Apple A12X Bionic vs Intel Core i7-8559U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A12X Bionic CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-8559U
Apple A12X Bionic Intel Core i7-8559U

CPU comparison

Apple A12X Bionic or Intel Core i7-8559U - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Apple A12X Bionic has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.49 GHz. Up to 6 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple A12X Bionic was released in Q3/2018.

The Intel Core i7-8559U has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-8559U was released in Q2/2018.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i7 (293)
Apple A12/A12X/A12Z (3) CPU group Intel Core i 8000U (8)
12 Generation 8
A12 Architecture Coffee Lake U
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A10X Fusion Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A12X Bionic is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.49 GHz. The Intel Core i7-8559U has 4 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.70 GHz (4.50 GHz).

Apple A12X Bionic Characteristic Intel Core i7-8559U
8 Cores 4
8 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.49 GHz
4x Vortex
A-Core 2.70 GHz (4.50 GHz)
1.59 GHz
4x Tempest
B-Core --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Apple A12X Bionic Characteristic Intel Core i7-8559U
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
8 Neural cores @ 5 TOPS AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Apple A12X GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
1.13 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.20 GHz
9 GPU Generation 9.5
7 nm Technology 14 nm
1 Max. displays 3
28 Compute units 48
448 Shader 384
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
6 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Apple A12X GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A12X Bionic supports a maximum of 6 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-8559U can connect up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A12X Bionic Characteristic Intel Core i7-8559U
LPDDR4X-4266 Memory DDR4-2400
6 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
68.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 38.4 GB/s
No ECC No
8.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 6.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 16
-- PCIe Bandwidth 15.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A12X Bionic has a TDP of 15 W, that of the Intel Core i7-8559U is 28 W.

Apple A12X Bionic Characteristic Intel Core i7-8559U
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 28 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple A12X Bionic has a 8.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i7-8559U cache has a total of 6.00 MB.

Apple A12X Bionic Characteristic Intel Core i7-8559U
7 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1528
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2018 Release date Q2/2018
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
1124 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 4.50 GHz
1103 (98%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
4718 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
4288 (91%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
1341 (96%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 4.50 GHz
1390 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
4745 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
4682 (99%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
Apple A12X @ 1.13 GHz
1008 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 @ 1.20 GHz
922 (91%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
10921 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
8665 (79%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
991 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 4.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
4539 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 4.50 GHz
431 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
1572 (100%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
713640 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 2.70 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 2.70 GHz
2324 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 4.50 GHz
184 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
675 (100%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
Apple A12X Bionic Apple A12X Bionic
8C 8T @ 2.49 GHz
5 (100%)
Intel Core i7-8559U Intel Core i7-8559U
4C 8T @ 2.70 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A12X Bionic Intel Core i7-8559U
Apple iPad Pro 2018 Unknown

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