Apple A6 vs Intel Core i3-4012Y

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A6 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i3-4012Y
Apple A6 Intel Core i3-4012Y

CPU comparison

Apple A6 or Intel Core i3-4012Y - 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 A6 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.30 GHz. Up to 1 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple A6 was released in Q3/2012.

The Intel Core i3-4012Y has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i3-4012Y was released in Q3/2013.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i3 (205)
Apple A6/A6X (2) CPU group Intel Core i 4000Y (11)
6 Generation 4
A6 Architecture Haswell Y
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A5 Predecessor --
Apple A7 Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A6 has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple A6 is 1.30 GHz while the Intel Core i3-4012Y has 2 CPU cores and 4 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i3-4012Y is at 1.50 GHz.

Apple A6 Characteristic Intel Core i3-4012Y
2 Cores 2
2 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
1.30 GHz Frequency 1.50 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

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 A6 Characteristic Intel Core i3-4012Y
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Apple A6 or Intel Core i3-4012Y has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

PowerVR SGX543MP3 (3 Cores) GPU Intel HD Graphics 4200
0.27 GHz GPU frequency 0.20 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 0.85 GHz
-- GPU Generation 7.5
32 nm Technology 22 nm
1 Max. displays 3
6 Compute units 20
48 Shader 160
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
10 DirectX Version 11.1

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.

PowerVR SGX543MP3 (3 Cores) GPU Intel HD Graphics 4200
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A6 can use up to 1 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 8.5 GB/s. The Intel Core i3-4012Y supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 25.6 GB/s.

Apple A6 Characteristic Intel Core i3-4012Y
LPDDR2-1066 Memory LPDDR3-1600, DDR3-1600
1 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
8.5 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
1.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 3.00 MB
-- PCIe version 2.0
-- PCIe lanes 12
-- PCIe Bandwidth 6.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple A6 is --, while the Intel Core i3-4012Y has a TDP of 11.5 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Apple A6 Characteristic Intel Core i3-4012Y
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 11.5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 4.5 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A6 is manufactured in 32 nm and has 1.00 MB cache. The Intel Core i3-4012Y is manufactured in 22 nm and has a 3.00 MB cache.

Apple A6 Characteristic Intel Core i3-4012Y
32 nm Technology 22 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv7-A (32 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1168
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2012 Release date Q3/2013
-- Release price --
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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 A6 Apple A6
PowerVR SGX543MP3 (3 Cores) @ 0.27 GHz
68 (25%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
Intel HD Graphics 4200 @ 0.85 GHz
272 (100%)

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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
344 (100%)

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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
802 (100%)

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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
485 (100%)

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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
988 (100%)

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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
1399 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
61 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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 A6 Apple A6
2C 2T @ 1.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i3-4012Y Intel Core i3-4012Y
2C 4T @ 1.50 GHz
152 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A6 Intel Core i3-4012Y
Apple iPhone 5
Apple iPhone 5C
Unknown

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