diff --git a/src/bytes/bytes_test.go b/src/bytes/bytes_test.go
index f0733edd3f4..5e8cf85fd90 100644
--- a/src/bytes/bytes_test.go
+++ b/src/bytes/bytes_test.go
@@ -629,6 +629,11 @@ func BenchmarkEqual(b *testing.B) {
 	})
 
 	sizes := []int{1, 6, 9, 15, 16, 20, 32, 4 << 10, 4 << 20, 64 << 20}
+
+	b.Run("same", func(b *testing.B) {
+		benchBytes(b, sizes, bmEqual(func(a, b []byte) bool { return Equal(a, a) }))
+	})
+
 	benchBytes(b, sizes, bmEqual(Equal))
 }
 
diff --git a/src/internal/bytealg/equal_arm64.s b/src/internal/bytealg/equal_arm64.s
index d3aabba5871..4db95154744 100644
--- a/src/internal/bytealg/equal_arm64.s
+++ b/src/internal/bytealg/equal_arm64.s
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 TEXT runtime·memequal<ABIInternal>(SB),NOSPLIT|NOFRAME,$0-25
 	// short path to handle 0-byte case
 	CBZ	R2, equal
+	// short path to handle equal pointers
+	CMP	R0, R1
+	BEQ	equal
 	B	memeqbody<>(SB)
 equal:
 	MOVD	$1, R0