Samsung Exynos 7904 vs Apple A9. Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Samsung Exynos 7872/7884/7885/7904 Apple A9/A9X
• Family
  Samsung Exynos Apple A series
• Generation
  2 9
• Predecessor
  - Apple A8
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Successor
  - Apple A10 Fusion

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• A-Core
  2x Cortex-A73 2x Twister
• B-Core
  6x Cortex-A53 -
• Base Frequency
  1.6 GHz 1.85 GHz
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) normal
• CPU Cores
  8 2
• CPU Threads
  8 2
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  1.8 GHz No turbo
• Turbo Frequency (8 Cores)
  1.8 GHz -
• Turbo Frequency (2 Cores)
  - No turbo

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• DirectX Version
  11 -
• Execution units
  2 6
• Generation
  Bifrost 1 6
• GPU Frequency
  770 MHz 650 MHz
• GPU name
  ARM Mali-G71 MP2 Apple A9
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo No turbo
• Max. displays
  1 1
• Max. GPU Memory
  2 GB 4 GB
• Release date
  Q2/2016 Q3/2015
• Shader
  32 192
• Technology
  16 nm 16 nm

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  No No
• H.264 / AVC
  Decode / Encode Decode
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode No
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VC-1
  No Decode
• VP8
  Decode / Encode Decode
• VP9
  No No

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple A9 and Samsung Exynos 7904. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  - 2 GB
• Memory channels
  2 1
• Memory type
  LPDDR4-1866 LPDDR4-3200

• AES-NI
  No No

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Samsung Exynos 7904 and Apple A9 Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  - 5 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Samsung Exynos 7904 and Apple A9, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53 A9
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• L2-Cache
  - 3 MB
• L3-Cache
  - 4 MB
• Release date
  Q1/2019 Q3/2015
• Technology
  14 nm 16 nm
• Virtualization
  None None