Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Apple M1 (7-GPU)

Let's find out which one of Apple M1 (7-GPU) and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

• Name
  Apple M1 (7-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
• Family
  Apple M series Apple A series
• CPU group
  Apple M1 Apple A15
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Generation
  1 15
• Predecessor
  -- Apple A14 Bionic
• Successor
  -- Apple A16 Bionic

In this block we are going to compare Apple M1 (7-GPU) 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.

• CPU Cores / Threads
  8 / 8 6 / 6
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• A-Core
  4x Firestorm 2x Avalanche
• B-Core
  4x Icestorm 4x Blizzard
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• A-Core Frequency
  3.20 GHz 3.23 GHz
• B-Core Frequency
  2.06 GHz 2.02 GHz

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in Apple M1 (7-GPU) 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
  Apple M1 (7 Core) Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores)
• GPU frequency
  1.30 GHz 0.60 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo No turbo
• Execution units
  112 160
• Shader
  896 1280
• 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 (7-GPU) 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
• VP8
  Decode Decode / Encode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• AV1
  No No
• AVC
  Decode Decode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

To choose the best model between Apple M1 (7-GPU) 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
  16 GB 6 GB
• Memory channels
  2 (Dual Channel) 1 (Single Channel)
• Bandwidth
  68.2 GB/s 34.1 GB/s
• ECC
  No No
• PCIe
  4.0
• AES-NI
  Yes No

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for Apple M1 (7-GPU) 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 up
  20 W --
• TDP down
  10 W --

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for Apple M1 (7-GPU) and Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Chip design
  Chiplet Chiplet
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• L2-Cache
  16.00 MB 16.00 MB
• L3-Cache
  -- 32.00 MB
• Architecture
  M1 A15
• Operating systems
  macOS iOS
• Virtualization
  Apple Virtualization Framework None
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• Release date
  Q4/2020 Q3/2021
• Part Number
  APL 1102 --