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Sunday, September 16, 2012

iPhone 5 benchmarks surface: Performance doubles - CNET

The iPhone 5's A6 chip could be a performance monster if Geekbench results are legitimate.

September 16, 2012 9:29 PM PDT
iPhone 5 packs the fastest Apple A series chip to date, according to benchmarks posted by Geekbench.

iPhone 5 packs the fastest Apple A series chip to date, according to benchmarks posted by Geekbench.

(Credit: Apple)

The iPhone 5's A6 processor appears to be roughly twice as fast as any chip in an existing iOS product, if results posted by Geekbench prove to be accurate.

The results show a score of 1,601, beating the dual-core A5 and A5X processors in the iPhone 4s and third-generation iPad (Retina), respectively.

Previous benchmarks of the Retina iPad show a score of 794 (iPad with 3G/4G). The iPhone 4S posted a score of 631.

If these iPhone 5 benchmarks are legitimate, they would match Apple's claims. "With the new A6 chip, just about everything you do on iPhone 5 is noticeably faster -- up to twice as fast compared with the A5 chip," Apple states on its iPhone 5 features page.

Geekbench results point to a 1GHz clock speed, an increase from the A5's 800MHz. Because that's not a huge jump in the chip's frequency, chip review site Anandtech said some of that extra performance may come from doing more instructions per clock cycle.

In short, if the chip is more efficient at processing instructions, it adds performance irrespective of clock speed.

The A6 chip is also thought to be the first Apple chip made on Samsung's new 32-nanometer manufacturing process. Typically when a chip moves to a more advanced manufacturing process, it gets faster and/or more power efficient -- or both.

And the A6 adopts a more unique Apple design, according to preliminary analysis. And also boasts faster memory. Both aspects would contribute to performance.

The A6's score also puts it ahead of Android device benchmarks. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S III with a Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core chip rated at 1.4GHz posted a score of 1588, compared to the A6's 1,601.

[Via MacRumors ].

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