Apple A15 Bionic vs Apple M1 Max (32-GPU). Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Apple A15 Apple M1
• Family
  Apple A series Apple M series
• Generation
  15 1
• Predecessor
  Apple A14 Bionic -
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• A-Core
  2x Avalanche 8x Firestorm
• B-Core
  4x Blizzard 2x Icestorm
• Base Frequency
  3.23 GHz 3.2 GHz
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• CPU Cores
  6 10
• CPU Threads
  6 10
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  No turbo No turbo
• Turbo Frequency (6 Cores)
  No turbo -
• Turbo Frequency (10 Cores)
  - No turbo

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• Execution units
  5 512
• Generation
  12 1
• GPU Frequency
  1800 MHz 1300 MHz
• GPU name
  Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores) Apple M1 Max (32 Core)
• GPU Turbo
  3200 MHz No turbo
• Max. displays
  3 3
• Max. GPU Memory
  8 GB 32 GB
• Release date
  Q3/2021 Q3/2021
• Shader
  0 4096
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  Decode No
• H.264 / AVC
  Conflicting source values: Decode | Decode / Encode Conflicting source values: Decode | Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• VP8
  Decode / Encode Decode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) and Apple A15 Bionic. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  8 GB 64 GB
• Memory channels
  2 4
• Memory type
  LPDDR4X-4266 LPDDR5-6400
• PCIe
  - 4.0

• AES-NI
  No Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple A15 Bionic and Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  8.5 W 30 W
• TDP up
  - 60 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple A15 Bionic and Apple M1 Max (32-GPU), virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  A15 M1
• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  - Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  4 MB 28 MB
• Part Number
  - APL 1104
• Release date
  Q3/2021 Q3/2021
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Virtualization
  None None