Updated : Apple A10 is a Quad-Core CPU, but Benchmarking apps don’t count 2 cores

Update

Apple A10 does feature a quad-core processor, but they doesn’t work together. There are 2 Powerful Cores and 2 Low-Power cores. 2 cores with high power is used when system needs to deal heavier tasks, and the other 2 deals with simple tasks. When you benchmark the device, the cores with the low-power sits idle, and the 2 powerful cores work. That’s the reason, GeekBench, GFXBench and other benchmarking apps shows iPhone 7 and 7 Plus with Apple A10 dual-core CPU. Benchmarking apps don’t count the low-powered smaller cores.

Update Ends

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus both features the latest Apple A10 Fusion Chip, but Apple has always been a dark horse keeping the configuration secret. They never talk about RAM and CPU in detail. Apple just explains how fast the latest chip is, but not its configuration.

How many Cores Apple A10 CPU has?

Does Apple A10 feature a quad-core CPU?

It is being said that Apple A10 chip features a quad-core CPU that is based on 16nm FinFET tech. However, there is no company that has confirmed this so far. ChipWork has even written a detailed article after iPhone 7 teardown, but they are still confused about the number of CPU cores. They have confirmed that A10 features 6-core GPU and LPDDR4 RAM, but CPU-Core is still a secret.

Why we think Apple A10 features a dual-core CPU? (It’s quad-core, read the update)

According to GFXBench and GeekBench Benchmark report, Apple A10 features a dual-core processor. Do you believe it? Let’s have a look at 4 years history of Apple CPUs’ Benchmark Scores.

iPhone CPUs GeekBench 3 Benchmark Score

• iPhone 5s (Apple A7) : Single-Core : 1296, Multi-Core : 2072. Multi-Core score is around 60% higher compared to Single-core.
• iPhone 6 (Apple A8) : Single-Core : 1526, Multi-Core : 2609. Multi-Core Score is around 70% higher.
• iPhone 6s (Apple A9) : Single-Core : 2505, Multi-Core : 4330. Multi-Core Score is around 72% higher.
• iPhone 7 (Apple A10) : Single-Core : 3457, Multi-Core  : 5698. Multi-Core Score is around 64% higher.

If Apple A10 had a quad-core processor, its multi-core score would have been much better. The boost in multi-core score is even lower compared to Apple A9 and Apple A8. Have a look at the screenshots below, it also shows the number of cores.

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus feature 2GB and 3GB LPDDR4 RAM respectively. These 2 models are being called the world’s fastest smartphone even there are smartphone with 6GB RAM in the market. Last year Apple surprised users with Apple A9 chip that scored much higher in single-core performance that is still unbeatable. However, Apple has now made a monster that has not beaten the score of all smartphones only, but also the benchmark score of many computers, including MacBook Retina and MacBook Air.

Why Apple A10 CPU scores very high compared to its predecessors?

iPhone CPUs Clock Speed

• Apple A7 : 1.3 GHz
• Apple A8 : 1.4 GHz
• Apple A9 : 1.84 GHz
• Apple A10 : 2.34 GHz

Along with making a better chip, Apple has kept increasing the clock speed of the CPU. This is what makes every new CPU score better than the older one.

What do you think? Is Apple A10 a quad-core or dual-core processor?