Apple A5 vs Apple M4
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CPU comparison with benchmarks
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| Apple A5 | Apple M4 | |
CPU comparisonApple A5 or Apple M4 - 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 A5 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.00 GHz. Up to 1 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple A5 was released in Q1/2011. The Apple M4 has 9 cores with 9 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.41 GHz. The CPU supports up to 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple M4 was released in Q2/2024. |
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| Apple A series (22) | Family | Apple M series (25) |
| Apple A5/A5X (2) | CPU group | Apple M4 (2) |
| 5 | Generation | 4 |
| A5 | Architecture | M4 |
| Mobile | Segment | Mobile |
| -- | Predecessor | Apple M3 |
| Apple A6 | Successor | -- |
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CPU Cores and Base FrequencyThe Apple A5 is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.00 GHz. The Apple M4 has 9 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz). |
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| Apple A5 | Characteristic | Apple M4 |
| 2 | Cores | 9 |
| 2 | Threads | 9 |
| normal | Core architecture | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| No | Hyperthreading | No |
| No | Overclocking ? | No |
| 1.00 GHz 2x Cortex-A9 |
A-Core | 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz) 3x P-Core |
| -- | B-Core | 0.74 GHz (2.85 GHz) 6x E-Core |
NPU AI performanceThe performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. |
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| Apple A5 | Characteristic | Apple M4 |
| -- | AI hardware | Apple Neural Engine |
| -- | AI specifications | 16 Neural cores @ 38 TOPS |
| -- | NPU + CPU + iGPU | -- |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)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. |
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| PowerVR SGX543MP2 (2 Cores) | GPU | Apple M4 (10 Core) |
| 0.20 GHz | GPU frequency | 0.39 GHz |
| -- | GPU (Turbo) | 1.40 GHz |
| -- | GPU Generation | -- |
| 32 nm | Technology | 3 nm |
| 1 | Max. displays | 2 |
| 4 | Compute units | 160 |
| 32 | Shader | 1280 |
| No | Hardware Raytracing | Yes |
| No | Frame Generation | No |
| -- | Max. GPU Memory | 24 GB |
| 10 | DirectX Version | -- |
Hardware codec supportA 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. |
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| PowerVR SGX543MP2 (2 Cores) | GPU | Apple M4 (10 Core) |
| No | Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) | Decode / Encode |
| No | Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) | Decode / Encode |
| No | Codec h264 | Decode / Encode |
| No | Codec VP9 | Decode / Encode |
| No | Codec VP8 | Decode |
| No | Codec AV1 | Decode |
| No | Codec AVC | Decode |
| No | Codec VC-1 | Decode |
| No | Codec JPEG | Decode / Encode |
Memory & PCIeThe Apple A5 supports a maximum of 1 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Apple M4 can connect up to 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. |
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| Apple A5 | Characteristic | Apple M4 |
| LPDDR2-800 | Memory | LPDDR5X-7500 |
| 1 GB | Max. Memory | 8 GB |
| 2 (Dual Channel) | Memory channels | 2 (Dual Channel) |
| 6.4 GB/s | Max. Bandwidth | 120.0 GB/s |
| No | ECC | No |
| 1.00 MB | L2 Cache | 18.00 MB |
| -- | L3 Cache | -- |
| -- | PCIe version | 4.0 |
| -- | PCIe lanes | -- |
| -- | PCIe Bandwidth | -- |
Thermal ManagementThe TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A5 has a TDP of --, that of the Apple M4 is 22 W. |
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| Apple A5 | Characteristic | Apple M4 |
| -- | TDP (PL1 / PBP) | 22 W |
| -- | TDP (PL2) | -- |
| -- | TDP up | -- |
| -- | TDP down | 15 W |
| -- | Tjunction max. | 100 °C |
Technical detailsThe Apple A5 has a 1.00 MB cache, while the Apple M4 cache has a total of 18.00 MB. |
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| Apple A5 | Characteristic | Apple M4 |
| 32 nm | Technology | 3 nm |
| Chiplet | Chip design | Chiplet |
| Armv7-A (32 bit) | Instruction set (ISA) | Armv9-A (64 bit) |
| -- | ISA extensions | Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation, AVX2, SME |
| -- | Socket | -- |
| None | Virtualization | Apple Virtualization Framework |
| No | AES-NI | Yes |
| iOS | Operating systems | macOS, iPadOS |
| Q1/2011 | Release date | Q2/2024 |
| -- | Release price | -- |
| show more data | show more data | |
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Average performance in benchmarks
⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
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.
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.
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.
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.
AI performance (NPU)
The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.
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).
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).
Devices using this processor |
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| Apple A5 | Apple M4 |
| Apple iPhone 4S Apple iPad 2 |
Apple iPad Pro 11 (2024) |
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