Apple A8 VS HiSilicon Kirin 920 — differences in specs

Comparing Apple A8 vs HiSilicon Kirin 920

Comparison of video cards Apple A8 vs HiSilicon Kirin 920 in benchmarks and specifications.

Differences Specifications Benchmarks

Differences

Top features of HiSilicon Kirin 920

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Higher clock speed

1.30 GHz 1.10 GHz

Around -18% better clock speed
More number of cores

8 2

2 times more threads
Higher turbo clock speed

1.70 GHz 1.50 GHz

Around 12% better overclocked clock speed

Top features of Apple A8

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Specifications

Complete list of technical specifications

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Apple A8

CPU generation and family

Let's find out which one of HiSilicon Kirin 920 and Apple A8 is of a more recent generation, and what segment it belongs to.

Specification	Value
Name	HiSilicon Kirin 920 Apple A8
Segment	Mobile Mobile
Family	HiSilicon Kirin Apple A series
Generation	2 8
CPU group	HiSilicon Kirin 920 Apple A8/A8X
Predecessor	-- Apple A7
Successor	-- Apple A9

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

In this block we are going to compare HiSilicon Kirin 920 vs Apple A8 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
Frequency	1.30 GHz 1.10 GHz
CPU Cores	8 2
Turbo (1 Core)	1.70 GHz 1.50 GHz
CPU Threads	8 2
Hyperthreading	No No
Overclocking	No No
Core architecture	hybrid (big.LITTLE) normal
A core	4x Cortex-A15 2x Typhoon
B core	4x Cortex-A7 --

Internal Graphics

Common specifications for integrated graphics cards in HiSilicon Kirin 920 and Apple A8 along with supported interfaces and connection options. This block has no effect on the final efficiency of the CPU.

Specification	Value
GPU name	ARM Mali-T628 MP4 Apple A8
GPU frequency	0.60 GHz 0.53 GHz
GPU (Turbo)	0.60 GHz No turbo
Execution units	4 4
Shader	64 128
Max. GPU Memory	-- 4 GB
Max. displays	1 1
Generation	Midgard 2 5
DirectX Version	11
Technology	32nm 20 nm
Release date	Q4/2012 Q3/2014

Hardware codec support

Let's compare the support of video codecs between HiSilicon Kirin 920 and Apple A8. Hardware support of video decoding by embedded graphics cards directly affects the speed and quality of rendering videos.

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

Memory & PCIe

To choose the best model between HiSilicon Kirin 920 and Apple A8 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	LPDDR3-1600 LPDDR3-1600
Max. Memory	2 GB
ECC	No No
Memory channels	2 1

Encryption

AES-NI encryption support for CPUs HiSilicon Kirin 920 and Apple A8.

Specification	Value
AES-NI	No No

Thermal Management

Let's find out what TDP value would be better for HiSilicon Kirin 920 or Apple A8? 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 (PL1)	5 W

Technical details

Here you can find a comparison of 2nd and 3rd level cache sizes for HiSilicon Kirin 920 and Apple A8 CPUs along with a list of ISA extensions.

Specification	Value
Instruction set (ISA)	ARMv7-A32 (32 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
Virtualization	None None
L2-Cache	-- 1.00 MB
L3-Cache	-- 4.00 MB
Architecture	Cortex-A15 / Cortex-A7 A8
Technology	28 nm 20 nm
Socket	N/A N/A
Release date	Q3/2014 Q3/2014