Apple A9 Benchmark, Test and specs

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The Apple A9 has 2 cores with 2 threads and is based on the 9. gen of the Apple A series series. The processor was released in Q3/2015. The Apple A9 scores 558 points in the Geekbench 5 single-core benchmark. In the Geekbench 5 multi-core benchmark, the result is 1,024 points.
Apple A9

CPU lineage

The segment in which we have classified the Apple A9. Here you can see if it is a desktop processor or a mobile processor or which processor may be the successor of the Apple A9.

Name: Apple A9
Family: Apple A series (22)
CPU group: Apple A9/A9X (2)
Architecture: A9
Segment: Mobile
Generation: 9
Predecessor: Apple A8
Successor: Apple A10 Fusion

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. The number of CPU cores greatly affects the speed of the processor and is an important performance indicator.

CPU Cores / Threads: 2 / 2
Core architecture: normal
Cores: 2x Twister
Hyperthreading / SMT: No
Overclocking: No
Frequency: 1.85 GHz
Turbo Frequency (1 Core): --
Turbo Frequency (2 Cores): --

Internal Graphics

The Apple A9 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. Specifically, the Apple A9 uses the Apple A9, which has 192 texture shaders and 24 execution units. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

GPU name: Apple A9
GPU frequency: 0.65 GHz
GPU (Turbo): No turbo
Compute units: 24
Shader: 192
Hardware Raytracing: No
Release date: Q3/2015
Max. displays: 1
Generation: 6
Direct X: --
Technology: 16 nm
Max. GPU Memory: 4 GB
Frame Generation: No

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.

h265 / HEVC (8 bit): No
h265 / HEVC (10 bit): No
h264: Decode
VP8: Decode
VP9: No
AV1: No
AVC: Decode
VC-1: Decode
JPEG: Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The processor can use up to 2 GB memory in 1 (Single Channel) memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s. The memory type as well as the amount of memory can greatly affect the speed of the system.

Memory type: Memory bandwidth:
LPDDR4-3200
25.6 GB/s
Max. Memory: 2 GB
Memory channels: 1 (Single Channel)
ECC: No
PCIe:
PCIe Bandwidth: --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the processor is 5 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently. The TDP usually gives a rough idea of the actual power consumption of the CPU.

TDP (PL1 / PBP): 5 W
TDP (PL2): --
TDP up: --
TDP down: --
Tjunction max.: --

Technical details

The Apple A9 is made in 16 nm. The smaller the manufacturing process of a CPU, the more modern and energy-efficient it is. Overall, the processor has 7.00 MB cache. A large cache can greatly speed up the processor's speed in some cases such as games.

Technology: 16 nm
Chip design: Chiplet
Socket: --
L2-Cache: 3.00 MB
L3-Cache: 4.00 MB
AES-NI: No
Operating systems: iOS
Virtualization: None
Instruction set (ISA): Armv8-A (64 bit)
ISA extensions: --
Release date: Q3/2015
Release price: --
Part Number: --
Documents: --

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Benchmark results

Verified Benchmark results
The benchmark results for the Apple A9 have been carefully checked by us. We only publish benchmark results that have been created by us or that have been submitted by a visitor and then checked by a team member. All results are based on and fullfill our benchmark guidelines.


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.
Intel Celeron 3965U Intel Celeron 3965U
2C 2T @ 2.20 GHz
560
Intel Core i3-5020U Intel Core i3-5020U
2C 4T @ 2.20 GHz
560
Intel Core i3-3250T Intel Core i3-3250T
2C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
559
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
558
Intel Xeon Bronze 3204 Intel Xeon Bronze 3204
6C 6T @ 1.90 GHz
558
Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G
8C 8T @ 2.30 GHz
558
AMD A10-9700 AMD A10-9700
4C 4T @ 3.80 GHz
556

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.
Samsung Exynos 850 Samsung Exynos 850
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
1027
Intel Pentium G2010 Intel Pentium G2010
2C 2T @ 2.80 GHz
1026
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
8C 8T @ 1.95 GHz
1026
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
1024
Intel Pentium 3550M Intel Pentium 3550M
2C 2T @ 2.30 GHz
1023
AMD Athlon II X4 600e AMD Athlon II X4 600e
4C 4T @ 2.20 GHz
1022
Intel Core i3-2348M Intel Core i3-2348M
2C 4T @ 2.30 GHz
1019

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.
Intel Core i5-2500 Intel Core i5-2500
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
633
Intel Core i5-2500S Intel Core i5-2500S
4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz
633
Intel Core i7-2620M Intel Core i7-2620M
2C 4T @ 3.40 GHz
633
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
632
Intel Core i5-3380M Intel Core i5-3380M
2C 4T @ 3.60 GHz
632
Intel Xeon E5-2650 v2 Intel Xeon E5-2650 v2
8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz
632
Intel Core i3-5005U Intel Core i3-5005U
2C 4T @ 2.00 GHz
630

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.
Intel Pentium G3250T Intel Pentium G3250T
2C 2T @ 2.80 GHz
929
Intel Pentium G3440T Intel Pentium G3440T
2C 2T @ 2.80 GHz
929
Intel Core i3-3120M Intel Core i3-3120M
2C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
927
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
921
Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 Qualcomm Snapdragon 652
8C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
920
Intel Celeron G1850 Intel Celeron G1850
2C 2T @ 2.90 GHz
920
Intel Core i3-4010Y Intel Core i3-4010Y
2C 4T @ 1.30 GHz
920

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.
Intel Core i5-2415M Intel Core i5-2415M
Intel HD Graphics 3000 @ 1.30 GHz
250
Intel Core i5-2435M Intel Core i5-2435M
Intel HD Graphics 3000 @ 1.30 GHz
250
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
Intel HD Graphics 3000 @ 1.30 GHz
250
Apple A9 Apple A9
Apple A9 @ 0.65 GHz
250
AMD A6-5400K AMD A6-5400K
AMD Radeon HD 7540D @ 0.64 GHz
246
AMD A6-5400B AMD A6-5400B
AMD Radeon HD 7540D @ 0.64 GHz
246
HiSilicon Kirin 960S HiSilicon Kirin 960S
ARM Mali-G71 MP8 @ 0.90 GHz
245

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 662 Qualcomm Snapdragon 662
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
176983
Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 Qualcomm Snapdragon 670
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
175698
Samsung Exynos 8895 Samsung Exynos 8895
8C 8T @ 2.30 GHz
175045
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
172160
Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
171683
Samsung Exynos 9610 Samsung Exynos 9610
8C 8T @ 2.30 GHz
171465
MediaTek Helio P60 MediaTek Helio P60
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
166740

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.
AMD A4-5100 AMD A4-5100
4C 4T @ 1.55 GHz
2060
AMD Phenom II X2 555 AMD Phenom II X2 555
2C 2T @ 3.20 GHz
2060
AMD Phenom II X2 B57 AMD Phenom II X2 B57
2C 2T @ 3.20 GHz
2060
Apple A9 Apple A9
2C 2T @ 1.85 GHz
2053
AMD A8-3500M AMD A8-3500M
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
2052
Intel Core i7-3517U Intel Core i7-3517U
2C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
2031
Intel Core i3-3240T Intel Core i3-3240T
2C 4T @ 2.90 GHz
2030

Benchmarks





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