Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 vs Apple A9X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A9X
Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Apple A9X

CPU comparison

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 or Apple A9X - 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.20 GHz. Up to 12 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 was released in Q1/2023.

The Apple A9X has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.26 GHz. The CPU supports up to 4 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple A9X was released in Q3/2015.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (104) Family Apple A series (22)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 (1) CPU group Apple A9/A9X (2)
1 Generation 9
Kryo Gold / Kryo Silver Architecture A9
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A8X
-- Successor Apple A10X Fusion

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 is 2.20 GHz while the Apple A9X has 2 CPU cores and 2 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple A9X is at 2.26 GHz.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Characteristic Apple A9X
8 Cores 2
8 Threads 2
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.20 GHz
4x Cortex-A78
A-Core 2.26 GHz
2x Twister
1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
B-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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Characteristic Apple A9X
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware --
Hexagon AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 or Apple A9X 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.

Qualcomm Adreno 610 GPU Apple A9X
GPU frequency 0.65 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
6 GPU Generation 6
11 nm Technology 16 nm
0 Max. displays 1
-- Compute units 48
128 Shader 384
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
12.1 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 610 GPU Apple A9X
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP9 No
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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 can use up to 12 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 22.0 GB/s. The Apple A9X supports up to 4 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 51.2 GB/s.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Characteristic Apple A9X
LPDDR5-5500 Memory LPDDR4-3200
12 GB Max. Memory 4 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
22.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 51.2 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 3.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 is --, while the Apple A9X has a TDP of 8 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Characteristic Apple A9X
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 8 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 is manufactured in 4 nm and has 0.00 MB cache. The Apple A9X is manufactured in 16 nm and has a 7.00 MB cache.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Characteristic Apple A9X
4 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, Windows 10 (ARM) Operating systems iOS
Q1/2023 Release date Q3/2015
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.3 stars (21 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple A9X to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
652 (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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
1198 (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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
763 (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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
1251 (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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
Qualcomm Adreno 610 @ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
Apple A9X @ 0.65 GHz
499 (100%)

AnTuTu 10 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 10 benchmark is one of the best-known benchmarks for mobile processors, which is now available in version 10. There is a version for Android-based smartphones and tablets, as well as a version for Apple mobile devices, i.e. iPhones and iPads.

The Antutu 10 benchmark has 3 phases. In the first phase, the device's RAM is tested, in phase 2 the graphics are tested and in the final phase the entire device is pushed to its performance limits by rendering 3D graphics.

Antutu 10 is therefore ideal for comparing the performance of different devices.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
506247 (100%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
0 (0%)

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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
272103 (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 6 Gen 1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A9X Apple A9X
2C 2T @ 2.26 GHz
2501 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Apple A9X
Unknown Apple iPad Pro (1. Gen)

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