Apple A17 Pro vs Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A17 Pro CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
Apple A17 Pro Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)

CPU comparison

Apple A17 Pro or Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) - 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 A17 Pro has 6 cores with 6 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.78 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 1 memory channels. The Apple A17 Pro was released in Q3/2023.

The Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) has 24 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 192 GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) was released in Q2/2023.
Apple A series (22) Family Apple M series (23)
Apple A17 (1) CPU group Apple M2 (8)
17 Generation 2
A17 Architecture M2
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A16 Bionic Predecessor Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A17 Pro is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.78 GHz. The Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) has 24 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz).

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
6 Cores 24
6 Threads 24
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
3.78 GHz A-Core 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz)
16x Avalanche
2.11 GHz B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz)
8x Blizzard

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 A17 Pro Characteristic Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS AI specifications 32 Neural cores @ 31.6 TOPS

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 A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) GPU Apple M2 Ultra (60 Core)
1.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.45 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
-- GPU Generation 2
3 nm Technology 5 nm
3 Max. displays 8
24 Compute units 960
768 Shader 7680
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
6 GB Max. GPU Memory 192 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.

Apple A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) GPU Apple M2 Ultra (60 Core)
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
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A17 Pro supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) can connect up to 192 GB of memory in 8 memory channels.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR5-6400
8 GB Max. Memory 192 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 8 (Octa Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 819.1 GB/s
No ECC No
20.00 MB L2 Cache 72.00 MB
24.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes 64
-- PCIe Bandwidth 126.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A17 Pro has a TDP of 11 W, that of the Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) is 80 W.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
11 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 80 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A17 Pro has a 44.00 MB cache, while the Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) cache has a total of 72.00 MB.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
3 nm Technology 5 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8.6-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
-- Socket --
None Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q3/2023 Release date Q2/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple A17 Pro to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.9 stars (61 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (166 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A17 Pro (100%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) (91%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A17 Pro (28%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) (100%)

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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
2140 (100%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
1940 (91%)

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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
5868 (21%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
27860 (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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
2952 (100%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
2689 (91%)

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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
7462 (35%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
21450 (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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
Apple A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) @ 1.40 GHz
2147 (10%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
Apple M2 Ultra (60 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
21300 (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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
35 (100%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 0.66 GHz
31.6 (90%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
126 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
1918 (100%)

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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
1695 (100%)

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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
28570 (100%)

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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
1108570 (100%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 0.66 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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C 24T @ 3.50 GHz
48560 (100%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
3.78 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU) Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
28,570 CB R23 MC @ 80 W
357 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A17 Pro Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Unknown

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