Apple A9 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 860

VS

Which processor is better? We compared Apple A9 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 860. Compare, analyze the specifications. Find out their scores in popular benchmarks (GeekBench 6 Single-Core, GeekBench 6 Multi-Core) and who is the winner?

GeekBench 6 Single-Core

Score

A9

624

Snapdragon 860

996

GeekBench 6 Multi-Core

Score

A9

961

Snapdragon 860

2580

CPU cores and architecture

Architecture	2x 1.85 GHz – Apple Twister	1x 2.96 GHz – Cortex-A76 (Kryo 485 Prime) 3x 2.42 GHz – Cortex-A76 (Kryo 485 Gold) 4x 1.8 GHz – Cortex-A55 (Kryo 485 Silver)
Number of cores	2	8
Instruction Set	ARMv8-A	ARMv8.2-A
Lithography	14 nm	7 nm
Number of transistors	2000 million	6700 million
TDP	5 Watt	6 Watt
Neural Processing	Apple M9	Qualcomm Hexagon 690

Memory (RAM)

Max amount	up to 4 GB	up to 16 GB
Memory type	LPDDR4	LPDDR4X
Memory frequency	1333 MHz	2133 MHz
Memory-bus	2x16 bit	4x16 bit

Graphics

GPU name	Imagination PowerVR GT7600	Adreno 640
GPU Architecture	PowerVR Rogue	Qualcomm Adreno 600
GPU frequency	650 MHz	675 MHz
Execution units	6	3
Shaders	192	768
DirectX		12.1
OpenCL API	1.2	2.0
Vulkan API	1.1	1.1

Camera, Video, Display

Max screen resolution	2048x1536	3840x2160
Max camera resolution	1x 32MP, 2x 12MP	1x 192MP, 2x 22MP
Max Video Capture	4K@30fps	4K@120fps
Video codec support	H.264 (AVC) H.265 (HEVC)	H.264 (AVC) H.265 (HEVC) VP8 VP9

Wireless

4G network	Yes	Yes
5G network	Yes	Yes
Peak Download Speed	0.45 Gbps	5 Gbps
Peak Upload Speed	0.15 Gbps	1.24 Gbps
Wi-Fi	5 (802.11ac)	6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth	4.2	5.1
Satellite navigation	BeiDou GPS Galileo GLONASS	BeiDou GPS Galileo GLONASS QZSS SBAS