If we have an array a, say of length 1,
one might expect
a.clone()
to be equally fast or perhaps even faster than the equivalent
Arrays.copyOf(a, 1)
or
Object[] x = new Object[1];
System.arraycopy(a, 0, x, 0, 1);

but it is in fact much slower.

------------------------------------
import java.util.*;

public class ArrayCopyMicroBenchmark {
    abstract static class Job {
private final String name;
Job(String name) { this.name = name; }
String name() { return name; }
abstract void work() throws Throwable;
    }

    private static void collectAllGarbage() {
try {
for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
System.gc(); System.runFinalization(); Thread.sleep(10);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) { throw new Error(e); }
    }

    /**
     * Runs each job for long enough that all the runtime compilers
     * have had plenty of time to warm up, i.e. get around to
     * compiling everything worth compiling.
     * Returns array of average times per job per run.
     */
    private static long[] time0(Job ... jobs) throws Throwable {
final long warmupNanos = 10L * 1000L * 1000L * 1000L;
long[] nanoss = new long[jobs.length];
for (int i = 0; i < jobs.length; i++) {
collectAllGarbage();
long t0 = System.nanoTime();
long t;
int j = 0;
do { jobs[i].work(); j++; }
while ((t = System.nanoTime() - t0) < warmupNanos);
nanoss[i] = t/j;
}
return nanoss;
    }

    private static void time(Job ... jobs) throws Throwable {

long[] warmup = time0(jobs); // Warm up run
long[] nanoss = time0(jobs); // Real timing run

final String nameHeader = "Method";
int nameWidth = nameHeader.length();
for (Job job : jobs)
nameWidth = Math.max(nameWidth, job.name().length());

final String millisHeader = "Millis";
int millisWidth = millisHeader.length();
for (long nanos : nanoss)
millisWidth =
Math.max(millisWidth,
String.format("%d", nanos/(1000L * 1000L)).length());

final String ratioHeader = "Ratio";
int ratioWidth = ratioHeader.length();

String format = String.format("%%-%ds %%%dd %%.3f%%n",
nameWidth, millisWidth);
String headerFormat = String.format("%%-%ds %%-%ds %%-%ds%%n",
nameWidth, millisWidth, ratioWidth);
System.out.printf(headerFormat, "Method", "Millis", "Ratio");

// Print out absolute and relative times, calibrated against first job
for (int i = 0; i < jobs.length; i++) {
long millis = nanoss[i]/(1000L * 1000L);
double ratio = (double)nanoss[i] / (double)nanoss[0];
System.out.printf(format, jobs[i].name(), millis, ratio);
}
    }

    private static int intArg(String[] args, int i, int defaultValue) {
return args.length > i ? Integer.parseInt(args[i]) : defaultValue;
    }

    private static void deoptimize(Object[] a) {
for (Object x : a)
if (x == null)
throw new Error();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Throwable {
final int iterations = intArg(args, 0, 100000);
final int size = intArg(args, 1, 1000);
final Object[] array = new Object[size];
final Random rnd = new Random();
for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++)
array[i] = rnd.nextInt(size);

time(
new Job("arraycopy") { void work() {
Object[] a = array;
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
Object[] t = new Object[size];
System.arraycopy(a, 0, t, 0, size);
a = t;}
deoptimize(a);}},
new Job("copyOf") { void work() {
Object[] a = array;
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++)
a = Arrays.copyOf(a, size);
deoptimize(a);}},
new Job("clone") { void work() {
Object[] a = array;
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++)
a = a.clone();
deoptimize(a);}},
new Job("loop") { void work() {
Object[] a = array;
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
Object[] t = new Object[size];
for (int j = 0; j < size; j++)
t[j] = a[j];
a = t;}
deoptimize(a);}}
);
    }
}
------------------------------------

solaris-sparc:

$ (iterations=10000000 size=1 && for f in -client -server; do echo $f iterations=$iterations size=$size; jver 6 java $f ArrayCopyMicroBenchmark $iterations $size 1; done);
-client iterations=10000000 size=1
Method Millis Ratio
arraycopy 1472 1.000
copyOf 2745 1.864
clone 8451 5.739
loop 854 0.580
-server iterations=10000000 size=1
Method Millis Ratio
arraycopy 853 1.000
copyOf 953 1.117
clone 8276 9.698
loop 835 0.979

solaris-i586:

-client iterations=10000000 size=1
Method Millis Ratio
arraycopy 642 1.000
copyOf 1106 1.723
clone 3931 6.121
loop 227 0.354
-server iterations=10000000 size=1
Method Millis Ratio
arraycopy 260 1.000
copyOf 366 1.406
clone 4088 15.703
loop 246 0.947

I thought about whether it would even be possible for javac to compile
a call to clone() into a call to Arrays.copyOf in the usual case where
it is known at javac compile time that it is an array that is being cloned.
There might be some compatibility reason why this is not possible,
but I can't think of one, at least when -target is >= mustang