Apple M1 vs HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G

Let's find out which one of HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple M1 is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

• Name
  HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G Apple M1
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Family
  HiSilicon Kirin Apple M series
• Generation
  8 1
• CPU group
  HiSilicon Kirin 990 Apple M1

In this block we are going to compare HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G vs Apple M1 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
  1.95 GHz 3.20 GHz
• CPU Cores
  8 8
• Turbo (1 Core)
  2.36 GHz No turbo
• CPU Threads
  8 8
• Turbo (8 Cores)
  2.86 GHz No turbo
• Hyperthreading
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Core architecture
  hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• A core
  2x Cortex-A76 4x Firestorm
• B core
  2x Cortex-A76 4x Icestorm
• C core
  4x Cortex-A55 --

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple M1 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 M1 (8 Core)
• GPU frequency
  0.60 GHz 3.20 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo No turbo
• Execution units
  16 128
• Shader
  256 0
• Max. GPU Memory
  4 GB 8 GB
• Max. displays
  2 2
• Generation
  Bifrost 3 1
• DirectX Version
  12
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Release date
  Q3/2018 Q4/2020

Let's compare the support of video codecs between HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple M1. 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
• AV1
  No Decode
• 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 M1 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 16 GB
• ECC
  No No
• Memory channels
  4 2
• PCIe version
  4.0

AES-NI encryption support for CPUs HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple M1.

• AES-NI
  No Yes

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G or Apple M1? 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 15 W
• TDP up
  -- 20 W
• TDP down
  -- 10 W

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple M1 CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• Virtualization
  None None
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  -- 16.00 MB
• L3-Cache
  2.00 MB --
• Architecture
  Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 M1
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• Release date
  Q3/2019 Q4/2020

List of devices based on HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G and Apple M1.

• Used in
  Unknown 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)