Apple A8 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 653

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A8 CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
Apple A8 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653

CPU comparison

Apple A8 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 - 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 A8 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.50 GHz. Up to 1 GB of memory is supported in 1 memory channels. The Apple A8 was released in Q3/2014.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.95 GHz. The CPU supports up to 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 was released in Q4/2016.
Apple A series (22) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)
Apple A8/A8X (2) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 (3)
8 Generation 4
A8 Architecture Cortex-A72 / Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A7 Predecessor --
Apple A9 Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A8 is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.50 GHz. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.95 GHz.

Apple A8 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
2 Cores 8
2 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.50 GHz
2x Typhoon
A-Core 1.95 GHz
4x Cortex-A72
-- B-Core 1.44 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

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 A8 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
-- AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
-- AI specifications Hexagon

Internal Graphics

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.

Apple A8 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 510
0.53 GHz GPU frequency 0.60 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 0.60 GHz
5 GPU Generation 5
20 nm Technology 14 nm
1 Max. displays 0
16 Compute units --
128 Shader 128
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory --
-- DirectX Version 11

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.

Apple A8 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 510
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode Codec h264 Decode
No Codec VP9 Decode
No Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple A8 supports a maximum of 1 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 can connect up to 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple A8 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
LPDDR3-1600 Memory LPDDR3-1866
1 GB Max. Memory 8 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
12.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 14.9 GB/s
No ECC No
1.00 MB L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple A8 has a TDP of 5 W, that of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 is --.

Apple A8 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple A8 has a 5.00 MB cache, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 cache has a total of 0.00 MB.

Apple A8 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
20 nm Technology 28 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
iOS Operating systems Android
Q3/2014 Release date Q4/2016
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple A8 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.0 stars (2 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A8 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 (79%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple A8 (64%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 (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 A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
324 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
8C 8T @ 1.95 GHz
287 (89%)

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 A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
607 (59%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
8C 8T @ 1.95 GHz
1026 (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 A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
412 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
8C 8T @ 1.95 GHz
279 (68%)

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 A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
588 (68%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
8C 8T @ 1.95 GHz
866 (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 A8 Apple A8
Apple A8 @ 0.53 GHz
136 (89%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
Qualcomm Adreno 510 @ 0.60 GHz
154 (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 A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
1532 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
8C 8T @ 1.95 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A8 Qualcomm Snapdragon 653
Apple iPhone 6
Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Apple iPad Mini 4
Apple TV HD
Apple HomePod
Apple iPod touch (6. Gen)
Unknown

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