Apple A9 processor review

Apple A9

A9 processor released by Apple; release date: 9 Sep 2015. The processor is based on Twister microarchitecture.

CPU is locked to prevent overclocking. Total number of cores - 2, threads - 2. Maximum CPU clock speed - 1.85 GHz. Manufacturing process technology - 16 nm. Cache size: L1 - 64 KB instruction + 64 KB data (per core), L2 - 3 MB (shared), L3 - 4 MB (shared).

Supported memory types: LPDDR4-3200. Maximum memory size: 2 GB.

The processor has integrated graphics Custom PowerVR Series 7XT @ 650MHz with the following parameters: cores count - 6.

Benchmarks

PassMark
Single thread mark
Top 1 CPU
This CPU
4870
1187
PassMark
CPU mark
Top 1 CPU
This CPU
156834
2067
Name Value
PassMark - Single thread mark 1187
PassMark - CPU mark 2067

Integrated graphics – Apple A9

Technical info

Core clock speed 650 MHz
Manufacturing process technology 16 nm
Peak Single Precision (FP32) Performance 249.6 GFLOPS
Pipelines 6
Render output units 24

Specifications (specs)

Essentials

Architecture codename Twister
Launch date 9 Sep 2015
OS Support iOS 9.0, iOS 15.7.5, iPadOS 16.4.1, tvOS 16.2
Place in performance rating 2056
Processor Number APL1021

Performance

Base frequency 1.85 GHz
L1 cache 64 KB instruction + 64 KB data (per core)
L2 cache 3 MB (shared)
L3 cache 4 MB (shared)
Manufacturing process technology 16 nm
Maximum frequency 1.85 GHz
Number of cores 2
Number of threads 2
Transistor count 2 billion

Memory

Max memory channels 1
Maximum memory bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
Maximum memory size 2 GB
Supported memory types LPDDR4-3200

Graphics

Execution Units 24
Graphics base frequency 650 MHz
iGPU core count 6
Processor graphics Custom PowerVR Series 7XT @ 650MHz