Apple A12 Bionic
VS
Apple A15 Bionic
Apple A12 Bionic
VS
Apple A15 Bionic

Which to select

It is time to pick the winner. What is the difference between Apple A12 Bionic vs Apple A15 Bionic? What CPU is more powerful? It is quite easy to determine – look at comparison table. The processor with more cores/ threads and also with higher frequency is the absolute winner!

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

Who will win between Apple A12 Bionic vs  Apple A15 Bionic. The general performance of a CPU can easily be determined based on the number of its cores and the thread count, as well as the base frequency and Turbo frequency. The more GHz and cores a CPU has, the better. Please note that high technical specs require using a powerful cooling system.

1.59 GHz
Frequency
3.23 GHz
6
CPU Cores
6
2.49 GHz
Turbo (1 Core)
No turbo
No
Hyperthreading
No
No
Overclocking
No
2.49 GHz
Turbo (6 Cores)
No turbo
hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Core architecture
hybrid (big.LITTLE)
2x Vortex
A core
2x Avalanche
4x Tempest
B core
4x Blizzard
--
C core
--

CPU generation and family

Apple A12 Bionic
Name
Apple A15 Bionic
Mobile
Segment
Mobile
Apple A12/A12X/A12Z
CPU group
Apple A15
Apple A series
Family
Apple A series
12
Generation
15
Apple A11 Bionic
Predecessor
Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A13 Bionic
Successor
--

Internal Graphics

Some manufacturers complement their CPUs with graphic chips, such a solution being especially popular in laptops. The higher the clock frequency of a GPU is and the bigger its memory, the better. Find a winner - Apple A12 Bionic vs Apple A15 Bionic. 

Apple A12
GPU name
Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores)
1.59 GHz
GPU frequency
1.80 GHz
2.49 GHz
GPU (Turbo)
3.20 GHz
9
Generation
12
4
Execution units
5
1
Max. displays
3
7 nm
Technology
5 nm
Q3/2018
Release date
Q3/2021
4 GB
Max. GPU Memory
8 GB

Hardware codec support

Here we deal with specs that are used by some CPU manufacturers. These numbers are mainly technical and can be neglected for the purpose of the comparison analysis.

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

Memory & PCIe

These are memory standards supported by CPUs. The higher such standards, the better a CPU’s performance is.

LPDDR4X-4266
Memory type
no data
16 GB
Max. Memory
no data
1
Memory channels
no data
No
ECC
no data

Encryption

Data encryption support

No
AES-NI
No

Memory & AMP; PCIe

no data
Memory type
LPDDR4X-4266
no data
Max. Memory
8 GB
no data
ECC
No
no data
Memory channels
2

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat generated by a computer chip or component (often a CPU, GPU or system on a chip) that the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate under any workload.

--
Tjunction max.
--
--
TDP up
--
--
TDP down
--
6 W
TDP (PL1)
8.5 W
--
TDP (PL2)
--

Technical details

6
CPU Threads
6
--
L3-Cache
--
7 nm
Technology
5 nm
A12
Architecture
A15
None
Virtualization
None
N/A
Socket
N/A
Q3/2018
Release date
Q3/2021
x86-64 (64 bit)
Instruction set (ISA)
ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
8.00 MB
L2-Cache
4.00 MB
--
Part Number
--

Devices using this processor

You probably know already what devices use CPUs. These can be a desktop or a laptop.

Apple iPhone XR Apple iPhone XS Apple iPhone XS Max Apple iPad mini (5. Gen) Apple iPad Air (3. Gen)
Used in
Apple iPad mini (6. Gen) Apple iPhone 13 mini Apple iPhone 13 Apple iPhone 13 Pro Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Compatibility

Technologies and extensions

Virtualization technologies

Memory specs

Peripherals

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 benchmark is the newest software suit. Completely new algorithms provide the quite accurate benchmark testing results of the single-core CPU.

AnTuTu 8 benchmark

Phones with best AnTuTu scores. These cell phones are the ones that have obtained the highest score in the well-known AnTuTu ranking