Apple A9 vs Intel Core i7-7660U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A9 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-7660U
Apple A9 Intel Core i7-7660U

CPU comparison

Apple A9 or Intel Core i7-7660U - 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 A9 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.85 GHz. Up to 2 GB of memory is supported in 1 memory channels. The Apple A9 was released in Q3/2015.

The Intel Core i7-7660U has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-7660U was released in Q4/2016.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i7 (298)
Apple A9/A9X (2) CPU group Intel Core i 7000U (18)
9 Generation 7
A9 Architecture Kaby Lake U
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A8 Predecessor Intel Core i7-6660U
Apple A10 Fusion Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A9 has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple A9 is 1.85 GHz while the Intel Core i7-7660U has 2 CPU cores and 4 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i7-7660U is at 2.50 GHz (4.00 GHz).

Apple A9 Characteristic Intel Core i7-7660U
2 Cores 2
2 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
1.85 GHz Frequency 2.50 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 4.00 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.80 GHz

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 A9 Characteristic Intel Core i7-7660U
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Apple A9 or Intel Core i7-7660U has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

Apple A9 GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
0.65 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.05 GHz
6 GPU Generation 9.5
16 nm Technology 14 nm
1 Max. displays 3
24 Compute units 48
192 Shader 384
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version 12

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.

Apple A9 GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A9 can use up to 2 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s. The Intel Core i7-7660U supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 34.1 GB/s.

Apple A9 Characteristic Intel Core i7-7660U
LPDDR4-3200 Memory DDR4-2133, DDR3-1866
2 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s
No ECC No
3.00 MB L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 12
-- PCIe Bandwidth 11.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple A9 is 5 W, while the Intel Core i7-7660U has a TDP of 15 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Apple A9 Characteristic Intel Core i7-7660U
5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple A9 is manufactured in 16 nm and has 7.00 MB cache. The Intel Core i7-7660U is manufactured in 14 nm and has a 4.00 MB cache.

Apple A9 Characteristic Intel Core i7-7660U
16 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1356
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2015 Release date Q4/2016
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple A9 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (3 ratings). Rate now:
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A9 (56%)
Intel Core i7-7660U (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Apple A9 (45%)
Intel Core i7-7660U (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 A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
558 (61%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz
919 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
1024 (49%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 3.80 GHz
2088 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-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 single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
632 (50%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz
1258 (100%)

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 A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
921 (35%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 3.80 GHz
2637 (100%)

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 A9 Apple A9
Apple A9 @ 0.65 GHz
250 (31%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 @ 1.05 GHz
806 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
2053 (50%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 3.80 GHz
4132 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz
1040 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 3.80 GHz
1759 (100%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
172160 (100%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz
170 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Core i7-7660U
2C 4T @ 3.80 GHz
405 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A9 Intel Core i7-7660U
Apple iPhone 6s
Apple iPhone SE (1. Gen)
Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2017)

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