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Apple A6 vs Apple M3
Last updated:
Benchmarks
Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks
Single-core performance
Multi-core performance
More benchmarks
Cinebench 2026 (ST)
218 entries
218 entries
Cinebench 2026 (MC)
219 entries
219 entries
Cinebench 2024 (SC)
427 entries
427 entries
Cinebench 2024 (MC)
422 entries
422 entries
Cinebench R23 (SC)
690 entries
690 entries
Cinebench R23 (MC)
665 entries
665 entries
Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,989 entries
1,989 entries
Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,927 entries
1,927 entries
Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,512 entries
2,512 entries
Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,483 entries
2,483 entries
FP32 SP (iGPU)
2,219 entries
2,219 entries
PassMark CPU-Mark
2,504 entries
2,504 entries
CPU performance per watt (efficiency)
140 entries
140 entries
AI performance (NPU)
218 entries
218 entries
Specifications
At a glance
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Apple A series (27) | Apple M series (38) |
| CPU group | Apple A6/A6X (2) | Apple M3 (6) |
| Architecture | A6 | M3 |
| Technology | 32 nm | 3 nm |
| Segment | Smartphone / Tablet | Notebook |
| Socket | ||
| Predecessor | Apple A5 | Apple M2 |
| Successor | Apple A7 | Apple M4 |
CPU Cores and Base Frequency
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores / Threads | 2 / 2 | 8 / 8 |
| Hyperthreading / SMT | ✗ | ✗ |
| Core architecture | normal | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| Core Cluster 1: | 2x Swift 1.30 GHz |
4x Ibiza P-Core 0.70 - 4.06 GHz |
| Core Cluster 2: | 4x Ibiza E-Core 0.74 - 2.75 GHz |
|
| L2-Cache | 1.00 MB | 20.00 MB |
| L3-Cache | ||
| Overclocking | ✗ | ✗ |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU name | PowerVR SGX543MP3 (3 Cores) | Apple M3 (10 Core) |
| GPU frequency | 0.27 GHz | 0.39 - 1.40 GHz |
| CUs / Shader | 6 / 48 | 160 / 1280 |
| Raytracing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Max. displays | 1 | 2 |
| Max. GPU Memory | 24 GB | |
| Technology | 32 nm | 3 nm |
| Release date | Q3/2012 | Q4/2023 |
NPU AI performance
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| AI hardware | Apple Neural Engine | |
| AI specifications | 16 Neural cores @ 35 TOPS | |
| NPU + CPU + iGPU |
Memory & PCIe
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | LPDDR2-1066 (8.5 GB/s) | LPDDR5-6400 (102.4 GB/s) |
| Max. Memory | 1 GB | 24 GB |
| Memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| ECC | No | No |
| PCIe | 4.0 | |
| PCIe Bandwidth |
Thermal Management
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 22 W | |
| TDP (PL2) | ||
| TDP up | ||
| TDP down | 15 W | |
| T. junction max. | 100 °C |
Technical details
|
Wischen
|
Apple A6 | Apple M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip design | Chiplet | Monolithic |
| AES-NI | ✗ | ✓ |
| Operating systems | iOS | macOS, iPadOS |
| Instruction set | Armv7-A (32 bit) | Armv8-A (64 bit) |
| ISA extensions | Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation | |
| Release date | Q3/2012 | Q4/2023 |
| Release price | ||
| Documents |
User Reviews
Your rating
Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Apple A6 is 4.3 stars (3 ratings), while Apple M3 has received 4.6 stars (1638 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 M2 Ultra (76-GPU)
24C / 24T · 3.50 GHz
3
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 40-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 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 M2 Ultra (60-GPU)
24C / 24T · 3.50 GHz
7
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C / 8T · 3.20 GHz
8
Apple M3
8C / 8T · 4.06 GHz
9
Apple A6
2C / 2T · 0.00 GHz
Popular Comparisons
