Apple A9 vs Apple M4 (iPad)
[ VERDICT ]
Winner: Apple M4 (iPad) (99/100)
Apple M4 (iPad) leads overall with a score of 99/100 compared to Apple A9 (24/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.
Why choose Apple M4 (iPad):
- + Higher Performance score (99 vs 18)
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Normalized Lab Scores| Benchmark | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| DeviceBenchmark Score | 24.0 Poor | — |
| Performance | 18.0 Poor | 99.0 Excellent WINNER |
| NanoReview Score | — | 99.0 Excellent |
Detailed Technical Specifications
AI Accelerator
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple M9 | — |
| NPU theoretical performance | — | 38 TOPS |
| Neural processor (NPU) | — | Apple Neural Engine |
AnTuTu 11
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 162356 | 915032 |
| GPU | 70340 | 1135331 |
| Memory | 60725 | 349968 |
| Total score | 419670 | — |
| UX | 126249 | 715682 |
| Total score | — | 3116013 |
CPU
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | 2x 1.85 GHz – Twister | 4x 4.41 GHz –6x 2.85 GHz – |
| Cores | 2 | 10 |
| Frequency | 1850 MHz | 4410 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8-A | — |
| L1 cache | 64 KB | — |
| L2 cache | 3 MB | — |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | — |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Process | 14 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | 5 W | — |
| Transistor count | 2 billion | — |
| Instruction set | — | ARMv9.2-A |
| L1 cache | — | 192 KB |
| L2 cache | — | 16 MB |
| Transistor count | — | 28 billion |
Connectivity
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 6 | — |
| 5G support | No | — |
| Bluetooth | 4.2 | 5.3 |
| Download speed | Up to 450 Mbps | — |
| Modem | Qualcomm MDM9635M | Snapdragon X71 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| Upload speed | Up to 150 Mbps | — |
| Wi-Fi | 5 | 6 |
| 4G support | — | LTE Cat. 24 |
| 5G support | — | Yes |
| Download speed | — | Up to 10000 Mbps |
| Upload speed | — | Up to 3500 Mbps |
GeekBench 6
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| API | Metal | Metal |
| Asset compression | 44.6 MB/sec | — |
| Background blur | 2.89 images/sec | — |
| Edge detection | 0.14 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Face detection | 6.17 images/sec | — |
| Feature matching | 0.03 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Gaussian blur | 0.31 Gpixels/sec | — |
| HDR | 40.2 Mpixels/sec | 461.1 Mpixels/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 14.2 pages/sec | — |
| Horizon detection | 0.1 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Image detection | 7.3 images/sec | — |
| PDF Renderer | 32 Mpixels/sec | — |
| Particle physics | 299.1 FPS | — |
| Photo processing | 7.75 images/sec | — |
| Ray tracing | 1.28 Mpixels/sec | — |
| Samples | 3 tests | 7 tests |
| Stereo matching | 7.82 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Asset compression | — | 501.5 MB/sec |
| Background blur | — | 54.3 images/sec |
| Edge detection | — | 2.32 Gpixels/sec |
| Face detection | — | 124.8 images/sec |
| Feature matching | — | 0.73 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | — | 2.8 Gpixels/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | — | 305.6 pages/sec |
| Horizon detection | — | 1.7 Gpixels/sec |
| Image detection | — | 416.7 images/sec |
| PDF Renderer | — | 317.1 Mpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | — | 4657.1 FPS |
| Photo processing | — | 139.8 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | — | 14.9 Mpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | — | 164.7 Gpixels/sec |
Graphics
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| FLOPS | 249.6 Gigaflops | 3763.2 Gigaflops |
| GPU frequency | 650 MHz | — |
| OpenCL version | 1.2 | — |
| Pipelines | 6 | — |
| Shading units | 32 | — |
| Total shaders | 192 | — |
| Vulkan version | 1.1 | — |
| GPU frequency | — | 1470 MHz |
Info
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | September 2015 | May 2024 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | APL1022 | — |
| Successor | -Apple A19 Pro | — |
Memory
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Bus | 2x 16 Bit | 8x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 14.9 Gb/s | — |
| Max size | 4 GB | — |
| Memory frequency | 1333 MHz | — |
| Memory type | LPDDR4 | — |
| Max bandwidth | — | 120 Gb/s |
| Max size | — | 24 GB |
| Memory frequency | — | 7500 MHz |
| Memory type | — | LPDDR5X |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Audio codecs | - AAC- AIFF- CAF- MP3- MP4- WAV | — |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 32MP, 2x 12MP | — |
| Max display resolution | 2048 x 1536 | — |
| Storage type | NVMe | — |
| Video capture | 4K at 30FPS | — |
| Video codecs | - H.264- H.265 | — |
| Video playback | 4K at 30FPS | — |
| Audio codecs | — | - AAC- AIFF- CAF- MP3- MP4- WAV |
| Max display resolution | — | 2752 x 2064 |
| Storage type | — | NVMe |
| Video capture | — | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video codecs | — | - H.264- H.265- AV1- VP9 |
| Video playback | — | 4K at 60FPS |
Recent User Tests
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Benchmark | Benchmark |
| 📘 2024-03-13(ゆう) | GeekBench GPU | — |
| 📘 2024-06-26(Heaven) | GeekBench GPU | — |
| 📘 2024-07-04(Red) | GeekBench GPU | — |
| 📘 2026-05-13(TestGame) | GeekBench GPU | — |
| 📘 2024-07-01(Aoul) | — | GeekBench GPU |
| 📘 2024-07-10(Vlad) | — | GeekBench GPU |
| 📘 2025-09-13(Yusuf baser) | — | GeekBench CPU |
| 📘 2026-04-26(BG-M4-User) | — | GeekBench GPU |
| 📘 2026-08-03(Astreeek) | — | AnTuTu |
3DMark
| Specification | Apple A9 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics test | — | 26 FPS |
| Section 1 | — | 63 FPS |
| Section 2 | — | 56 FPS |
| Section 3 | — | 43 FPS |
| Stability | — | 71% |
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