Apple A17 Pro vs Intel Core Ultra 5 125U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A17 Pro CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
Apple A17 Pro Intel Core Ultra 5 125U

CPU comparison

Apple A17 Pro or Intel Core Ultra 5 125U - 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 Ultra 5 125U has 12 cores with 14 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.30 GHz. The CPU supports up to 96 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core Ultra 5 125U was released in Q4/2023.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core Ultra 5 (10)
Apple A17 (1) CPU group Intel Core Ultra 100U (7)
17 Generation 1
A17 Architecture Meteor Lake U
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A16 Bionic Predecessor --
-- Successor --

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 Ultra 5 125U has 12 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.30 GHz (4.30 GHz).

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
6 Cores 12
6 Threads 14
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
3.78 GHz A-Core 1.30 GHz (4.30 GHz)
2x Redwood Cove
2.11 GHz B-Core 0.80 GHz (3.60 GHz)
8x Crestmont
-- C-Core 0.70 GHz (2.10 GHz)
2x Crestmont

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 Ultra 5 125U
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware Intel AI engine
16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS AI specifications Intel AI Boost @ 1.4 GHz (OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT)

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 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake)
1.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.60 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.85 GHz
-- GPU Generation --
3 nm Technology 5 nm
3 Max. displays 4
24 Compute units 64
768 Shader 512
Yes Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
6 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
-- DirectX Version 12.2

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 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor 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
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode
Decode Codec AV1 Decode / Encode
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 Ultra 5 125U can connect up to 96 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR5X-7500, DDR5-5600
8 GB Max. Memory 96 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 120.0 GB/s
No ECC No
20.00 MB L2 Cache 12.00 MB
24.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 39.4 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 Ultra 5 125U is 15 W.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
11 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) 57 W
-- TDP up 28 W
-- TDP down 12 W
-- Tjunction max. 110 °C

Technical details

The Apple A17 Pro has a 44.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U cache has a total of 12.00 MB.

Apple A17 Pro Characteristic Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
3 nm Technology 7 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8.6-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 2049
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2023 Release date Q4/2023
-- 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 4.0 stars (79 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:


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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake) @ 1.85 GHz
1835 (85%)

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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 4.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 1.30 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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

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 Ultra 5 125U Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
12C 14T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A17 Pro Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Unknown

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