An A5 Powered iPhone Will Have Much Faster Graphics Performance (Benchmarks) - MacRumors
Skip to Content

An A5 Powered iPhone Will Have Much Faster Graphics Performance (Benchmarks)

by

While most of the recent focus has been whether or not the next iPhone will have a dramatic external redesign, one feature that seems to be universally agreed on is that the new iPhone will incorporate the much faster dual-core A5 processor, which also houses a much faster graphics processing unit (GPU).

The A5 was first introduced in the iPad 2 in March. At the time, Apple said the iPad 2 had up to nine times the graphics performance as the original A4-powered iPad.

a5bench
A recent set of GLBenchmark tests by Anandtech (graph above) shows how much faster in this the A5's GPU is as compared to the A4, at least with respect to certain graphics performance. The results may not be exact, as Apple could underclock the new iPhone's CPU as compared to the iPad 2, but the results should be somewhat representative.

Apple is expected to announce the new iPhone on Tuesday, October 4th during a media event.

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Read Full Article
Instagram Feature 2

PSA: Instagram Encrypted Messaging Ends on Friday, May 8

Tuesday May 5, 2026 8:24 am PDT by
Instagram will remove end-to-end encryption for direct messages between users from May 8, 2026. When the date comes around, Meta will potentially be able to see the contents of all messages between users on the social media platform. Encrypting messages has been an optional feature in Instagram since 2023, but in March of this year the social media platform quietly updated a help page to say ...
Read Full Article • 54 comments
macbook neo launch day

Apple May Drop Base $599 MacBook Neo as Chip, DRAM Costs Climb

Thursday May 7, 2026 4:55 am PDT by
Apple is considering dropping the cheapest MacBook Neo configuration as one possible response to the rising cost of building the popular laptop, according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan. The Neo currently starts at $599 for a 256GB model, with a 512GB version at $699. Writing in his latest Culpium newsletter, Culpan says cutting the entry-level...
Read Full Article • 167 comments

Top Rated Comments

Reach9 Avatar
Reach9
191 months ago
I'm thinking that the A5 will be even more significant for the iPhone, than the iPad, since it's a smaller device. We're looking at a beast here guys. 1GB of RAM, Dual Core A5 processor, this thing will run like water.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
topmounter Avatar
topmounter
191 months ago
So in short,

The iPad2 processor is faster than the iPhone4 processor and if they put the iPad2 processor in the new iPhone(4S/5), then IT WILL HAVE A FASTER PROCESSOR THAN THE IPHONE4!!1!

Startling.

Is this just to get something new on the front page?
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
Sanz315
191 months ago
Preparing the masses for a total let down.

I believe MacRumors is just preparing us for a letdown on Tuesday. No Legendary iPhone 5. So they are kinda telling us to cheer up because well get an A5 on our iPhone 4S's :(
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
kjjnk
191 months ago
I'm a 3GS owner -- I've been eligible to upgrade for over a year. I passed on the iP4 because of shoddy materials (fragile glass is not durable enough for a tech item I handle over 100 times per day) and signal issues.

I will not buy the iPhone 5 if it uses the same flawed design as the 4.

Plus, as I said earlier, the A5 could be a beast, but you won't see any major app releases that close the door on iP4 and 3GS users anytime soon (would be leaving too much money on the table) -- at minimum until next summer when the iP6 comes out. By then, Apple will have hopefully ditched the terrible design and I'll be more than happy to upgrade.

This is how I'm picturing you:
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
r2fa3l
191 months ago
I believe everyone already expected this.........
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
O
oiuh151
191 months ago
Yup.

And I'd be shocked if any of the apps written in the near future (read: 8-12 months) will take advantage of this so as to not to alienate the legacy hardware in the iP4.

Big speed increase that you won't see any real benefit from for some time.

Eh?

There were a ton of optimized apps for the iPad 2 at launch that still supported the original iPad.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments