Apple A7 vs Apple M2. Specifications

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

• CPU group
  Apple A7 Apple M2
• Family
  Apple A series Apple M series
• Generation
  7 2
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Successor
  Apple A8 -

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

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

• DirectX Version
  10 -
• Execution units
  4 128
• Generation
  - 2
• GPU Frequency
  450 MHz 3500 MHz
• GPU name
  PowerVR G6430 Apple M2 (8 Core)
• GPU Turbo
  450 MHz No turbo
• Max. displays
  1 3
• Max. GPU Memory
  - 16 GB
• Release date
  Q3/2013 Q1/2022
• Shader
  64 0
• Technology
  28 nm 5 nm

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

• AV1
  No Decode
• 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 and Apple A7. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  1 GB 16 GB
• Memory channels
  1 2
• Memory type
  LPDDR3-1333 LPDDR5-5500
• PCIe version
  - 4.0

• AES-NI
  No Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple A7 and Apple M2 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)
  - 15 W
• TDP down
  - 10 W
• TDP up
  - 20 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple A7 and Apple M2, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  A7 M2
• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  - Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  1.00 MB 16.00 MB
• L3-Cache
  4.00 MB -
• Part Number
  S5L8960X -
• Release date
  Q3/2013 Q1/2022
• Technology
  28 nm 5 nm
• Virtualization
  None None