Apple A9

Manufacturing Process

14nm

CPU Cores

2 cores

Instruction Set

ARMv8-A

Memory Type

LPDDR4 (1333MHz)

GPU

PowerVR GT7600

ℹ️ Basic Information

SOC Name Apple A9

Brand Apple

Announcement Date 09 September 2015

Class Flagship

Manufacturing Process 14nm

⚡ CPU Specifications

CPU Architecture 2x 1.85 GHz – Twister

CPU Cores 2 Core

CPU Frequency 1850MHz

Instruction Set ARMv8-A

🧠 Cache & NPU

Cache 4 MB

Cache Level L3

SLC 3mb

NPU Apple M9

💾 Memory

Memory Type LPDDR4

Memory Frequency 1333MHz

Memory Bus 2x 16 Bit

Max Bandwidth 14.9 Gb/s

Max Memory Size 4 GB

🎮 GPU

GPU PowerVR GT7600

GPU Architecture PowerVR Series7XT (Rogue)

Pipelines 6 Pipeline

Shading Units 32 Unit

Total Shaders 192 Unit

Vulkan Version Version 1.1

OpenCL Version Version 1.2

DirectX Version Version n/a

💿 Storage & Display

Max Display Resolution 2048 x 1536

Max Camera Resolution 1x 32MP, 2x 12MP

🎵 Video & Audio

Video Capture 4K at 30FPS

Video Playback 4K at 30FPS

Video Codecs H.264, H.265

Audio Codecs AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV

📶 Connectivity

WiFi Wifi 5

Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.2

🛰️ Navigation Systems

GPS Yes

GLONASS Yes

Beidou Yes

Galileo Yes

QZSS No

NAVIC No

📊 Benchmark Scores

AnTuTu 10 332,000

⚖️ Related SOC

Displayed SoCs are selected based on performance class suitability and key benchmark metrics.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G

Qualcomm • 8 cores • 2019

336,242

MediaTek Helio G95

MediaTek • 8 cores • 2020

334,737

Apple A9

Apple • 2 cores • 2015

332,000

Qualcomm Snapdragon 675

Qualcomm • 8 cores • 2018

314,867

Qualcomm Snapdragon 712

Qualcomm • 8 cores • 2019

311,741

✅ Positive Aspects

1. Strong Single-Thread & Graphics for Its Time

The Apple A9 featured a high-performance dual-core Twister CPU and PowerVR GT7600 GPU that delivered excellent performance for flagship devices like iPhone 6s and iPhone SE at launch, outperforming many contemporaries.

2. Efficient Architecture with Large Cache

Using a 14 nm FinFET process and up to 4 MB of L3 cache along with 3 MB of L2 cache helped improve responsiveness and efficiency compared to previous generations.

3. Integrated Motion Coprocessor

The embedded Apple M9 motion coprocessor enabled advanced sensor processing and Siri voice recognition without waking the main CPU, improving battery life and responsiveness for context-aware features.

❌ Negative Aspects

1. Limited to Dual Cores

Compared to later mobile SoCs with many more cores, Apple A9’s dual-core CPU was modest in scalability, limiting performance in highly threaded workloads.

2. No Integrated 5G or Modern Connectivity

As a 2015 flagship chip, the A9 did not support 5G and only offers older Bluetooth and cellular connectivity options by modern standards.

Device information for this processor will be available soon. We are working on collecting data about smartphones and tablets that use the Apple A9.