Intel Core i5-4278U vs Apple A8

Last updated: 2023-04-27

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-4278U		Apple A8
CPU comparison Intel Core i5-4278U or Apple A8 - 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 Intel Core i5-4278U has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.10 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-4278U was released in Q3/2014. The Apple A8 has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 1 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Apple A8 was released in Q3/2014.

Intel Core i5 (331)	Family	Apple A series (22)
Intel Core i 4000U (26)	CPU group	Apple A8/A8X (2)
4	Generation	8
Haswell U	Architecture	A8
Mobile	Segment	Mobile
--	Predecessor	Apple A7
--	Successor	Apple A9

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Intel Core i5-4278U has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i5-4278U is 2.60 GHz (3.10 GHz) while the Apple A8 has 2 CPU cores and 2 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple A8 is at 1.50 GHz.
Intel Core i5-4278U	Characteristic	Apple A8
2	Cores	2
4	Threads	2
normal	Core architecture	normal
Yes	Hyperthreading	No
No	Overclocking ?	No
2.60 GHz	Frequency	1.50 GHz
3.10 GHz	Turbo Frequency (1 Core)	--
--	Turbo Frequency (All Cores)	--

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.
Intel Core i5-4278U	Characteristic	Apple A8
--	AI hardware	--
--	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics The Intel Core i5-4278U or Apple A8 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
Intel Iris Graphics 5100	GPU	Apple A8
0.20 GHz	GPU frequency	0.53 GHz
1.10 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	--
7.5	GPU Generation	5
22 nm	Technology	20 nm
3	Max. displays	1
40	Compute units	16
320	Shader	128
No	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
16 GB	Max. GPU Memory	4 GB
11.1	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.
Intel Iris Graphics 5100	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
No	Codec VP8	No
No	Codec AV1	No
Decode / Encode	Codec AVC	Decode
Decode	Codec VC-1	Decode
Decode	Codec JPEG	Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe The Intel Core i5-4278U can use up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s. The Apple A8 supports up to 1 GB of memory in 1 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 12.8 GB/s.
Intel Core i5-4278U	Characteristic	Apple A8
DDR3-1600	Memory	LPDDR3-1600
16 GB	Max. Memory	1 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	1 (Single Channel)
25.6 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	12.8 GB/s
No	ECC	No
--	L2 Cache	1.00 MB
3.00 MB	L3 Cache	4.00 MB
2.0	PCIe version	--
12	PCIe lanes	--
6.0 GB/s	PCIe Bandwidth	--
Thermal Management The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i5-4278U is 28 W, while the Apple A8 has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Intel Core i5-4278U	Characteristic	Apple A8
28 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	5 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
--	TDP down	--
100 °C	Tjunction max.	--
Technical details The Intel Core i5-4278U is manufactured in 22 nm and has 3.00 MB cache. The Apple A8 is manufactured in 20 nm and has a 5.00 MB cache.
Intel Core i5-4278U	Characteristic	Apple A8
22 nm	Technology	20 nm
Monolithic	Chip design	Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2	ISA extensions	--
BGA 1168	Socket	--
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d	Virtualization	None
Yes	AES-NI	No
Windows 10, Linux	Operating systems	iOS
Q3/2014	Release date	Q3/2014
--	Release price	--

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Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz (3.10 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks

Intel Core i5-4278U (100%)

Apple A8 (47%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks

Intel Core i5-4278U (100%)

Apple A8 (42%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz	684 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	324 (47%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz	1478 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	607 (41%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz	889 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	412 (46%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz	1869 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	588 (31%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U Intel Iris Graphics 5100 @ 1.10 GHz	704 (100%)
	Apple A8 Apple A8 @ 0.53 GHz	136 (19%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz	2839 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	1532 (54%)

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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz	647 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz	1688 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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.


	Intel Core i5-4278U 2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz	272 (100%)
	Apple A8 2C 2T @ 1.50 GHz	0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Core i5-4278U	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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