Apple A9X

The Apple A9X is a high-end ARM SoC (System on a Chip) that was announced in September 2015 in the iPad Pro. Technical details are scarce, what we know is that it is based on the third generation of Apples 64 Bit architecture (Cyclone 3) and manufactured with a "new transistor technology" (14 or 16nm FINFet probably).

The performance of the A9X did improve a lot according to Apple. The CPU part should be 1.8x faster and the GPU part even 2x faster than the already speedy Apple A8X. Apple even stated in the keynote of the iPad Pro that the performance should be "faster than 80% of portable PCs shipped in the last 12 month". Furthermore the iPad Pro now features a 2x higher memory bandwidth (DDR4?) and 2x faster storage performance. The integrated graphics card will most likely be a PowerVR design again (Power VR Series7?).

Series

Apple

Codename

Cyclone 3

Series: Cyclone 3

» Apple A9X	2260 MHz	2 / 2
Apple A9 (compare)	1800 MHz	2 / 2

Clock Rate

2260 MHz

Number of Cores / Threads

2 / 2

Manufacturing Technology

14/16 nm

Die Size

147 mm²

Features

ARMv8 Instruction Set

GPU

Apple A9X / PowerVR Series 7XT

64 Bit

64 Bit support

Announcement Date

09/09/2015

Benchmarks

3DMark - Ice Storm Unlimited Physics 1280x720 offscreen

min: 15473 avg: 15748 median: 15748 (20%) max: 16023 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

3DMark - Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited Physics 2560x1440

1713 Points (39%)

+ 1 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

3DMark - Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Unlimited Physics 2560x1440

1649 Points (35%)

+ 1 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Geekbench 3 - 64 Bit Multi-Core Score

min: 5268 avg: 5343.5 median: 5343.5 (14%) max: 5419 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Geekbench 3 - 64 Bit Single-Core Score

min: 3079 avg: 3139.5 median: 3139.5 (64%) max: 3200 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Geekbench 4.1/4.2 - 64 Bit Single-Core Score

3097 Points (49%)

+ 1 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Geekbench 4.1/4.2 - 64 Bit Multi-Core Score

5284 Points (15%)

+ 1 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Linpack Android / IOS - Multi Thread

min: 1549.92 avg: 1559.5 median: 1559.5 (53%) max: 1569 MFLOPS

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Linpack Android / IOS - Single Thread

855 MFLOPS (84%)

+ 1 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total Score *

min: 1498.8 avg: 1522.6 median: 1522.6 (3%) max: 1546.3 ms

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score *

181 ms (2%)

+ 1 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Octane V2 - Total Score

min: 19621 avg: 19736.5 median: 19736.5 (41%) max: 19852 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

AnTuTu v6 - Total Score

min: 168840 avg: 176593 median: 176593 (69%) max: 184346 Points

+ 2 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

PassMark PerformanceTest Mobile V1 - CPU Tests

min: 58793 avg: 59226 median: 59226 (8%) max: 59659 Points

+ 2 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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v1.8

Reviews for the Apple A9X processor

Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (Imagination A9X / PowerVR GT7xxx, 12.9")
» Apple iPad Pro Tablet Review - Review
» Apple iPad Pro - External Review

Apple iPad Pro 9.7 (Imagination A9X / PowerVR GT7xxx, 9.7")
» Apple iPad Pro 9.7 Tablet Review - Review
» Apple iPad Pro 9.7 - 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

» HiSilicon Kirin 980

» 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

» 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

» Mediatek MT8163 V/A 1.5 GHz
1.5 GHz

» Kirin 910T
1.8 GHz

» Mediatek MT8163 V/B 1.3 GHz
1.3 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

» Marvell Technology Group Armada PXA1908
1.2 GHz

» Apple A6x
1.4 GHz

» Apple A6
1 GHz

» Marvell Technology Group PXA1088
1.2 GHz

» 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

» Marvell Technology Group PXA986
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

» NovaThor U8500
1 GHz

» NovaThor U8420
1 GHz

» 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

» Samsung Hummingbird S5PC110 / Exynos 3110
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

- Intel Core i5 2467M
1.6 GHz / 0.5 MB + 3 MB

- Intel Core i5 3339Y
1.5 GHz / 0.5 MB + 3 MB

- Intel Core i3 4010U
1.7 GHz / 0.5 MB + 3 MB

- Intel Core i3 4005U
1.7 GHz / 0.5 MB + 3 MB

- Intel Core i3 3217U
1.8 GHz / 0.5 MB + 3 MB

» Apple A9X
2.26 GHz

+ AMD Kaveri A10-7300
1.9 GHz / 4096 KB

+ AMD Kaveri A8 Pro-7150B
1.9 GHz / 4096 KB

+ Intel Pentium 4405Y
1.5 GHz / 512 KB + 2048 KB

+ AMD Phenom II X4 N970
2.2 GHz / 2048 KB

+ Intel Core 2 Duo (Desktop) E6700
2.66 GHz / 4096 KB

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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > Benchmarks / Tech > Notebook Processors > Apple A9X Tablet SoC

Klaus Hinum (Update: 2015-09-11)