Apple A5 vs Samsung Exynos 5420

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A5 CPU1 vs CPU2 Samsung Exynos 5420
Apple A5 Samsung Exynos 5420

CPU comparison

Apple A5 or Samsung Exynos 5420 - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Apple A5 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.00 GHz. Up to 1 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple A5 was released in Q1/2011.

The Samsung Exynos 5420 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.90 GHz. The CPU supports up to GB of memory in 0 memory channels. The Samsung Exynos 5420 was released in Q3/2013.
Apple A series (22) Family Samsung Exynos (47)
Apple A5/A5X (2) CPU group Samsung Exynos 5260/5410/5420/5422/5800 (5)
5 Generation 3
A5 Architecture Cortex-A15 / Cortex-A7
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
Apple A6 Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A5 is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.00 GHz. The Samsung Exynos 5420 has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.90 GHz.

Apple A5 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 5420
2 Cores 8
2 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.00 GHz
2x Cortex-A9
A-Core 1.90 GHz
4x Cortex-A15
-- B-Core 1.30 GHz
4x Cortex-A7

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Apple A5 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 5420
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

PowerVR SGX543MP2 (2 Cores) GPU ARM Mali-T628 MP6
0.20 GHz GPU frequency 0.53 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation Midgard 2
32 nm Technology 32nm
1 Max. displays 1
4 Compute units 6
32 Shader 96
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory --
10 DirectX Version 11

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

PowerVR SGX543MP2 (2 Cores) GPU ARM Mali-T628 MP6
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC No
No Codec VC-1 No
No Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A5 supports a maximum of 1 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Samsung Exynos 5420 can connect up to GB of memory in 0 memory channels.

Apple A5 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 5420
LPDDR2-800 Memory LPDDR3e-933
1 GB Max. Memory
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 0
6.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth --
No ECC No
1.00 MB L2 Cache 2.50 MB
-- L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A5 has a TDP of --, that of the Samsung Exynos 5420 is --.

Apple A5 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 5420
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple A5 has a 1.00 MB cache, while the Samsung Exynos 5420 cache has a total of 2.50 MB.

Apple A5 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 5420
32 nm Technology 28 nm
Chiplet Chip design Unknown
Armv7-A (32 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv7-A (32 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
iOS Operating systems Android
Q1/2011 Release date Q3/2013
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Apple A5 Apple A5
PowerVR SGX543MP2 (2 Cores) @ 0.20 GHz
13 (13%)
Samsung Exynos 5420 Samsung Exynos 5420
ARM Mali-T628 MP6 @ 0.53 GHz
102 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A5 Apple A5
2C 2T @ 1.00 GHz
496 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 5420 Samsung Exynos 5420
8C 8T @ 1.90 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Apple A5 Apple A5
2C 2T @ 1.00 GHz
267 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 5420 Samsung Exynos 5420
8C 8T @ 1.90 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A5 Samsung Exynos 5420
Apple iPhone 4S
Apple iPad 2
Unknown

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