HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G vs Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)

Let's find out which one of HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

• Name
  HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Family
  HiSilicon Kirin Apple A series
• Generation
  8 15
• CPU group
  HiSilicon Kirin 990 Apple A15
• Predecessor
  -- Apple A14 Bionic
• Successor
  -- Apple A16 Bionic

In this block we are going to compare HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G vs Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) 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.

• Overclocking
  No No
• Core architecture
  hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) along with supported interfaces and connection options. This block has no effect on the final efficiency of the CPU.

• GPU name
  ARM Mali-G76 MP16 Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores)
• GPU frequency
  0.60 GHz 0.60 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo No turbo
• Execution units
  16 160
• Shader
  256 1280
• Max. GPU Memory
  4 GB 8 GB
• Max. displays
  2 3
• Generation
  Bifrost 3 12
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Release date
  Q3/2018 Q3/2021

Let's compare the support of video codecs between HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU). 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 / Encode Decode / Encode
• AV1
  No No
• AVC
  Decode / Encode Decode
• VC-1
  Decode / Encode Decode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

To choose the best model between HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) 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
  8 GB 6 GB
• ECC
  No No
• Memory channels
  4 1 (Single Channel)

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G or Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)? 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)
  6 W 8.5 W

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• Virtualization
  None None
• L2-Cache
  -- 16.00 MB
• L3-Cache
  2.00 MB 32.00 MB
• Architecture
  Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 A15
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• Release date
  Q3/2019 Q3/2021