Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 vs Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and the Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 4 core processor released in Q4/2015 with the Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2021.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family Apple M series (25)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (3) CPU group Apple M1 (9)
3 Generation 1
Kryo Architecture M1
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.15 GHz. The processor can compute 4 threads at the same time. The Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) clocks with 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz), has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
4 Cores 8
4 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.15 GHz
2x Kryo
A-Core 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
6x Firestorm
1.60 GHz
2x Kryo
B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
2x Icestorm

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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
Hexagon 680 AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 11 TOPS

Internal Graphics

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.

Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU Apple M1 Pro (14 Core)
0.62 GHz GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
0.62 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.30 GHz
5 GPU Generation 1
14 nm Technology 5 nm
0 Max. displays 3
-- Compute units 224
256 Shader 1792
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 32 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.

Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU Apple M1 Pro (14 Core)
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 12 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, while the Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) supports a maximum of 32 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s enabled.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
LPDDR4-3733 Memory LPDDR5-6400
12 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
14.9 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 24.00 MB
-- L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) is 35 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 35 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 has 0.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 14 nm. The cache of Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) is at 24.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 5 nm.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Characteristic Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
14 nm Technology 5 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
-- Socket --
None Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
No AES-NI Yes
Android Operating systems macOS
Q4/2015 Release date Q3/2021
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.3 stars (3 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (194 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (17%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (8%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
344 (19%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
1768 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
903 (9%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
9996 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
367 (15%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
746 (7%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
10412 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
Qualcomm Adreno 530 @ 0.62 GHz
476 (10%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
Apple M1 Pro (14 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
4580 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
113 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
628 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
9569 (100%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
181 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
1362 (100%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
9,569 CB R23 MC @ 35 W
273 (100%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

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).
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
4C 4T @ 2.15 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU) Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
8C 8T @ 0.60 GHz
11 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)
Unknown Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021)

News and articles for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and the Apple M1 Pro (8-CPU)


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