Follow us
Share link
Submit benchmark
VS
Apple A18 vs Intel Core Ultra 7 255U
Last updated:
Summary
The Apple A18 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 255U are mobile processors for different ecosystems: the A18 for Apple's high-end mobile devices, the Ultra 7 255U for thin "U"-series Windows laptops.
Both aim for efficiency and performance, with the Ultra 7 additionally focusing on AI acceleration. Both CPUs are manufactured using the 3 nm fabrication process. The Apple A18 (Codename: Donan) features 20 MB L2 and 24 MB L3 cache. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255U (Codename: Meteor Lake U Refresh) uses a hybrid architecture with 12 MB L2 cache.
The single-core performance of the Apple A18 is clearly superior, while multi-core applications offer comparable performance. For gaming, both are equipped with integrated graphics units: Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores) and Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake). The Apple A18 benefits from the ecosystem and the Metal API.
Intel Iris Xe Graphics offers solid performance for casual games, supported by a higher memory bandwidth of 134 GB/s (A18: 60 GB/s). Regarding power consumption and TDP, both are designed for maximum energy efficiency in mobile devices. Apple processors are known for their efficiency, Intel's "U"-series for low power consumption.
A direct price-performance comparison is difficult, as the A18 is part of an Apple device and the Ultra 7 255U influences the laptop price.
Both aim for efficiency and performance, with the Ultra 7 additionally focusing on AI acceleration. Both CPUs are manufactured using the 3 nm fabrication process. The Apple A18 (Codename: Donan) features 20 MB L2 and 24 MB L3 cache. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255U (Codename: Meteor Lake U Refresh) uses a hybrid architecture with 12 MB L2 cache.
The single-core performance of the Apple A18 is clearly superior, while multi-core applications offer comparable performance. For gaming, both are equipped with integrated graphics units: Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores) and Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake). The Apple A18 benefits from the ecosystem and the Metal API.
Intel Iris Xe Graphics offers solid performance for casual games, supported by a higher memory bandwidth of 134 GB/s (A18: 60 GB/s). Regarding power consumption and TDP, both are designed for maximum energy efficiency in mobile devices. Apple processors are known for their efficiency, Intel's "U"-series for low power consumption.
A direct price-performance comparison is difficult, as the A18 is part of an Apple device and the Ultra 7 255U influences the laptop price.
Apple A18
- Strong single-core performance
- High energy efficiency
- Optimized performance within the Apple ecosystem
- Robust integrated graphics for mobile gaming
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U
- Comparable multi-core performance
- Good performance for productivity
- Solid integrated graphics with higher memory bandwidth
- AI acceleration for specific workloads
Benchmarks
Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks
Single-core performance
Multi-core performance
Geekbench 6 Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple A18
100 %
6C / 6T · 4.04 GHz
12C / 14T · 5.20 GHz
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple A18
100 %
6C / 6T · 4.04 GHz
12C / 14T · 2.00 GHz
iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)
Apple A18
100 %
Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores)
Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake)
AI performance (NPU)
Apple A18
100 %
6C / 6T · 0.70 GHz
12C / 14T · 2.00 GHz
More benchmarks
Specifications
At a glance
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Apple A series (27) | Intel Core Ultra 7 (31) |
| CPU group | Apple A18 (2) | Intel Core Ultra 200U (4) |
| Architecture | Donan | Meteor Lake U Refresh |
| Technology | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| Segment | Smartphone / Tablet | Notebook |
| Socket | BGA 2049 | |
| Predecessor | Apple A16 Bionic | Intel Core Ultra 7 155U |
| Successor | Apple A19 |
CPU Cores and Base Frequency
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores / Threads | 6 / 6 | 12 / 14 |
| Hyperthreading / SMT | ✗ | ✓ |
| Core architecture | hybrid (big.LITTLE) | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| Core Cluster 1: | 2x Donan P-Core 0.70 - 4.04 GHz |
2x Redwood Cove 2.00 - 5.20 GHz |
| Core Cluster 2: | 4x Donan E-Core 0.74 - 2.30 GHz |
8x Crestmont 1.70 - 4.20 GHz |
| Core Cluster 3: | 2x Crestmont 0.70 - 2.40 GHz |
|
| L2-Cache | 20.00 MB | 12.00 MB |
| L3-Cache | 24.00 MB | |
| Overclocking | ✗ | ✗ |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| GPU name | Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores) | Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake) |
| GPU frequency | 0.39 - 1.68 GHz | 0.60 - 2.10 GHz |
| CUs / Shader | 20 / 640 | 64 / 512 |
| Raytracing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Max. displays | 1 | 4 |
| Max. GPU Memory | 8 GB | 32 GB |
| Technology | 3 nm | 5 nm |
| Release date | Q3/2024 | Q4/2023 |
NPU AI performance
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| AI hardware | Apple Neural Engine | Intel® AI Boost |
| AI specifications | 16 Neural cores @ 38 TOPS | Intel AI Boost @ 1.4 GHz (OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT) |
| NPU + CPU + iGPU |
Memory & PCIe
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | LPDDR5X-7500 (60.0 GB/s) | LPDDR5X-8400 (134.4 GB/s) DDR5-6400 (102.4 GB/s) |
| Max. Memory | 8 GB | 128 GB |
| Memory channels | 1 | 2 |
| ECC | No | No |
| PCIe | 4.0 x 20 | |
| PCIe Bandwidth | 39.4 GB/s |
Thermal Management
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 12 W | 15 W |
| TDP (PL2) | 57 W | |
| TDP up | ||
| TDP down | 12 W | |
| T. junction max. | 105 °C |
Technical details
|
Wischen
|
Apple A18 | Intel Core Ultra 7 255U |
|---|---|---|
| Chip design | Chiplet | Chiplet |
| AES-NI | ✗ | ✓ |
| Operating systems | iOS | Windows 11, Linux |
| Instruction set | Armv9-A (64 bit) | x86-64 (64 bit) |
| ISA extensions | SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 | |
| Release date | Q3/2024 | Q1/2025 |
| Release price | ||
| Documents | Technical data sheet |
User Reviews
Your rating
Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Apple A18 is 4.0 stars (215 ratings), while Intel Core Ultra 7 255U has received 2.3 stars (84 ratings).
Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.
Most popular CPUs in both categories
1
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 32-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 GHz
2
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 40-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 GHz
3
Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU)
24C / 24T · 3.50 GHz
4
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C / 20T · 3.20 GHz
5
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C / 20T · 3.20 GHz
6
Apple M4 (8-CPU)
8C / 8T · 4.46 GHz
7
Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C / 24T · 3.50 GHz
8
Apple A18
6C / 6T · 4.04 GHz
9
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U
12C / 14T · 5.20 GHz
Popular Comparisons
