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Apple A9

Apple A9

The Apple A9 is a high-end dual-core ARM SoC for smartphones. It was announced in Sept. 2015 in the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Technical details were not published, but the CPU part should be about 70% and the GPU 90% faster than the previous Apple A8. Therefore, the performance should be on par with high-end Android SoCs in 2015.

It is based on the third generation of Apples 64 Bit architectures (Cyclone 3?) and uses a "new transistor technology". It is manufactured at Samsung in 14nm (slightly smaller die) and TSMC at 16nm (both FINFET 3D transistors). A performance difference of both versions are not noticable.

Furthermore, the chip now integrates the M9 motion coprocessor and a 4K video de- and encoder (as the iPhones 6s supports 4K video recording). The integrated graphics card should be still based on PowerVR technology.

The power consumption could be lower than the A8 due to the new process technology and the fact that the iPhones now got a smaller battery (due to the haptic engine part).

SeriesApple
CodenameCyclone 3
Series: Cyclone 3
Apple A9X (compare)2260 MHz2 / 2
» Apple A91800 MHz2 / 2
Clock Rate1800 MHz
Number of Cores / Threads2 / 2
Manufacturing Technology14/16 nm
FeaturesARMv8 Instruction Set
GPUApple A9 / PowerVR GT7600
64 Bit64 Bit support
Announcement Date09/09/2015

Benchmarks

3DMark - Ice Storm Unlimited Physics 1280x720 offscreen
min: 12854     avg: 13248     median: 13210.5 (15%)     max: 13717 Points
+ 4 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited Physics 2560x1440
1094 Points (14%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Unlimited Physics 2560x1440
1093 Points (21%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 3 - 64 Bit Multi-Core Score
min: 4386     avg: 4412     median: 4422 (7%)     max: 4429 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 3 - 64 Bit Single-Core Score
min: 2533     avg: 2537     median: 2538 (52%)     max: 2539 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 4.0 - Compute OpenCL Score
9793 Points (3%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 4.0 - 64 Bit Multi-Core Score
min: 4286     avg: 4359     median: 4359 (12%)     max: 4432 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 4.0 - 64 Bit Single-Core Score
min: 2503     avg: 2527     median: 2526.5 (40%)     max: 2550 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 4.4 - 64 Bit Single-Core Score
2556 Points (40%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Geekbench 4.4 - 64 Bit Multi-Core Score
4459 Points (8%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Linpack Android / IOS - Multi Thread
min: 1225     avg: 1260     median: 1260 (43%)     max: 1295 MFLOPS
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Linpack Android / IOS - Single Thread
min: 669     avg: 677     median: 677 (66%)     max: 685 MFLOPS
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total Score *
min: 1457.7     avg: 1656     median: 1712 (3%)     max: 1743 ms
+ 4 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score *
223 ms (2%)
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Octane V2 - Total Score
min: 15967     avg: 16716     median: 16375 (31%)     max: 18148 Points
+ 4 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AnTuTu v5 - Total Score
min: 58869     avg: 58977     median: 58976.5 (59%)     max: 59084 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
AnTuTu v6 - Total Score
min: 126969     avg: 129767     median: 128706 (44%)     max: 133626 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
PassMark PerformanceTest Mobile V1 - CPU Tests
min: 46285     avg: 48479     median: 48849 (6%)     max: 49934 Points
+ 4 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

Add one or more devices and compare

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v1.9

Reviews for the Apple A9 processor

Apple iPad (2017) (Imagination A9 / PowerVR GT7600, 9.7")
» Apple iPad (2017) Tablet Review - Review
» Apple iPad (2017) - External Review

Apple iPhone 6S (Imagination A9 / PowerVR GT7600, 4.7")
» Apple iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus First Impressions - Review
» Apple iPhone 6S Smartphone Review - Review
» Apple iPhone 6S - External Review

Apple iPhone 6S Plus (Imagination A9 / PowerVR GT7600, 5.5")
» Apple iPhone 6S Plus Smartphone Review - Review
» Apple iPhone 6S Plus - External Review

Apple iPhone SE (Imagination A9 / PowerVR GT7600, 4")
» Apple iPhone SE Smartphone Review - Review
» Apple iPhone SE - External Review

» Mobile CPU Comparison
Comparison of all mobile CPU series

» Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist
Benchmarklist of all known CPUs that are used in laptops (desktop and laptop CPUs)

Other CPUs of the series

» Kirin 970
   2.4 GHz
» Kirin 960
   2.4 GHz
» Kirin 960s
   2.1 GHz
» Apple A9X
   2.26 GHz
» Kirin 955
   2.5 GHz
» Kirin 950
   2.3 GHz
» Mediatek MT6797X
   2.6 GHz
» HiSilicon Kirin 710
   2.2 GHz
» Apple A9
   1.8 GHz
» Apple A8X
   1.5 GHz / 2 MB L2 + 4 MB L3
» Apple A8
   1.4 GHz / 1 MB L2 + 4 MB L3
» SC9863A
   1.6 GHz
» VIA Nano QuadCore L4700
   1.2 GHz / 4 MB L2
» Kirin 925
   1.8 GHz
» Kirin 920
   1.7 GHz
» Kirin 935
   2.2 GHz
» Kirin 659
   2.36 GHz
» Kirin 658
   2.35 GHz
» Kirin 655
   2.1 GHz
» Kirin 650
   2 GHz
» Kirin 930
   2 GHz
» Apple A7
   1.3 GHz / 1 MB L2 + 4 MB L3
» RK3288
   1.8 GHz
» Kirin 910T
   1.8 GHz
» Mediatek MT8161
   1.3 GHz
» RK3188
   1.8 GHz
» Kirin 620
   1.2 GHz
» Kirin 910
   1.6 GHz
» Intel Celeron 220
   1.2 GHz / 0.5 MB L2
» AMD GX-210JA
   1 GHz / 1 MB L2
» Apple A6x
   1.4 GHz
» Apple A6
   1 GHz
» Apple S5
   
» Intel Celeron 2.8
   2.8 GHz / 0.1 MB L2
» OMAP 4470
   1.5 GHz
» k3v2 Hi3620
   1.2 GHz
» RK3066
   1.5 GHz / 0.5 MB L2
» MP5232
   1.5 GHz
» Broadcom BCM21664T
   1.2 GHz
» AML8726-MX
   1.5 GHz / 0.5 MB L2
» OMAP 4460
   1.2 GHz
» RK3168
   1.2 GHz
» Broadcom BCM28155
   1.2 GHz
» OMAP 4430
   1 GHz
» Apple A5x
   1 GHz
» Apple A5
   1 GHz
» Samsung 9110
   1.15 GHz
» NovaThor U8500
   1 GHz
» NovaThor U8420
   1 GHz
» i.MX 6SLL
   1 GHz / 0.3 MB L2
» Qualcomm S2 MSM8255
   1.5 GHz
» RK2918 1.2 GHz
   1.2 GHz
» A10
   1.2 GHz
» Cortex A8 1.2 GHz
   1.2 GHz
» Apple A4
   1 GHz
» A13
   1 GHz
» WM8950
   1 GHz
» OMAP 3630 1GHz
   1 GHz
» OMAP 3622
   1 GHz
» RK2918
   1 GHz
» TCC8803 1GHz
   1 GHz
» ZiiLABS ZMS-08
   1 GHz
» Cortex A8
   1 GHz
» ATM7029
   1 GHz
» Loongson 2F
   0.9 GHz / 0.5 MB L2
» CSR8670
   0.08 GHz
» unknown
   

Surrounding CPUs

- AMD Turion II P540
   2.4 GHz / 2 MB
- AMD Turion II Ultra M600
   2.4 GHz / 2 MB
- Intel Pentium J2850
   2.4 GHz / 2 MB
- Intel Pentium N3520
   2.17 GHz / 2 MB
- Intel Celeron J1900
   2 GHz / 2 MB
» Apple A9
   1.8 GHz
+ Intel Atom x7 Z8700
   1.6 GHz / 2048 KB
+ AMD Bristol Ridge A4-9120
   2.2 GHz / 1024 KB
+ AMD Bristol Ridge A4-9120C
   1.6 GHz / 1024 KB
+ Intel Core i3 4010Y
   1.3 GHz / 512 KB + 3072 KB
+ AMD Bristol Ridge E2-9010
   2 GHz / 1024 KB
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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > Benchmarks / Tech > Notebook Processors > Apple A9 Smartphone SoC
Klaus Hinum (Update: 2015-09-11)