Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 vs Apple A9

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A9
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Apple A9

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 and the Apple A9 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 8 core processor released in Q3/2017 with the Apple A9 which has 2 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2015.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family Apple A series (22)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (1) CPU group Apple A9/A9X (2)
4 Generation 9
Cortex-A53 Architecture A9
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A8
-- Successor Apple A10 Fusion

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.80 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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Characteristic Apple A9
8 Cores 2
8 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.80 GHz Frequency 1.85 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Characteristic Apple A9
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware --
Hexagon 546 AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

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.

Qualcomm Adreno 506 GPU Apple A9
0.60 GHz GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
0.60 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
5 GPU Generation 6
14 nm Technology 16 nm
0 Max. displays 1
-- Compute units 24
96 Shader 192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
11 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.

Qualcomm Adreno 506 GPU Apple A9
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 6 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450, while the Apple A9 supports a maximum of 2 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 25.6 GB/s enabled.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Characteristic Apple A9
LPDDR3-1866 Memory LPDDR4-3200
6 GB Max. Memory 2 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
7.5 GB/s 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Characteristic Apple A9
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 has 0.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Apple A9 is at 7.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 16 nm.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Characteristic Apple A9
14 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
Q3/2017 Release date Q3/2015
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
151 (27%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
558 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
941 (92%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
1024 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
166 (26%)
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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
770 (84%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
921 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
Qualcomm Adreno 506 @ 0.60 GHz
115 (46%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
Apple A9 @ 0.65 GHz
250 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
87906 (51%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
172160 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
1281 (62%)
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
2053 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Apple A9
Unknown Apple iPhone 6s
Apple iPhone SE (1. Gen)

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