Apple A9 vs A10 Fusion
We compared the 2-core Apple A9 (PowerVR GT7600) with the newer 4-core A10 Fusion (PowerVR GT7600) SoC. Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.
Review
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulkan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score
Key Differences
Pros of Apple A9
- Has a smaller size transistor (14 versus 16 nm)
Pros of Apple A10 Fusion
- Has 2 more cores
- 26% higher CPU clock speed (2340 vs 1850 MHz)
- Shows better (up to 23%) AnTuTu 11 score β 516K vs 419K
Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarksAnTuTu 11
| CPU | 162356 | 202669 |
| GPU | 70340 | 63274 |
| Memory | 60725 | 84317 |
| UX | 126249 | 166721 |
| Total score | 419670 | 516981 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | Less than 3 |
GeekBench 6
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
| Asset compression | 44.6 MB/sec | 57.7 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 14.2 pages/sec | 38.7 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 32 Mpixels/sec | 44.8 Mpixels/sec |
| Image detection | 7.3 images/sec | 14.2 images/sec |
| HDR | 40.2 Mpixels/sec | 56.1 Mpixels/sec |
| Background blur | 2.89 images/sec | 4.38 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 7.75 images/sec | 13.5 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 1.28 Mpixels/sec | 1.7 Mpixels/sec |
| Samples | 3 tests | 4 tests |
Compute Score (GPU)
| Background blur | 7.83 images/sec | 11 images/sec |
| Face detection | 6.17 images/sec | 9.32 images/sec |
| Horizon detection | 0.1 Gpixels/sec | 0.13 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge detection | 0.14 Gpixels/sec | 0.17 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | 0.31 Gpixels/sec | 0.4 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature matching | 0.03 Gpixels/sec | 0.04 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | 7.82 Gpixels/sec | 10.9 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | 299.1 FPS | 415.5 FPS |
| API | Metal | Metal |
| Samples | 4 tests | 2 tests |
3DMark
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Score | - | 693 |
| Stability | - | 85% |
| Graphics test | - | 4 FPS |
Recent User Tests
Apple A9
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-05-13 (TestGame) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 3180 |
| π 2026-05-13 (TestGame) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 644 / 901 |
| π 2024-07-04 (Red) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 3195 |
| π 2024-06-26 (Heaven) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 3185 |
| π 2024-06-26 (Heaven) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 633 / 1014 |
Apple A10 Fusion
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-23 (TeknoPiri) | AnTuTu 11 | 497446 |
| π 2025-08-15 (hellz1) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 4352 |
| π 2024-02-21 (Cap1bara_tech) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 882 / 1484 |
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of Apple A9 and A10 FusionCPU
| Architecture | 2x 1.85 GHz β Twister | 2x 2.34 GHz β Hurricane 2x 1.05 GHz β Zephyr |
| Cores | 2 | 4 |
| Frequency | 1850 MHz | 2340 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8-A | ARMv8-A |
| L1 cache | 64 KB | 64 KB |
| L2 cache | 3 MB | 3 MB |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | 4 MB |
| Process | 14 nanometers | 16 nanometers |
| Transistor count | 2 billion | 3.3 billion |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | 5 W | 5 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
Graphics
| GPU name | PowerVR GT7600 | PowerVR GT7600 |
| Architecture | PowerVR Series7XT (Rogue) | PowerVR Series7XT (Rogue) |
| GPU frequency | 650 MHz | 650 MHz |
| Pipelines | 6 | 6 |
| Shading units | 32 | 32 |
| Total shaders | 192 | 192 |
| FLOPS | 249.6 Gigaflops | 249.6 Gigaflops |
| Vulkan version | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| OpenCL version | 1.2 | 1.2 |
AI Accelerator
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple M9 | No |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR4 | LPDDR4 |
| Memory frequency | 1333 MHz | 1333 MHz |
| Bus | 2x 16 Bit | 2x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 14.9 Gb/s | 14.9 Gb/s |
| Max size | 4 GB | 4 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Max display resolution | 2048 x 1536 | 2048 x 1536 |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 32MP, 2x 12MP | 1x 32MP, 2x 12MP |
| Video capture | 4K at 30FPS | 4K at 30FPS |
| Video playback | 4K at 30FPS | 4K at 30FPS |
| Video codecs | - H.264 - H.265 |
- H.264 - H.265 - VC-1 - Motion JPEG |
| Audio codecs | - AAC - AIFF - CAF - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
- AAC - AIFF - CAF - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
Connectivity
| Modem | Qualcomm MDM9635M | Qualcomm MDM9645M |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 6 | LTE Cat. 12 |
| 5G support | No | No |
| Download speed | Up to 450 Mbps | Up to 600 Mbps |
| Upload speed | Up to 150 Mbps | Up to 100 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
Info
| Announced | September 2015 | September 2016 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | APL1021 | APL1W24 |
| Successor | - Apple A19 Pro | - Apple A19 Pro |
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