HiSilicon Kirin 920 vs Apple A8

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 920 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A8
HiSilicon Kirin 920 Apple A8

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 920 and the Apple A8 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 920 8 core processor released in Q3/2014 with the Apple A8 which has 2 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2014.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Apple A series (22)
HiSilicon Kirin 920 (3) CPU group Apple A8/A8X (2)
2 Generation 8
Cortex-A15 / Cortex-A7 Architecture A8
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A7
-- Successor Apple A9

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 920 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.70 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Apple A8 clocks with 1.50 GHz, has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Characteristic Apple A8
8 Cores 2
8 Threads 2
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.70 GHz
4x Cortex-A15
A-Core 1.50 GHz
2x Typhoon
1.30 GHz
4x Cortex-A7
B-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.

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Characteristic Apple A8
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

ARM Mali-T628 MP4 GPU Apple A8
0.60 GHz GPU frequency 0.53 GHz
0.60 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
Midgard 2 GPU Generation 5
32nm Technology 20 nm
1 Max. displays 1
4 Compute units 16
64 Shader 128
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
11 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.

ARM Mali-T628 MP4 GPU Apple A8
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode
No Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the HiSilicon Kirin 920, while the Apple A8 supports a maximum of 1 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 12.8 GB/s enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Characteristic Apple A8
LPDDR3-1600 Memory LPDDR3-1600
Max. Memory 1 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 12.8 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 1.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 920 has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Apple A8 is 5 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Characteristic Apple A8
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 920 has 0.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 28 nm. The cache of Apple A8 is at 5.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 20 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Characteristic Apple A8
28 nm Technology 20 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv7-A (32 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems iOS
Q3/2014 Release date Q3/2014
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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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.
HiSilicon Kirin 920 HiSilicon Kirin 920
ARM Mali-T628 MP4 @ 0.60 GHz
77 (56%)
Apple A8 Apple A8
Apple A8 @ 0.53 GHz
136 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 920 HiSilicon Kirin 920
8C 8T @ 1.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
324 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 920 HiSilicon Kirin 920
8C 8T @ 1.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
607 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 920 HiSilicon Kirin 920
8C 8T @ 1.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
412 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 920 HiSilicon Kirin 920
8C 8T @ 1.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
588 (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.
HiSilicon Kirin 920 HiSilicon Kirin 920
8C 8T @ 1.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A8 Apple A8
2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz
1532 (100%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 920 Apple A8
Unknown Apple iPhone 6
Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Apple iPad Mini 4
Apple TV HD
Apple HomePod
Apple iPod touch (6. Gen)

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