Apple M1 (7-GPU) VS Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)

Comparing Apple M1 (7-GPU) vs Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)

Comparison of video cards Apple M1 (7-GPU) vs Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) in benchmarks and specifications.

Differences Specifications Benchmarks

Differences

Top features of Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)

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Top features of Apple M1 (7-GPU)

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Specifications

Complete list of technical specifications

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple M1 (7-GPU)

CPU generation and family

Let's find out which one of Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and Apple M1 (7-GPU) is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

Specification	Value
Name	Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple M1 (7-GPU)
Family	Apple A series Apple M series
CPU group	Apple A15 Apple M1
Segment	Mobile Mobile
Generation	15 1

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

In this block we are going to compare Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) vs Apple M1 (7-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.

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

Internal Graphics

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and Apple M1 (7-GPU) along with supported interfaces and connection options. This block has no effect on the final efficiency of the CPU.

Specification	Value
GPU name	Apple A15 (4 GPU Cores) Apple M1 (7 Core)
GPU frequency	0.60 GHz 1.30 GHz
GPU (Turbo)	No turbo No turbo
Execution units	128 112
Shader	1024 896
Max. GPU Memory	8 GB 8 GB
Max. displays	3 2
Generation	12 1
Technology	5 nm 5 nm
Release date	Q3/2021 Q4/2020

Hardware codec support

Let's compare the support of video codecs between Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and Apple M1 (7-GPU). Hardware support of video decoding by embedded graphics cards directly affects the speed and quality of rendering videos.

Specification	Value
h265 / HEVC (8 bit)	Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
h265 / HEVC (10 bit)	Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
h264	Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
VP8	Decode / Encode Decode
VP9	Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
AV1	No No
AVC	Decode Decode
VC-1	Decode Decode
JPEG	Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

To choose the best model between Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and Apple M1 (7-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.

Specification	Value
Memory type	LPDDR4X-4266 LPDDR4X-4266
Max. Memory	6 GB 16 GB
Memory channels	1 (Single Channel) 2 (Dual Channel)
Bandwidth	34.1 GB/s 68.2 GB/s
ECC	No No
PCIe	4.0
AES-NI	No Yes

Thermal Management

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) or Apple M1 (7-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.

Specification	Value
TDP up	-- 20 W
TDP down	-- 10 W

Technical details

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and Apple M1 (7-GPU) CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

Specification	Value
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	A15 M1
Operating systems	iOS macOS
Virtualization	None Apple Virtualization Framework
Instruction set (ISA)	ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
ISA extensions	Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
Release date	Q3/2021 Q4/2020
Part Number	-- APL 1102