The iPhone 6S will be powered by a new Apple A9 processor. It replaces the A8 used in the iPhone 6 and boasts a hefty increase in raw processing power.
Yesterday, Apple Insider shared a graph that apparently shows benchmark results for the new chip. It originated on Chinese social network Weibo and its authenticity cannot be confirmed.
If genuine, then the A9 is faster than Samsung’s octa-core Exynos processors when running through the GeekBench3 performance test. The A9X, headed for the iPad Air 3, also shows a considerable performance increase.
The A9 scores 2090 in the single-core test and 3569 when using multiple cores. In comparison, the A8 manages only 1611 on one core and 2892 across all cores. The A9X now measures up at 2109 and 5101 respectively, compared with 1808 and 4526 for the A8X used in the iPad Air 2.
Those figures suggest that the A9 is a 30 percent improvement over the A8. When pitted against Samsung’s eight-core Exynos 7420 used in its new Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+ devices, the A9 comes out on top in the single-core test with its score of 2090 dethroning the 1486 of the Exynos. The tables turn in the multi-core benchmark though. With so many cores to play with it is inevitable that Samsung will win here, scoring 5048 against Apple’s 3569.
It’s easy to get carried away with these numbers though. Apple is always so good at optimising iOS for its handsets that users never notice any slow-downs or long wait times.
Android is less polished and more demanding on a phone’s hardware than the streamlined iOS to the extent that a faster processor in an Android phone is immediately noticeable. Replacing an Apple A8 with an A9 would probably never raise an eyebrow from an Apple user as both are equally adept at keeping the animations and transitions in iOS running smoothly.
The increased performance will be noticed in apps and games where developers will have more freedom than ever to create intensive graphical effects. Multitasking and switching between apps will also see a boost but again the effect probably won’t be noticeable until a very large number of apps are running at once.
Apple fans don’t have to wait much longer to get their hands on an A9-equipped iPhone 6S. The company will be revealing the devices early next month, delivering pre-orders to customers a few weeks later.
