Apple M2 (8-GPU) vs Apple A16 Bionic. Specifications, performance, tests

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

• CPU group
  Apple M2 Apple A16
• Family
  Apple M series Apple A series
• Generation
  2 16
• Predecessor
  Apple M1 Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
• 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
  4x Avalanche 2x Everest
• A-Core Frequency
  3.5 GHz 3.46 GHz
• B-Core
  4x Blizzard 4x Sawtooth
• B-Core Frequency
  2.8 GHz 2.02 GHz
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• CPU Cores
  8 6
• CPU Threads
  8 6
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No

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
  128 160
• Generation
  2 13
• GPU Frequency
  1400 MHz 700 MHz
• GPU name
  Apple M2 (8 Core) Apple A16 (5 GPU Cores)
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo No turbo
• Max. displays
  2 3
• Max. GPU Memory
  24 GB 8 GB
• Release date
  Q2/2022 Q3/2022
• Shader
  1024 1280
• Technology
  5 nm 4 nm

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

• AV1
  No 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 Decode / Encode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple A16 Bionic and Apple M2 (8-GPU). Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  24 GB 6 GB
• Memory Bandwidth
  102.4 GB/s 51.2 GB/s
• Memory channels
  2 (Dual Channel) 1 (Single Channel)
• Memory type
  LPDDR5-6400 LPDDR5-6400
• PCIe
  4.0 -

• AES-NI
  Yes No

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple M2 (8-GPU) and Apple A16 Bionic 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)
  22 W 8.5 W
• TDP down
  10 W -

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple M2 (8-GPU) and Apple A16 Bionic, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  M2 A16
• Chip design
  Chiplet Chiplet
• Documents
  Technical data sheet -
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation -
• L2-Cache
  20 MB 20 MB
• L3-Cache
  - 24 MB
• Operating systems
  macOS, iPadOS iOS
• Release date
  Q2/2022 Q3/2022
• Technology
  5 nm 4 nm
• Virtualization
  Apple Virtualization Framework None