Apple M4 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple M4 CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Apple M4 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

CPU comparison

Apple M4 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 - 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 M4 has 9 cores with 9 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.41 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple M4 was released in Q2/2024.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.36 GHz. The CPU supports up to 24 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was released in Q4/2022.
Apple M series (25) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (104)
Apple M4 (2) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (2)
4 Generation 2
M4 Architecture Cortex-X3 / -A715 / -A510
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple M3 Predecessor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
-- Successor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple M4 is a 9 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz). The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 3.36 GHz.

Apple M4 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
9 Cores 8
9 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz)
3x P-Core
A-Core 3.36 GHz
1x Cortex-X3
0.74 GHz (2.85 GHz)
6x E-Core
B-Core 2.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A715/A710
-- C-Core 2.00 GHz
3x Cortex-A510

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 M4 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
16 Neural cores @ 38 TOPS AI specifications Hexagon 780 @ 26 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.

Apple M4 (10 Core) GPU Qualcomm Adreno 740
0.39 GHz GPU frequency 0.68 GHz
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation 8
3 nm Technology 4 nm
2 Max. displays 2
160 Compute units --
1280 Shader --
Yes Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
24 GB Max. GPU Memory 6 GB
-- DirectX Version 12.1

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.

Apple M4 (10 Core) GPU Qualcomm Adreno 740
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec AV1 Decode
Decode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Apple M4 supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can connect up to 24 GB of memory in 4 memory channels.

Apple M4 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
LPDDR5X-7500 Memory LPDDR5X-8400
8 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
120.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 67.0 GB/s
No ECC No
18.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 8.00 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 M4 has a TDP of 22 W, that of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is --.

Apple M4 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
22 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
15 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Apple M4 has a 18.00 MB cache, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 cache has a total of 8.00 MB.

Apple M4 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
3 nm Technology 4 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv9-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv9-A (64 bit)
Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation, AVX2, SME ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
Apple Virtualization Framework Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
macOS, iPadOS Operating systems Android, Windows 10/11 (ARM)
Q2/2024 Release date Q4/2022
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple M4 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (94 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (84 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Apple M4 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (58%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Apple M4 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (41%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 4.41 GHz
2491 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
1502 (60%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 4.41 GHz
3630 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
1985 (55%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
13060 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
5315 (41%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
38 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
26 (68%)

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 M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
5089 (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 M4 Apple M4
Apple M4 (10 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Qualcomm Adreno 740 @ 0.68 GHz
1740 (100%)

AnTuTu 10 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 10 benchmark is one of the best-known benchmarks for mobile processors, which is now available in version 10. There is a version for Android-based smartphones and tablets, as well as a version for Apple mobile devices, i.e. iPhones and iPads.

The Antutu 10 benchmark has 3 phases. In the first phase, the device's RAM is tested, in phase 2 the graphics are tested and in the final phase the entire device is pushed to its performance limits by rendering 3D graphics.

Antutu 10 is therefore ideal for comparing the performance of different devices.
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
1628500 (100%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
Apple M4 Apple M4
9C 9T @ 0.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8C 8T @ 3.36 GHz
1281650 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple M4 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Apple iPad Pro 11 (2024) Unknown

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Apple M2Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Apple M2 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
2. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2Google Tensor G3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Google Tensor G3
3. Apple M1Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Apple M1 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
4. Apple A16 BionicQualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Apple A16 Bionic vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
5. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
6. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2Samsung Exynos 2200 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Samsung Exynos 2200
7. Qualcomm Snapdragon 865Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
8. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
9. MediaTek Dimensity 9200+Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
10. Qualcomm Snapdragon 845Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2


back to index