Apple A5X vs Apple A9

Let's find out which one of Apple A5X and Apple A9 is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

• Name
  Apple A5X Apple A9
• Family
  Apple A series Apple A series
• CPU group
  Apple A5/A5X Apple A9/A9X
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Generation
  5 9
• Predecessor
  -- Apple A8
• Successor
  Apple A6X Apple A10 Fusion

In this block we are going to compare Apple A5X vs Apple A9 by main technical specifications: number of cores and threads, base and maximum frequencies, process technology and cache size. The higher these specifications are, the more powerful your CPU will be.

• Core architecture
  normal normal
• Overclocking
  No No
• Frequency
  1.00 GHz 1.85 GHz

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in Apple A5X and Apple A9 along with supported interfaces and connection options. This block has no effect on the final efficiency of the CPU.

• GPU name
  PowerVR SGX543MP4 (4 Cores) Apple A9
• GPU frequency
  0.20 GHz 0.65 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo No turbo
• Execution units
  8 6
• Shader
  64 192
• Max. GPU Memory
  -- 4 GB
• Max. displays
  1 1
• Generation
  6
• Technology
  45 nm 16 nm
• Release date
  Q1/2012 Q3/2015

Let's compare the support of video codecs between Apple A5X and Apple A9. Hardware support of video decoding by embedded graphics cards directly affects the speed and quality of rendering videos.

• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  No No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  No No
• h264
  No Decode
• VP8
  No Decode
• VP9
  No No
• AV1
  No No
• AVC
  No Decode
• VC-1
  No Decode
• JPEG
  No Decode / Encode

To choose the best model between Apple A5X and Apple A9 you need to pay special attention to memory type, clock frequency, multi-channel features, and PCIe version. The higher these numbers are, the better your CPU will be. Keep in mind that the maximum memory and frequency may also depend on the model of the motherboard.

• Memory type
  LPDDR2-800 LPDDR4-3200
• Max. Memory
  1 GB 2 GB
• Memory channels
  4 (Quad Channel) 1
• ECC
  No No

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for Apple A5X or Apple A9? The Thermal Design Power (TDP) indicates the maximum amount of heat that should be dissipated by the chip cooling system. However, the value of TDP gives only a rough indication of the real power consumption of the CPU.

• TDP (PL1)
  5 W

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for Apple A5X and Apple A9 CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

• Technology
  32 nm 16 nm
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• L2-Cache
  1.00 MB 3.00 MB
• L3-Cache
  -- 4.00 MB
• Architecture
  A5 A9
• Virtualization
  None None
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv7-A32 (32 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• Release date
  Q1/2011 Q3/2015
• Part Number
  APL 5498 --