How Much Faster?

iPhone 5

A6, September 2012

Scores

Single-core

about 181

about +165.5% over iPhone 4S

  • Converted from Geekbench 4 score 754
  • Sample size not stated
  • Retrieved 27 October 2026 from EveryMac, unsourced placeholder

Multi-core

about 245

about +146.0% over iPhone 4S

  • Converted from Geekbench 4 score 1,208
  • Sample size not stated
  • Retrieved 27 October 2026 from EveryMac, unsourced placeholder

GPU (Metal)

No data

Keynote claim, measured

“With up to twice the CPU and graphics performance, almost everything you do on iPhone 5 is blazing fast for launching apps, loading web pages and downloading email attachments.”

Compares CPU and GPU (Metal) with the A5 in the iPhone 4S. No baseline named, read as the previous generation.

iPhone 5 announcement, September 2012, Apple Newsroom, iPhone 5 announcement, September 2012

Single-core2.65 times, Geekbench 4 ratio

  • iPhone 4Sabout 68
  • iPhone 5about 181
  • Claimed up to 2×

Multi-core2.46 times, Geekbench 4 ratio

  • iPhone 4Sabout 100
  • iPhone 5about 245
  • Claimed up to 2×

Exceeds on single-core

GPU (Metal): not measurable with Geekbench. No Metal on A5 or A6, so neither phone has a Geekbench 6 GPU score.

iPhone flagship single-core, by generation

DeviceSingle-coreChange over the previous generation
iPhone, 2007about 22First in this line
iPhone 3G, 2008about 22about +0.0%
iPhone 3GS, 2009about 45about +107.4%
iPhone 4, 2010about 61about +35.0%
iPhone 4S, 2011about 68about +11%
iPhone 5, 2012, this deviceabout 181about +165.5%
iPhone 5s, 2013about 304about +67.9%
iPhone 6, 2014about 350about +15.2%
iPhone 6s Plus, 2015601about +71.7%
iPhone 7 Plus, 2016812+35.1%
iPhone 8 Plus, 20171,056+30.0%
iPhone XS, 20181,285+21.7%
iPhone 11 Pro, 20191,711+33.2%
iPhone 12 Pro, 20202,084+21.8%
iPhone 13 Pro, 20212,341+12.3%
iPhone 14 Pro, 20222,624+12.1%
iPhone 15 Pro, 20232,878+9.7%
iPhone 16 Pro, 20243,307+14.9%
iPhone 17 Pro, 20253,765+13.8%
iPhone 18 Pro, 2026about 4,695about +24.7%

Against other devices

  • iPhone 6s Plus

    about 3.32 timesfaster

    Single-core 601 vs about 181. Multi-core about 3.50 times faster, 858 vs about 245.

  • iPhone 18 Pro

    A20 Pro, September 2026

    about 26 timesfaster

    Single-core about 4,695 vs about 181. Multi-core about 51 times faster, about 12,521 vs about 245.

  • Original iPhone

    Samsung ARM11, June 2007

    about 8.2 timesslower

    Single-core about 22 vs about 181. Multi-core about 11 times slower, about 22 vs about 245.

  • iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)

    M5, October 2025

    about 23 timesfaster

    Single-core 4,116 vs about 181. Multi-core about 62 times faster, 15,280 vs about 245.

  • MacBook Air (M5)

    M5, March 2026

    about 23 timesfaster

    Single-core 4,168 vs about 181. Multi-core about 69 times faster, 16,934 vs about 245.