Apple A15 Bionic vs Apple M1

Let's find out which one of Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

• Name
  Apple M1 Apple A15 Bionic
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Family
  Apple M series Apple A series
• Generation
  1 15
• CPU group
  Apple M1 Apple A15
• Predecessor
  -- Apple A14 Bionic

In this block we are going to compare Apple M1 vs Apple A15 Bionic by main technical specifications: number of cores and threads, base and maximum frequencies, process technology and cache size. The higher these specifications are, the more powerful your CPU will be.

• Frequency
  3.20 GHz 3.23 GHz
• CPU Cores
  8 6
• Turbo (1 Core)
  No turbo No turbo
• CPU Threads
  8 6
• Hyperthreading
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• A core
  4x Firestorm 2x Avalanche
• B core
  4x Icestorm 4x Blizzard

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic along with supported interfaces and connection options. This block has no effect on the final efficiency of the CPU.

• GPU name
  Apple M1 (8 Core) Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores)
• GPU frequency
  3.20 GHz 1.80 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo 3.20 GHz
• Execution units
  128 5
• Max. GPU Memory
  8 GB 8 GB
• Max. displays
  2 3
• Generation
  1 12
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Release date
  Q4/2020 Q3/2021

Let's compare the support of video codecs between Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic. Hardware support of video decoding by embedded graphics cards directly affects the speed and quality of rendering videos.

• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h264
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP8
  Decode Decode / Encode
• AV1
  Decode Decode
• AVC
  Decode Decode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

To choose the best model between Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic you need to pay special attention to memory type, clock frequency, multi-channel features, and PCIe version. The higher these numbers are, the better your CPU will be. Keep in mind that the maximum memory and frequency may also depend on the model of the motherboard.

• Memory type
  LPDDR4X-4266 LPDDR4X-4266
• Max. Memory
  16 GB 8 GB
• ECC
  No No
• Memory channels
  2 2
• PCIe version
  4.0

AES-NI encryption support for CPUs Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic.

• AES-NI
  Yes No

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for Apple M1 or Apple A15 Bionic? The Thermal Design Power (TDP) indicates the maximum amount of heat that should be dissipated by the chip cooling system. However, the value of TDP gives only a rough indication of the real power consumption of the CPU.

• TDP (PL1)
  15 W 8.5 W
• TDP up
  20 W --
• TDP down
  10 W --

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• Virtualization
  None None
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  16.00 MB 4.00 MB
• Architecture
  M1 A15
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• Release date
  Q4/2020 Q3/2021

List of devices based on Apple M1 and Apple A15 Bionic.

• Used in
  Apple iMac 24 (2021)Apple MacBook Pro 13 (L2020)Apple MacBook Air (2020)Apple Mac mini (2020)Apple iPad Pro 11 (2021)Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) Apple iPad mini (6. Gen)Apple iPhone 13 miniApple iPhone 13Apple iPhone 13 ProApple iPhone 13 Pro Max