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ARM Cortex A8 1.2 GHz vs Apple A9 vs DK3.5+ST

ARM Cortex A8 1.2 GHz

► remove from comparison

Apple A9

► remove from comparison 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).

ModelARM Cortex A8 1.2 GHzApple A9DK3.5+ST
Clock1200 MHz1800 MHz
Cores / Threads1 / 12 / 22
ArchitectureARMARM
Announced
CodenameCyclone 3
Technology14/16 nm
FeaturesARMv8 Instruction Set
iGPUApple A9 / PowerVR GT7600

Benchmarks

3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Physics
100%
1 A9 +
min: 12854     avg: 13248     median: 13210.5 (11%)     max: 13717 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited Physics
100%
1 A9 +
1094 Points (10%)
3DMark - 3DMark Sling Shot (ES 3.0) Unlimited Physics
100%
1 A9 +
1093 Points (12%)
Geekbench 6.4 - Geekbench 6.4 Single-Core
100%
1 A9 +
645 Points (16%)
Geekbench 6.4 - Geekbench 6.4 Multi-Core
100%
1 A9 +
1010 Points (4%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.5 64 Bit Single-Core
100%
1 A9 +
531 Points (21%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.5 64 Bit Multi-Core
100%
1 A9 +
970 Points (2%)
Geekbench 4.4 - Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 64 Bit Single-Core
100%
1 A9 +
2556 Points (26%)
Geekbench 4.4 - Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
100%
1 A9 +
4459 Points (4%)
Geekbench 4.0 - Geekbench 4.0 64 Bit Single-Core
100%
1 A9 +
min: 2503     avg: 2527     median: 2526.5 (28%)     max: 2550 Points
Geekbench 4.0 - Geekbench 4.0 64 Bit Multi-Core
100%
1 A9 +
min: 4286     avg: 4359     median: 4359 (6%)     max: 4432 Points
Geekbench 3 - Geekbench 3 64 Bit Multi-Core
100%
1 A9 +
min: 4386     avg: 4412     median: 4422 (7%)     max: 4429 Points
Geekbench 3 - Geekbench 3 64 Bit Single-Core
100%
1 A9 +
min: 2533     avg: 2537     median: 2538 (38%)     max: 2539 Points
Linpack Android / IOS - Linpack Multi Thread
12 MFLOPS (0%)
10483%
1 A9 +
min: 1225     avg: 1260     median: 1260 (43%)     max: 1295 MFLOPS
Linpack Android / IOS - Linpack Single Thread
12.5 MFLOPS (1%)
5429%
1 A9 +
min: 669     avg: 677     median: 677 (66%)     max: 685 MFLOPS
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
100%
1 A9 +
min: 1458     avg: 1656     median: 1712 (2%)     max: 1743 ms
Sunspider - Sunspider 1.0 Total Score *
100%
1 A9 +
223 ms (2%)
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
100%
1 A9 +
min: 15967     avg: 16716     median: 16375 (12%)     max: 18148 Points
Quadrant Standard Edition 2.0 - Quadrant Standard 2.0 Total Score
1686 points (4%)
AnTuTu v5 - AnTuTu v5 Total Score
100%
1 A9 +
min: 58869     avg: 58977     median: 58976.5 (59%)     max: 59084 Points
AnTuTu v6 - AnTuTu v6 Total Score
100%
1 A9 +
min: 126969     avg: 129767     median: 128706 (44%)     max: 133626 Points
PassMark PerformanceTest Mobile V1 - PerformanceTest Mobile V1 CPU Tests
100%
1 A9 +
min: 46285     avg: 48479     median: 48849 (6%)     max: 49934 Points

Average Benchmarks ARM Cortex A8 1.2 GHz → 0% n=0

Average Benchmarks Apple A9 → 0% n=0

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
red legend - Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

v1.33
log 29. 22:36:04

#0 ran 0s before starting gpusingle class +0s ... 0s

#1 checking url part for id 3316 +0s ... 0s

#2 checking url part for id 7085 +0s ... 0s

#3 checking url part for id 12765 +0s ... 0s

#4 redirected to Ajax server, took 1753821363s time from redirect:0 +0s ... 0s

#5 did not recreate cache, as it is less than 5 days old! Created at Mon, 28 Jul 2025 05:17:35 +0200 +0s ... 0s

#6 composed specs +0.002s ... 0.002s

#7 did output specs +0s ... 0.002s

#8 getting avg benchmarks for device 3316 +0.001s ... 0.003s

#9 got single benchmarks 3316 +0.004s ... 0.007s

#10 getting avg benchmarks for device 7085 +0.001s ... 0.007s

#11 got single benchmarks 7085 +0.005s ... 0.012s

#12 getting avg benchmarks for device 12765 +0.001s ... 0.013s

#13 got single benchmarks 12765 +0.003s ... 0.016s

#14 got avg benchmarks for devices +0s ... 0.016s

#15 min, max, avg, median took s +0.01s ... 0.026s

#16 return log +0s ... 0.026s

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Benchmarks / Tech > Processor Comparison - Head 2 Head
Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)