Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Apple M2

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M2
Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Apple M2

CPU comparison

Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) or Apple M2 - 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 (5-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 (5-GPU) was released in Q3/2021.

The Apple M2 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple M2 was released in Q2/2022.
Apple A series Family Apple M series
Apple A15 CPU group Apple M2
15 Generation 2
A15 Architecture M2
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A14 Bionic Predecessor Apple M1
Apple A16 Bionic Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) has 6 CPU cores and can calculate 6 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) is 3.23 GHz while the Apple M2 has 8 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M2 is at 2.02 GHz.

6 Cores 8
6 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
3.23 GHz
2x Avalanche
A-Core 3.50 GHz
4x Avalanche
2.02 GHz
4x Blizzard
B-Core 2.80 GHz
4x Blizzard
-- C-Core --

Internal Graphics

The Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) or Apple M2 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores) GPU Apple M2 (10 Core)
0.60 GHz GPU frequency 1.40 GHz
GPU (Turbo)
12 GPU Generation 2
5 nm Technology 5 nm
3 Max. displays 2
160 Execution units 160
1280 Shader 1280
8 GB Max. GPU Memory 24 GB
DirectX Version

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.

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
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) can use up to 6 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 34.1 GB/s. The Apple M2 supports up to 24 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 102.4 GB/s.

LPDDR4X-4266 Memory LPDDR5-6400
6 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
34.1 GB/s Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
16.00 MB L2 Cache 20.00 MB
32.00 MB L3 Cache
-- PCIe version 4.0
PCIe lanes

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) is 8.5 W, while the Apple M2 has a TDP of 22 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

8.5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 22 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 10 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has 48.00 MB cache. The Apple M2 is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 48.00 MB cache.

5 nm Technology 5 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
-- Socket --
None Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q3/2021 Release date Q2/2022
-- Release price --
show more data show more data



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 A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1695 (100%)
Show all Cinebench R23 (Single-Core) results



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 A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
8714 (100%)
Show all Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core) results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
2245 (89%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
2536 (100%)
Show all Geekbench 6 (Single-Core) results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
5402 (56%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
9691 (100%)
Show all Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core) results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
1745 (93%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1874 (100%)
Show all Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core) results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
4777 (54%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
8853 (100%)
Show all Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core) results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
Apple A15 (5 GPU Cores) @ 0.60 GHz
1500 (42%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
Apple M2 (10 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
3550 (100%)
Show all iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS) results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
825116 (100%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Show all AnTuTu 9 Benchmark results



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 (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
15472 (100%)
Show all Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark results



Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.

Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
6C 6T @ 3.23 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Apple M2
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
277 (100%)
Show all Blender 2.81 (bmw27) results



Devices using this processor

Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Apple M2
Apple iPad mini (6. Gen)
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
Apple iPhone 14
Apple iPhone 14 Plus
Apple MacBook Air 14 (2022)
Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2022)

News and articles for the Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) and the Apple M2

MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ vs Apple A16 and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
Posted by Stefan on 2022-09-22
With the Dimensity 9000+, Mediatek presents the latest of its smartphone chips. The successor to the Mediatek Dimensity 9000 achieves higher CPU and GPU clock frequencies thanks to better binning. The CPU clock of the prime core (A core) increases from 3.0 to 3.2 GHz. And the ARM Mali-G710 MP10 GPU can now clock at 0.9 GHz (previously 0.85 GHz).

Both are a good improvement over the Dimensity 9000 in theory but the increase in performance should not usually be noticeable in practice. In the end, the overall performance of the Mediatek Dimensity 9000+ is impressive: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is beaten in Geekbench 5 in both the single-core and multi-core benchmarks.
What we know about the new Apple A16 Bionic in Apples iPhone 14
Posted by Stefan on 2022-08-23
Every year Apple releases a new iPhone series and with the release of the series always the latest Apple A processor. This has become even more important in recent years, as it has also formed the basis for Apple's M processor series since 2020. The Apple M processors are based on the same core architecture as the Apple A processors, but have been significantly upgraded in many areas such as memory bandwith, amount of memory or cache.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is more powerful and efficient
Posted by Stefan on 2022-07-11
Qualcomm is changing the contract manufacturer from Samsung to TSMC for the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. By switching to the TSMC 4 nm manufacturing process, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is not only 10 percent faster but also 15 percent more efficient than its predecessor. This makes Qualcomm's TOP SoC one of the fastest smartphone chips on the market.
Most popular processors in the first half of 2022
Posted by Stefan on 2022-07-05
In the past we had repeatedly written about our most popular processors. Since this format was quiet popular, I would like to continue this today and introduce you the most popular processors in the first half of 2022.

With more than 2 million page views per month, CPU-Monkey is one of the biggest comparison sites for processors and is currently available in 16 languages.
Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-28
After Apple surprisingly presented the normal Apple M2 processor as the first successor to the Apple M1 already in June 2022, the Apple M2 Pro and the Apple M2 Max may follow in autumn. The difference in performance compared to the basic version could be even greater this time and range from 25 to 40 percent.

In this article we describe how Apple could realize this and why the price should also go up.

Leaderboards

In our leaderboards, we have clearly compiled the best processors for specific categories for you. The leaderboards are always up to date and are regularly updated by us. The best processors are selected according to popularity and speed in benchmarks as well as the price-performance ratio.


Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)Apple M1 Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Apple M1
2. Apple M2Apple M1 Apple M2 vs Apple M1
3. Apple M2Intel Core i7-1195G7 Apple M2 vs Intel Core i7-1195G7
4. Apple M2Intel Core i9-12900K Apple M2 vs Intel Core i9-12900K
5. Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)Apple A13 Bionic Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Apple A13 Bionic
6. Apple M2Apple M1 Pro (10-CPU 14-GPU) Apple M2 vs Apple M1 Pro (10-CPU 14-GPU)
7. Apple M2AMD Ryzen 9 5900X Apple M2 vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
8. Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
9. Apple M2Intel Core i9-13900K Apple M2 vs Intel Core i9-13900K
10. Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)Apple A12Z Bionic Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Apple A12Z Bionic
11. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
12. Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)Apple A14 Bionic Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) vs Apple A14 Bionic
13. Apple M2Intel Core i7-12700H Apple M2 vs Intel Core i7-12700H
14. Apple A12 BionicApple A15 Bionic (5-GPU) Apple A12 Bionic vs Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)
15. Apple M2Apple A14 Bionic Apple M2 vs Apple A14 Bionic


back to index