar outcomes in older pairs like the Snapdragon 888 versus Exynos 2100.
Cameras tell a quieter version of the same story. The hardware is identical across variants, same sensors and lenses, but image processing differs because the ISP differs. Historically this fueled real complaints, and DxOMark found the S22 Ultra's two variants scoring the same overall with small category differences. For the S24 generation, Android Authority's roundup of independent comparisons describes a close fight, with one reviewer preferring Exynos main shots and low-light telephoto video, another preferring Snapdragon ultrawides, and DxOMark so far having published results only for the Snapdragon variant.
Beyond raw specs, two more differences shaped the debate. Samsung forums carried overheating and battery complaints about the Exynos 2400 through 2024, as Android Police noted, though no major lab corroborated a thermal gap, and Android Police's separate reporting stressed Exynos reliability was not the reason for the foldable decisions below. On software, both variants followed the same documented update schedule, reaching One UI 8 in September 2025 with seven years of support promised, per Wikipedia's tracked update history.
Galaxy chip history, S22 to the 2026 foldables:
The Flip 7 line deserves its own sentence, because it is the strangest move in the table: after The Elec explained that foldable volumes were too low to justify two chips in 2024, Samsung reversed course entirely in 2025 and shipped the Z Flip 7 with the Exynos 2500 in every market, including the United States and China, the first Galaxy Flip to drop Qualcomm completely, before returning to a regional split for the Z Flip 8 in 2026.
Two footnotes complete the record. In September 2025, Samsung relaunched the smaller Galaxy S24 in India with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 inside, an India-exclusive re-release covered by Hindustan Times and Digit, sold through Flipkart's Big Billion Days sale from a listed price of Rs 74,999 and teased under Rs 40,000 during the sale; the phone was never re-released in the US or Europe, where the Exynos version remained the only S24 sold. And the S24 FE, the popular mid-range entry, ran the slower Exynos 2400e everywhere, scoring around 2,050 single-core and 6,400 multi-core, roughly 5 percent behind the full 2400.
What is confirmed, what is measured, and what is open:
What Happens Next
The pattern this generation set is still running. The 2026 Galaxy S26 and Z Flip8 split repeats the same structure with newer silicon, and PetaTech24's Flip8 benchmark coverage shows the same shape of result: closer multi-core, wider single-core and graphics gaps. If Samsung's 2nm Exynos 2600 keeps closing the CPU distance, the next interesting question is whether the GPU gap finally closes too.
FAQ
Which Galaxy phones used the Exynos 2400?
The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus in most world markets, including Europe, the UK, India, Bangladesh and South Korea, and the Galaxy S24 FE everywhere in its slightly slower 2400e form. The S24 Ultra used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in every market.
How big is the gap between Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3?
In Geekbench 6, roughly 7 percent single-core and 4 percent multi-core, though those runs pair the Exynos S24 against the different-body S24 Ultra. In AnTuTu 11 aggregates, about 15 percent in total, driven almost entirely by a GPU sub-score gap of around 26 percent.
Which one has better battery life?
In Android Authority's same-body comparison, the Exynos S24 lasted 36 percent longer in web browsing and led most tests by at least 15 percent, while the Snapdragon unit lasted 16 percent longer recording 4K video. For typical daily workloads, the tested advantage went to the Exynos.
Do the Exynos and Snapdragon S24 cameras differ?
The hardware is identical, but image processing differs slightly. DxOMark scored both Galaxy S22 Ultra variants the same overall, and independent S24 comparisons collected by Android Authority describe a close fight with small, scene-dependent wins for each variant. No authoritative lab has published a full side-by-side for the S24.
Did Exynos phones get updates later?
Not in this generation. Both S24 variants followed the same documented update schedule, including One UI 8 in September 2025, with seven years of support promised for the whole line.
Is the Exynos 2400 good for gaming?
For most games, yes, and it narrowly won a 3DMark ray tracing test against the Snapdragon Ultra phone. For sustained rasterized graphics, the Snapdragon's Adreno 750 stays clearly ahead, winning Wild Life Extreme by about a third.
Why did Samsung put Snapdragon in the S24 only in five markets?
Qualcomm partnerships and carrier certification run deepest in the US, Canada, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and Samsung has historically reserved Snapdragon for those regions whenever it offers both chips, a pattern the S24 repeated and the 2026 lineup still follows.
Bottom Line
The Exynos 2400 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 generation ended in a split decision: Samsung's chip closed the CPU gap to single digits, won the same-body battery comparison by a wide margin, and still lost the total-score fight by about 15 percent on the strength of a 26 percent GPU deficit. The phone table above shows what each model scored, the history table shows why Samsung keeps flipping the strategy, and the 2026 Galaxy lineup proves the lottery is very much alive.
Sources / Attribution
- Android Authority, January 25, 2024: S24 Snapdragon vs Exynos country list, Qualcomm confirmation
- Android Authority, August 2, 2024: same-body Exynos vs Snapdragon S24 testing, battery and performance results
- Android Authority, May 19, 2025: Exynos vs Snapdragon explainer, camera difference history and S24 comparisons
- HiTechCentury, January 28, 2024: S24 series phone-level Geekbench 6 and 3DMark results
- NotebookCheck, October 12, 2023: early Exynos 2400 Geekbench comparison with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
- Nanoreview: Exynos 2400, Exynos 2400e and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 aggregate databases (crowd-sourced, labeled as such)
- 91mobiles: Exynos 2400e specification and benchmark database
- Tom's Guide, March 22, 2024: CrossMark and WebXPRT4 cross-variant testing
- MyMobileIndia, July 2024: S24 AnTuTu and Geekbench roundup
- The Elec via SamMobile and Android Police, May 22, 2024: Fold 6 and Flip 6 Snapdragon-only decision, volume rationale
- SamMobile, 2025: Z Flip 7 global Exynos coverage and S24 launch pricing
- Memeburn, June 2026: Flip 7 as the first Flip to drop Qualcomm silicon
- Hindustan Times, September 5, 2025: Galaxy S24 Snapdragon India relaunch
- Digit, September 5, 2025: India re-release launch window and Flipkart sale pricing
- Wikipedia: S24 chipset distribution, S24 FE 2400e, India re-release, tracked update history for both variants
- Digitec, December 2023: Galaxy S23 Snapdragon-only exception, historical split context
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
0 Comments