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Intel Core Ultra 7 255U vs Apple A18
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Summary
The Apple A18 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 255U are mobile processors for different ecosystems: the A18 for Apple's high-end mobile devices, the Ultra 7 255U for thin "U"-series Windows laptops.
Both aim for efficiency and performance, with the Ultra 7 additionally focusing on AI acceleration. Both CPUs are manufactured using the 3 nm fabrication process. The Apple A18 (Codename: Donan) features 20 MB L2 and 24 MB L3 cache. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255U (Codename: Meteor Lake U Refresh) uses a hybrid architecture with 12 MB L2 cache.
The single-core performance of the Apple A18 is clearly superior, while multi-core applications offer comparable performance. For gaming, both are equipped with integrated graphics units: Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores) and Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake). The Apple A18 benefits from the ecosystem and the Metal API.
Intel Iris Xe Graphics offers solid performance for casual games, supported by a higher memory bandwidth of 134 GB/s (A18: 60 GB/s). Regarding power consumption and TDP, both are designed for maximum energy efficiency in mobile devices. Apple processors are known for their efficiency, Intel's "U"-series for low power consumption.
A direct price-performance comparison is difficult, as the A18 is part of an Apple device and the Ultra 7 255U influences the laptop price.
Both aim for efficiency and performance, with the Ultra 7 additionally focusing on AI acceleration. Both CPUs are manufactured using the 3 nm fabrication process. The Apple A18 (Codename: Donan) features 20 MB L2 and 24 MB L3 cache. The Intel Core Ultra 7 255U (Codename: Meteor Lake U Refresh) uses a hybrid architecture with 12 MB L2 cache.
The single-core performance of the Apple A18 is clearly superior, while multi-core applications offer comparable performance. For gaming, both are equipped with integrated graphics units: Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores) and Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake). The Apple A18 benefits from the ecosystem and the Metal API.
Intel Iris Xe Graphics offers solid performance for casual games, supported by a higher memory bandwidth of 134 GB/s (A18: 60 GB/s). Regarding power consumption and TDP, both are designed for maximum energy efficiency in mobile devices. Apple processors are known for their efficiency, Intel's "U"-series for low power consumption.
A direct price-performance comparison is difficult, as the A18 is part of an Apple device and the Ultra 7 255U influences the laptop price.
Apple A18
- Strong single-core performance
- High energy efficiency
- Optimized performance within the Apple ecosystem
- Robust integrated graphics for mobile gaming
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U
- Comparable multi-core performance
- Good performance for productivity
- Solid integrated graphics with higher memory bandwidth
- AI acceleration for specific workloads
Benchmarks
Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks
Single-core performance
Multi-core performance
Geekbench 6 Single-Core
Single-core performance
12C / 14T · 5.20 GHz
Apple A18
100 %
6C / 6T · 4.04 GHz
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
12C / 14T · 2.00 GHz
Apple A18
100 %
6C / 6T · 4.04 GHz
iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)
Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake)
Apple A18
100 %
Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores)
AI performance (NPU)
12C / 14T · 2.00 GHz
Apple A18
100 %
6C / 6T · 0.70 GHz
More benchmarks
Specifications
At a glance
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Intel Core Ultra 7 (31) | Apple A series (27) |
| CPU group | Intel Core Ultra 200U (4) | Apple A18 (2) |
| Architecture | Meteor Lake U Refresh | Donan |
| Technology | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| Segment | Notebook | Smartphone / Tablet |
| Socket | BGA 2049 | |
| Predecessor | Intel Core Ultra 7 155U | Apple A16 Bionic |
| Successor | Apple A19 |
CPU Cores and Base Frequency
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores / Threads | 12 / 14 | 6 / 6 |
| Hyperthreading / SMT | ✓ | ✗ |
| Core architecture | hybrid (big.LITTLE) | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| Core Cluster 1: | 2x Redwood Cove 2.00 - 5.20 GHz |
2x Donan P-Core 0.70 - 4.04 GHz |
| Core Cluster 2: | 8x Crestmont 1.70 - 4.20 GHz |
4x Donan E-Core 0.74 - 2.30 GHz |
| Core Cluster 3: | 2x Crestmont 0.70 - 2.40 GHz |
|
| L2-Cache | 12.00 MB | 20.00 MB |
| L3-Cache | 24.00 MB | |
| Overclocking | ✗ | ✗ |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU name | Intel Iris Xe 4 Core Graphics 64 EUs (Meteor Lake) | Apple A18 (5 GPU Cores) |
| GPU frequency | 0.60 - 2.10 GHz | 0.39 - 1.68 GHz |
| CUs / Shader | 64 / 512 | 20 / 640 |
| Raytracing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Max. displays | 4 | 1 |
| Max. GPU Memory | 32 GB | 8 GB |
| Technology | 5 nm | 3 nm |
| Release date | Q4/2023 | Q3/2024 |
NPU AI performance
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| AI hardware | Intel® AI Boost | Apple Neural Engine |
| AI specifications | Intel AI Boost @ 1.4 GHz (OpenVINO, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT) | 16 Neural cores @ 38 TOPS |
| NPU + CPU + iGPU |
Memory & PCIe
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | LPDDR5X-8400 (134.4 GB/s) DDR5-6400 (102.4 GB/s) | LPDDR5X-7500 (60.0 GB/s) |
| Max. Memory | 128 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory channels | 2 | 1 |
| ECC | No | No |
| PCIe | 4.0 x 20 | |
| PCIe Bandwidth | 39.4 GB/s |
Thermal Management
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 15 W | 12 W |
| TDP (PL2) | 57 W | |
| TDP up | ||
| TDP down | 12 W | |
| T. junction max. | 105 °C |
Technical details
|
Wischen
|
Intel Core Ultra 7 255U | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip design | Chiplet | Chiplet |
| AES-NI | ✓ | ✗ |
| Operating systems | Windows 11, Linux | iOS |
| Instruction set | x86-64 (64 bit) | Armv9-A (64 bit) |
| ISA extensions | SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 | |
| Release date | Q1/2025 | Q3/2024 |
| Release price | ||
| Documents | Technical data sheet |
User Reviews
Your rating
Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Intel Core Ultra 7 255U is 2.4 stars (90 ratings), while Apple A18 has received 4.1 stars (225 ratings).
Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.
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