AnandTech: Apple's A6 SoC Outperforms Intel Atom in JavaScript Test

[Akshay Masand]

A recent test of the iPhone 5’s new A6 processor yielded a surprisingly quick score on SunSpider’s JavaScript benchmarking tool, with the system on a chip even topping the Medfield Atom Z2460. While not an official test, the folks over at AnandTech was able to run SunSpider v0.9.1 on an iPhone 5 review sample on Wednesday and watched as the dual-core A6 chip chewed through the benchmark in 914.7 milliseconds, outpacing the second place Lava XOLO X900’s time of 1279.4 milliseconds. The Lava XOLO runs a single-core Intel Atom Z2460 Penwell SoC built on the chip maker’s Medfield platform.

As noted by the publication, SunSpider is slowly becoming outdated as a smartphone benchmark; however it highlights issues pertaining to ARM’s Cortex A9 memory interface. According to Anand Shimpi “Intel originally hinted issues in the A9’s memory interface as being why Atom was able to so easily outperform other ARM based SoCs in SunSpider.”

It was previously thought that Apple made dramatic improvements to the standard ARM core’s memory interface as previous Geekbench data suggested a drastic improvement from previous Cortex A9 chips. Although it hasn’t yet been confirmed, the A6 chip is reportedly Apple’s first attempt at designing an ARM core in-house. Based on the results, it seems like they have done a pretty good job but we’ll see more results when more test results are released.

Source: AnandTech

[wakeenaushad]

No android cry bois here?

[NakedFaerie]

Remember the last time one of these was posted. We all proved it wrong.
I dont believe them anymore. All it is, is a fanboy trying to hype up the device.

[The6uest]

Wow, I didn't think the 4S was so far behind so many other phones.

[Moreno53]

Remember the last time one of these was posted. We all proved it wrong.
I dont believe them anymore. All it is, is a fanboy trying to hype up the device.

LMAO! Yeah nice try...sorry that never happened.

[TechnoUniversity]

LMAO! Yeah nice try...sorry that never happened.

Well actually it did but I keep telling people, the processor really doesn't matter. It's the OS and the ram. Apple code is what's makes it do smooth.

[luvmytj]

Benchmarks at last! Maybe the Galaxy III boys (on an iDevice site) can shut their pie holes now...

[regkilla]

I love my iPhone but how does the iPhone 5 beat the quad core 1.5 GHZ mad machine super smartphone LG Optimus G?

[TechnoUniversity]

I love my iPhone but how does the iPhone 5 beat the quad core 1.5 GHZ mad machine super smartphone LG Optimus G?

I probably doesn't. They do this every year and it's debunked every year.

[jrhudson]

hmm, its the rams. but its only 1gb now. maybe it is the ios. im not sure. as long as its way faster than the 4s ill be happy.

[mydarkblueshirt]

No android cry bois here?

I'm pretty sure they're somewhere butthuddling and trying to put together a comeback.

[Breezer23]

The new processor seems impressive given it's low clock speed. I would argue that because iOS has a lot less going on than Android (That is neither bad nor good), it should perform better with lesser hardware. Regardless, seems to be a killer processor and GPU. I love the Dev scene on Android and with Jelly Bean it really is an actual alternative to iOS. However, if iOS had widgets and a 4.3" screen I would definitely consider it. I will admit, I do find Apple to be a bit of a bully these days but they do make a quality product. Samsung needs to get off the plastic if it wants to be a real alternative. The SIII (I have one) is an amazing phone, especially when you have Cyanogenmod 10 on it, but it'll always be made of plastic.

[Mrteacup]

techno is right. Its the os and ram that amounts to how well it processes code.

[steve-z17]

The iPhone ahead of other devices???......So what else is new?

[kalpesh78]

Remember the last time one of these was posted. We all proved it wrong.
I dont believe them anymore. All it is, is a fanboy trying to hype up the device.

I don't understand why these samsungites hang around on apple update websites? Maybe they should get an iphone and then talk on these forums.

[Dylanboyle]

If you go on YouTube it shows who is faster and it's the IPhone 5