Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-12900TE

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-12900TE
Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Intel Core i9-12900TE

CPU comparison

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) or Intel Core i9-12900TE - 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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) has 6 cores with 6 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.23 GHz. Up to 6 GB of memory is supported in 1 memory channels. The Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) was released in Q3/2021.

The Intel Core i9-12900TE has 16 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.80 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900TE was released in Q1/2022.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Apple A15 (2) CPU group Intel Core i 12000 (34)
15 Generation 12
A15 Architecture Alder Lake S
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor Intel Core i9-13900TE

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.23 GHz. The Intel Core i9-12900TE has 16 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.10 GHz (4.80 GHz).

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
6 Cores 16
6 Threads 24
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
3.23 GHz
2x Avalanche
A-Core 1.10 GHz (4.80 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
2.02 GHz
4x Blizzard
B-Core 1.00 GHz (3.60 GHz)
8x Gracemont

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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 15.8 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 A15 (4 GPU Cores) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
1.34 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.55 GHz
12 GPU Generation 11
5 nm Technology 10 nm
3 Max. displays 3
16 Compute units 32
512 Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
6 GB Max. GPU Memory 64 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 A15 (4 GPU Cores) GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
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 Decode
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) supports a maximum of 6 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900TE can connect up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
LPDDR4X-4266 Memory DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
6 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
34.1 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
No ECC Yes
16.00 MB L2 Cache 14.00 MB
32.00 MB L3 Cache 30.00 MB
-- PCIe version 5.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) has a TDP of 7.25 W, that of the Intel Core i9-12900TE is 35 W.

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
7.25 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 35 W
-- TDP (PL2) 106 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) has a 48.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i9-12900TE cache has a total of 44.00 MB.

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
5 nm Technology 10 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+
-- Socket LGA 1700
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2021 Release date Q1/2022
-- Release price 494 $
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 2 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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
1745 (94%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 4.80 GHz
1861 (100%)

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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
4777 (35%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
13738 (100%)

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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
2245 (90%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 4.80 GHz
2481 (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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
5402 (44%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
12411 (100%)

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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
Apple A15 (4 GPU Cores) @ 1.34 GHz
1370 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (58%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
806250 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 1.10 GHz
0 (0%)

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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
29965 (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 A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
15.8 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 1.10 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) Intel Core i9-12900TE
Apple iPhone 13 mini
Apple iPhone 13
Unknown

News and articles for the Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and the Intel Core i9-12900TE


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