Apple A14 Bionic Apple M3
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Apple A14 Bionic vs Apple M3

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The Apple A14 Bionic is a processor from an earlier generation, primarily designed for mobile devices, but also found in devices for desktop-like tasks.

It is manufactured using the 5 nm fabrication process and features a balanced core design with 12 MB L2 and 16 MB L3 cache, as well as an integrated graphics unit. Its memory bandwidth is 34 GB/s. In performance benchmarks, the Apple A14 Bionic shows solid performance for everyday tasks, but does not surpass the younger generation.

For gaming, it is suitable for less demanding titles. Its price-performance ratio is attractive in older devices. The Apple M3 is a newer generation processor, specifically developed for desktops and laptops, manufactured using the advanced 3 nm process.

It offers significantly higher performance, both in single-core and multi-core areas, with over 50 percent and 150 percent more performance respectively compared to the Apple A14 Bionic. The M3 features a more powerful core design, 20 MB L2 cache, an Apple M3 (10 Core) graphics unit and a memory bandwidth of 102 GB/s, as well as PCIe 4.0 support.

This enables significantly better performance in demanding applications and games. Its 3 nm manufacturing ensures superior energy efficiency and performance per watt, making the M3 the better choice for demanding users despite higher costs.

Apple A14 Bionic

  • Older generation, primarily for mobile devices
  • 5 nm manufacturing process
  • Good price-performance ratio for everyday tasks
  • Suitable for less demanding games

Apple M3

  • Newer generation for desktops and laptops
  • 3 nm manufacturing process, high energy efficiency
  • Significantly higher single- and multi-core performance
  • Superior graphics performance for demanding applications and games

Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks

Single-core performance
Rank 2 - 70 %
Apple A14 Bionic
Rank 1 - 100 %
Apple M3
Multi-core performance
Rank 2 - 42 %
Apple A14 Bionic
Rank 1 - 100 %
Apple M3
Geekbench 6 Single-Core

Geekbench 6 Single-Core
Single-core performance

Apple A14 Bionic
6C / 6T · 3.00 GHz
2,072
Apple M3
Apple M3 100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
3,125
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core

Geekbench 6 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

Apple A14 Bionic
6C / 6T · 3.00 GHz
4,689
Apple M3
Apple M3 100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
11,863
Geekbench 5, 64bit Single-Core

Geekbench 5, 64bit Single-Core
Single-core performance

Apple A14 Bionic
6C / 6T · 3.00 GHz
1,590
Apple M3
Apple M3 100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
2,150
Geekbench 5, 64bit Multi-Core

Geekbench 5, 64bit Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

Apple A14 Bionic
6C / 6T · 3.00 GHz
4,247
Apple M3
Apple M3 100 %
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
10,450
iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14
749
Apple M3
Apple M3 100 %
Apple M3 (10 Core)
3,550
AI performance (NPU)

AI performance (NPU)

Apple A14 Bionic
6C / 6T · 3.00 GHz
11.0 TOPS
Apple M3
Apple M3 100 %
8C / 8T · 0.70 GHz
35.0 TOPS

More benchmarks

At a glance

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
FamilyApple A series (27)Apple M series (38)
CPU groupApple A14 (1)Apple M3 (6)
ArchitectureA14 (Firestorm/Icestorm)M3
Technology5 nm3 nm
SegmentSmartphone / TabletNotebook
Socket
PredecessorApple A13 BionicApple M2
SuccessorApple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)Apple M4

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
CPU Cores / Threads6 / 68 / 8
Hyperthreading / SMT
Core architecturehybrid (big.LITTLE)hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Core Cluster 1: 2x Firestorm
3.00 GHz
4x Ibiza P-Core
0.70 - 4.06 GHz
Core Cluster 2: 4x Icestorm
1.82 GHz
4x Ibiza E-Core
0.74 - 2.75 GHz
L2-Cache12.00 MB20.00 MB
L3-Cache16.00 MB
Overclocking

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
GPU nameApple A14Apple M3 (10 Core)
GPU frequency1.46 GHz0.39 - 1.40 GHz
CUs / Shader16 / 256160 / 1280
Raytracing
Max. displays32
Max. GPU Memory6 GB24 GB
Technology5 nm3 nm
Release dateQ3/2020Q4/2023

NPU AI performance

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
AI hardwareApple Neural EngineApple Neural Engine
AI specifications16 Neural cores @ 11 TOPS16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS
NPU + CPU + iGPU

Memory & PCIe

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
MemoryLPDDR4X-4266 (34.1 GB/s)
LPDDR5-6400 (102.4 GB/s)
Max. Memory6 GB24 GB
Memory channels12
ECCNoNo
PCIe4.0
PCIe Bandwidth

Thermal Management

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
TDP7.25 W22 W
TDP (PL2)
TDP up
TDP down15 W
T. junction max.100 °C

Technical details

Wischen
Apple A14 BionicApple M3
Chip designChipletMonolithic
AES-NI
Operating systemsiOSmacOS, iPadOS
Instruction setArmv8-A (64 bit)Armv8-A (64 bit)
ISA extensionsRosetta 2 x86-Emulation
Release dateQ3/2020Q4/2023
Release price
Documents

Your rating

Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Apple A14 Bionic is 3.9 stars (240 ratings), while Apple M3 has received 4.6 stars (1638 ratings).

Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.

Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14 Bionic
6C / 6T · 3.00 GHz
Apple M3
Apple M3
8C / 8T · 0.70 - 4.06 GHz

Most popular CPUs in both categories

Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14 Bionic
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