Apple A17 Pro vs Intel Core i3-1215U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A17 Pro CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i3-1215U
Apple A17 Pro Intel Core i3-1215U

CPU comparison

Apple A17 Pro or Intel Core i3-1215U - 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 Intel Core i3-1215U has 6 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i3-1215U was released in Q1/2022.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i3 (205)
Apple A17 (1) CPU group Intel Core i 1200P/1200U (21)
17 Generation 12
A17 Architecture Alder Lake U
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A16 Bionic Predecessor --
-- Successor Intel Core i3-1315U

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A17 Pro is a 6 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.78 GHz. The Intel Core i3-1215U has 6 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.20 GHz (4.40 GHz).

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i3-1215U
6 Cores 6
6 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
3.78 GHz A-Core 1.20 GHz (4.40 GHz)
2x Golden Cove
2.11 GHz B-Core 0.90 GHz (3.30 GHz)
4x 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 A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i3-1215U
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 35 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 A17 Pro (6 GPU Cores) GPU Intel Iris Xe Graphics 64 (Alder Lake)
1.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.10 GHz
-- GPU Generation 13
3 nm Technology 10 nm
3 Max. displays 4
24 Compute units 64
768 Shader 512
Yes Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
6 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version 12.1

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 Intel Iris Xe Graphics 64 (Alder Lake)
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 Decode
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
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 Intel Core i3-1215U can connect up to 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i3-1215U
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
8 GB Max. Memory 64 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 83.2 GB/s
No ECC No
20.00 MB L2 Cache 4.50 MB
24.00 MB L3 Cache 10.00 MB
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes 28
-- PCIe Bandwidth 55.1 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 Intel Core i3-1215U is 15 W.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i3-1215U
11 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) 55 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A17 Pro has a 44.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i3-1215U cache has a total of 14.50 MB.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core i3-1215U
3 nm Technology 10 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8.6-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1744
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2023 Release date Q1/2022
-- 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 4.0 stars (74 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core i3-1215U to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.5 stars (50 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A17 Pro (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U (73%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A17 Pro (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U (73%)

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%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
1596 (75%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
5328 (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 A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
2952 (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
2079 (70%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
4135 (55%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
Intel Iris Xe Graphics 64 (Alder Lake) @ 1.10 GHz
1091 (51%)

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%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 4.40 GHz
1633 (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%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
6410 (100%)

AnTuTu 10 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 10 benchmark is one of the best-known benchmarks for mobile processors, which is now available in version 10. There is a version for Android-based smartphones and tablets, as well as a version for Apple mobile devices, i.e. iPhones and iPads.

The Antutu 10 benchmark has 3 phases. In the first phase, the device's RAM is tested, in phase 2 the graphics are tested and in the final phase the entire device is pushed to its performance limits by rendering 3D graphics.

Antutu 10 is therefore ideal for comparing the performance of different devices.
Apple A17 Pro Apple A17 Pro
6C 6T @ 3.78 GHz
1488440 (100%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.20 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%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.80 GHz
11350 (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%)
Intel Core i3-1215U Intel Core i3-1215U
6C 8T @ 1.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A17 Pro Intel Core i3-1215U
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Unknown

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