HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G vs Apple A9

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A9
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Apple A9

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G and the Apple A9 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G 8 core processor released in Q2/2020 with the Apple A9 which has 2 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2015.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Apple A series (22)
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2) CPU group Apple A9/A9X (2)
7 Generation 9
Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 Architecture A9
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A8
-- Successor Apple A10 Fusion

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.58 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Apple A9 clocks with 1.85 GHz, has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Characteristic Apple A9
8 Cores 2
8 Threads 2
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.58 GHz
1x Cortex-A76
A-Core 1.85 GHz
2x Twister
2.40 GHz
3x Cortex-A76
B-Core --
1.84 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
C-Core --

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.

HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Characteristic Apple A9
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

ARM Mali-G77 MP8 GPU Apple A9
0.80 GHz GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Vallhall 1 GPU Generation 6
7 nm Technology 16 nm
1 Max. displays 1
8 Compute units 24
128 Shader 192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
12 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.

ARM Mali-G77 MP8 GPU Apple A9
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G, while the Apple A9 supports a maximum of 2 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 25.6 GB/s enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Characteristic Apple A9
LPDDR4X-2133 Memory LPDDR4-3200
Max. Memory 2 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 3.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Apple A9 is 5 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Characteristic Apple A9
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G has 0.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 7 nm. The cache of Apple A9 is at 7.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 16 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Characteristic Apple A9
7 nm Technology 16 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems iOS
Q2/2020 Release date Q3/2015
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G (100%)
Apple A9 (82%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G (100%)
Apple A9 (41%)

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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz
684 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
558 (82%)

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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz
2517 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
1024 (41%)

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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
ARM Mali-G77 MP8 @ 0.80 GHz
819 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
Apple A9 @ 0.65 GHz
250 (30%)

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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz
406830 (100%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
172160 (42%)

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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
632 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
921 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
2053 (100%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G Apple A9
Unknown Apple iPhone 6s
Apple iPhone SE (1. Gen)

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