Apple A12X Bionic vs Apple M2. Specifications, performance, tests

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

• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Family
  Apple A series Apple M series
• Generation
  12 2
• CPU group
  Apple A12/A12X/A12Z Apple M2
• Predecessor
  Apple A10X Fusion --

Basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base and turbo frequency, and cache size. These parameters indirectly tell about the speed of the processor, the higher they are the better.

• Frequency
  1.59 GHz 3.50 GHz
• CPU Cores
  8 8
• Turbo (1 Core)
  2.49 GHz No turbo
• CPU Threads
  8 8
• Turbo (8 Cores)
  2.49 GHz No turbo
• Hyperthreading
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• A core
  4x Vortex 4x Avalanche
• B core
  4x Tempest 4x Blizzard

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

• GPU name
  Apple A12X Apple M2 (8 Core)
• GPU frequency
  1.59 GHz 3.50 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  2.49 GHz No turbo
• Execution units
  7 128
• Max. GPU Memory
  6 GB 16 GB
• Max. displays
  2 3
• Generation
  9 2
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Release date
  Q3/2018 Q1/2022

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

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

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple M2 and Apple A12X Bionic. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• Memory type
  LPDDR4X-4266 LPDDR5-5500
• Max. Memory
  16 GB 16 GB
• ECC
  No No
• Memory channels
  2 2
• PCIe version
  4.0

• AES-NI
  No Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple A12X Bionic and Apple M2 to select a cooling system. Note, the TDP value refers to thermal watts, not electrical watts.

• TDP (PL1)
  15 W 15 W
• TDP up
  -- 20 W
• TDP down
  -- 10 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple A12X Bionic and Apple A12X Bionic, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• Virtualization
  None None
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  8.00 MB 16.00 MB
• Architecture
  A12 M2
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• Release date
  Q3/2018 Q1/2022