Apple A5 vs Apple M2 Pro. Specifications, performance, tests

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

• CPU group
  Apple A5/A5X Apple M2
• Family
  Apple A series Apple M series
• Generation
  5 2
• Predecessor
  - Apple M1 Pro (10-CPU 14-GPU)
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Successor
  Apple A6 -

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

• A-Core
  2x Cortex-A9 8x Avalanche
• B-Core
  - 4x Blizzard
• Base Frequency
  1 GHz -
• Core architecture
  normal hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• CPU Cores
  2 12
• CPU Threads
  2 12
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  No turbo -
• Turbo Frequency (2 Cores)
  No turbo -
• A-Core Frequency
  - 3.5 GHz
• B-Core Frequency
  - 2.8 GHz

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

• DirectX Version
  10 -
• Execution units
  4 256
• Generation
  - 2
• GPU Frequency
  200 MHz 1400 MHz
• GPU name
  PowerVR SGX543MP2 (2 Cores) Apple M2 Pro (16 Core)
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo No turbo
• Max. displays
  1 2
• Max. GPU Memory
  - 32 GB
• Release date
  Q1/2012 Q4/2022
• Shader
  32 2048
• Technology
  32 nm 5 nm

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

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

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple M2 Pro and Apple A5. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  1 GB 32 GB
• Memory channels
  2 2 (Dual Channel)
• Memory type
  LPDDR2-800 LPDDR5-6400
• PCIe
  - 4.0
• Memory Bandwidth
  - 204.8 GB/s

• AES-NI
  No Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple A5 and Apple M2 Pro Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• Maximum Operating Temperature
  - 100 °C
• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  - 45 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple A5 and Apple M2 Pro, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  A5 M2
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv7-A32 (32 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  - Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  1 MB 36 MB
• Part Number
  APL 0498 -
• Release date
  Q1/2011 Q2/2022
• Technology
  32 nm 5 nm
• Virtualization
  None Apple Virtualization Framework
• Chip design
  - Chiplet
• Operating systems
  - macOS, iPadOS