Apple A9 vs Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A9 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
Apple A9 Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)

CPU comparison

Apple A9 or Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) - 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 Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) has 10 cores with 10 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) was released in Q1/2023.
Apple A series (22) Family Apple M series (25)
Apple A9/A9X (2) CPU group Apple M2 (8)
9 Generation 2
A9 Architecture M2
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A8 Predecessor Apple M1 Pro (10-CPU 14-GPU)
Apple A10 Fusion Successor Apple M3 Pro (11-CPU 14-GPU)

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 Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) has 10 CPU cores and 10 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) is at 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz).

Apple A9 Characteristic Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
2 Cores 10
2 Threads 10
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.85 GHz
2x Twister
A-Core 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz)
6x Avalanche
-- B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz)
4x Blizzard

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Apple A9 Characteristic Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The Apple A9 or Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) 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 Apple M2 Pro (16 Core)
0.65 GHz GPU frequency 0.45 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
6 GPU Generation 2
16 nm Technology 5 nm
1 Max. displays 3
24 Compute units 256
192 Shader 2048
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version --

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 Apple M2 Pro (16 Core)
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
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode
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 Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 102.4 GB/s.

Apple A9 Characteristic Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
LPDDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-6400
2 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
3.00 MB L2 Cache 28.00 MB
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple A9 is 5 W, while the Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) has a TDP of 30 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Apple A9 Characteristic Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 30 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A9 is manufactured in 16 nm and has 7.00 MB cache. The Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 28.00 MB cache.

Apple A9 Characteristic Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
16 nm Technology 5 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
-- Socket --
None Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q3/2015 Release date Q1/2023
-- 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 4.2 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (33 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A9 (27%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Apple A9 (9%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) (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 (30%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
1874 (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 (8%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
12224 (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 (24%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
2689 (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 (8%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
12084 (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 (4%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
Apple M2 Pro (16 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
5680 (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 (10%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
21532 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
122 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
782 (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%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
1695 (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%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.50 GHz
12125 (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%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.66 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Apple A9 Apple A9
1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
12,125 CB R23 MC @ 30 W
404 (100%)

AI performance (NPU)

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.

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. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU) Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.66 GHz
15.8 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A9 Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)
Apple iPhone 6s
Apple iPhone SE (1. Gen)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Apple mac mini (2023)

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