Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) vs HiSilicon Kirin 960

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) CPU1 vs CPU2 HiSilicon Kirin 960
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) HiSilicon Kirin 960

CPU comparison

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) or HiSilicon Kirin 960 - 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 M1 Max (32-GPU) has 10 cores with 10 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. Up to 64 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) was released in Q3/2021.

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to 6 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The HiSilicon Kirin 960 was released in Q4/2016.
Apple M series (25) Family HiSilicon Kirin (29)
Apple M1 (9) CPU group HiSilicon Kirin 960 (2)
1 Generation 5
M1 Architecture Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
Apple M2 Max (38-GPU) Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) is a 10 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz). The HiSilicon Kirin 960 has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 960
10 Cores 8
10 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
8x Firestorm
A-Core 2.40 GHz
4x Cortex-A73
0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
2x Icestorm
B-Core 1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 960
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware --
16 Neural cores @ 11 TOPS AI specifications --
-- 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.

Apple M1 Max (32 Core) GPU ARM Mali-G71 MP8
0.39 GHz GPU frequency 0.90 GHz
1.30 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
1 GPU Generation Bifrost 1
5 nm Technology 16 nm
5 Max. displays 2
512 Compute units 8
4096 Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
-- 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 M1 Max (32 Core) GPU ARM Mali-G71 MP8
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The HiSilicon Kirin 960 can connect up to 6 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 960
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR4-1600
64 GB Max. Memory 6 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
409.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 12.8 GB/s
No ECC No
28.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 4.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has a TDP of 45 W, that of the HiSilicon Kirin 960 is 5 W.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 960
45 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has a 28.00 MB cache, while the HiSilicon Kirin 960 cache has a total of 4.00 MB.

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 960
5 nm Technology 16 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8.5-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
macOS Operating systems Android
Q3/2021 Release date Q4/2016
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (37 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the HiSilicon Kirin 960 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.0 stars (2 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (19%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (12%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1783 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
381 (21%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12693 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1521 (12%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
403 (17%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12439 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1393 (11%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
Apple M1 Max (32 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
10600 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
ARM Mali-G71 MP8 @ 0.90 GHz
245 (2%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
112 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
796 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12402 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
192 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
22255 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
12,402 CB R23 MC @ 45 W
275 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
2.40 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 M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 GHz
11 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) HiSilicon Kirin 960
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021)
Huawei Honor 8 Pro
Huawei Honor 9
Huawei Mate 9
Huawei Mate 9 Pro
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche
Huawei MediaPad M5
Huawei Nova 2s
Huawei P10

News and articles for the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) and the HiSilicon Kirin 960


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