Apple A7 vs Apple M4

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A7 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M4
Apple A7 Apple M4

CPU comparison

Apple A7 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 A7 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.40 GHz. Up to 1 GB of memory is supported in 1 memory channels. The Apple A7 was released in Q3/2013.

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.
Apple A series (22) Family Apple M series (25)
Apple A7 (1) CPU group Apple M4 (2)
7 Generation 4
A7 Architecture M4
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A6 Predecessor Apple M3
Apple A8 Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A7 is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.40 GHz. The Apple M4 has 9 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz).

Apple A7 Characteristic Apple M4
2 Cores 9
2 Threads 9
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.40 GHz
2x Cyclone
A-Core 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz)
3x P-Core
-- B-Core 0.74 GHz (2.85 GHz)
6x E-Core

NPU AI performance

The 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.

Apple A7 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.

PowerVR G6430 GPU Apple M4 (10 Core)
0.45 GHz GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
-- GPU Generation --
28 nm Technology 3 nm
2 Max. displays 2
16 Compute units 160
128 Shader 1280
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 24 GB
10 DirectX Version --

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 G6430 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 & PCIe

The Apple A7 supports a maximum of 1 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Apple M4 can connect up to 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A7 Characteristic Apple M4
LPDDR3-1333 Memory LPDDR5X-7500
1 GB Max. Memory 8 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
12.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 120.0 GB/s
No ECC No
1.00 MB L2 Cache 18.00 MB
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A7 has a TDP of --, that of the Apple M4 is 22 W.

Apple A7 Characteristic Apple M4
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 22 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 15 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A7 has a 5.00 MB cache, while the Apple M4 cache has a total of 18.00 MB.

Apple A7 Characteristic Apple M4
28 nm Technology 3 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 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
Q3/2013 Release date Q2/2024
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple A7 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (2 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M4 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (96 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Apple A7 (11%)
Apple M4 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 0 CPU benchmarks
Apple A7 (0%)
Apple M4 (0%)

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 A7 Apple A7
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
278 (11%)
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 4.41 GHz
2491 (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 A7 Apple A7
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
528 (100%)
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 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 A7 Apple A7
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 4.41 GHz
3630 (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 A7 Apple A7
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
13060 (100%)

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 A7 Apple A7
PowerVR G6430 @ 0.45 GHz
115 (100%)
Apple M4 Apple M4
Apple M4 (10 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)

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).
Apple A7 Apple A7
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
38 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A7 Apple M4
Apple iPhone 6
Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Apple iPad Mini 4
Apple TV HD
Apple HomePod
Apple iPod touch (6. Gen)
Apple iPad Pro 11 (2024)

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