Apple M3 vs Apple A12X Bionic

The Apple A12X Bionic, introduced in late 2018 as a 7 nm SoC for powerful tablets (iPad Pro), offers an 8-core CPU (A12 architecture: four performance, four efficiency cores) and 8 MB of Level-2 cache.

The Apple M3, unveiled in late 2023, is the current 3 nm processor for Macs (laptops, desktops) and represents the third generation of Apple Silicon architecture, also with eight CPU cores (M3 architecture) and 20 MB of Level-2 cache.

Its memory bandwidth of 102 GB/s significantly surpasses the A12X Bionic's 68 GB/s. In single-core and multi-core performance, the Apple M3 significantly outperforms the A12X Bionic, with a performance increase of well over 10 percent in all relevant benchmarks, leading to substantially faster application performance.

For gaming, the M3 is also superior thanks to its integrated Apple M3 (10 Core) graphics unit and higher memory bandwidth. Thanks to the 3 nm process, the Apple M3 is also significantly more energy-efficient and delivers higher performance per watt than the 7 nm A12X Bionic.

A direct price-performance evaluation is complex as both chips are integrated into devices. The M3 is found in current Macs, the A12X in older iPad Pro models. For maximum performance, graphics performance, and future-proofing, the M3 is the clear recommendation. For everyday tasks on a limited budget, a device with an A12X Bionic can still be a good solution.