Ahead of its expected launch in February 2026, the Galaxy S26 Ultra was spotted alongside the Galaxy S26 Plus in a popular benchmark database. I’m talking about Geekbench, which lists entries for “SM-S948U” and “SM-S942U”, which are presumably the US versions of the Ultra and Plus models.
As renowned tipster Ice Universe reports on X, the model number “SM-S48U” belongs to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The variant that underwent the CPU test had 12GB of RAM and ran on Android 16. What’s interesting is that it featured an underclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset with two main cores clocked at 4.19GHz.
Underclocked Snapdragon, unexpected performance
The typical main cores of Qualcomm’s latest chipset are clocked at 4.6 GHz. That’s strange, especially since Samsung usually equips its flagships with an overclocked version of Qualcomm’s top chip, marketed as a “for Galaxy” variant.
However, the configuration and frequency of the performance cores – 6 x 3.63 GHz – remains similar. Samsung may have tested the phone with a lower-performance version to optimize thermals, test sustained performance, or evaluate energy efficiency before mass production.
But even with the underclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the alleged Galaxy S26 Ultra performs exceptionally well in the Geekbench 6 CPU test. The device achieved 3,466 points in the single-core and 11,035 points in the multi-core CPU performance test.
The latter is slightly higher than what the OnePlus 15 normally achieves on the same benchmark. For those catching up, the S25 Ultra scores around 3,100/9,950 in the benchmark test, suggesting that the S26 Ultra could offer a significant performance boost.
To complicate matters further, there is also an entry in the benchmark’s database for the model number “SM-S942U”, which is supposedly the Galaxy S26 Plus. While the smartphone also has 12GB of RAM, its main cores are clocked at 4.74GHz, which is more reminiscent of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. However, the single and multi-core scores are 3,378 and 11,097 respectively.
What’s puzzling here is that the S26 Ultra, with an underperforming chip, achieves a higher single-core Geekbench 6 score than the S26 Plus with an over-performing chip. This could indicate better thermal margin, tighter power management, or more aggressive performance optimization on the S26 Ultra.
For American buyers, the Geekbench listings for the smartphones suggest that both the S26 Ultra and S26 Plus are powered by one of the most powerful mobile platforms, offering stunning real-world performance and improved battery efficiency. The S26 series could break cover at the rumored Galaxy Unpacked event on February 25, 2026.
