Apple M2 vs Apple M1. Specifications, performance, tests

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

• CPU group
  Apple M2 Apple M1
• Family
  Apple M series Apple M series
• Generation
  2 1
• 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 4x Firestorm
• B-Core
  4x Blizzard 4x Icestorm
• Base Frequency
  3.5 GHz 3.2 GHz
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• CPU Cores
  8 8
• CPU Threads
  8 8
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  No turbo No turbo
• Turbo Frequency (8 Cores)
  No turbo 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
  128 128
• Generation
  2 1
• GPU Frequency
  3500 MHz 3200 MHz
• GPU name
  Apple M2 (8 Core) Apple M1 (8 Core)
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo No turbo
• Max. displays
  3 2
• Max. GPU Memory
  16 GB 8 GB
• Release date
  Q1/2022 Q4/2020
• Shader
  0 0
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm

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

• AV1
  Decode Decode
• 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
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple M1 and Apple M2. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

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

• AES-NI
  Yes Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple M2 and Apple M1 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 15 W
• TDP down
  10 W 10 W
• TDP up
  20 W 20 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple M2 and Apple M1, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  M2 M1
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
• L2-Cache
  16.00 MB 16.00 MB
• Release date
  Q1/2022 Q4/2020
• Technology
  5 nm 5 nm
• Virtualization
  None None