Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 vs Apple A14 Bionic

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A14 Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Apple A14 Bionic

CPU comparison

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or Apple A14 Bionic - 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.84 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 was released in Q1/2021.

The Apple A14 Bionic has 6 cores with 6 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 6 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Apple A14 Bionic was released in Q3/2020.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family Apple A series (22)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (2) CPU group Apple A14 (1)
8 Generation 14
Kryo 680 Architecture A14 (Firestorm/Icestorm)
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A13 Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Successor Apple A15 Bionic (5-GPU)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is 2.84 GHz while the Apple A14 Bionic has 6 CPU cores and 6 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple A14 Bionic is at 3.00 GHz.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Characteristic Apple A14 Bionic
8 Cores 6
8 Threads 6
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.84 GHz
1x Kryo 680 Prime
A-Core 3.00 GHz
2x Firestorm
2.42 GHz
3x Kryo 680 Gold
B-Core 1.82 GHz
4x Icestorm
1.80 GHz
4x Kryo 680 Silver
C-Core --

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 888 Characteristic Apple A14 Bionic
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
Hexagon 780 @ 26 TOPS AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 11 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or Apple A14 Bionic 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.

Qualcomm Adreno 660 GPU Apple A14
0.84 GHz GPU frequency 1.46 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
6 GPU Generation 11
5 nm Technology 5 nm
0 Max. displays 3
-- Compute units 16
-- Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 6 GB
12.1 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 660 GPU Apple A14
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 / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 can use up to 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 51.2 GB/s. The Apple A14 Bionic supports up to 6 GB of memory in 1 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 34.1 GB/s.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Characteristic Apple A14 Bionic
LPDDR5-6400 Memory LPDDR4X-4266
16 GB Max. Memory 6 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
51.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s
No ECC No
1.00 MB L2 Cache 12.00 MB
8.00 MB L3 Cache 16.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is --, while the Apple A14 Bionic has a TDP of 7.25 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Characteristic Apple A14 Bionic
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 7.25 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is manufactured in 5 nm and has 9.00 MB cache. The Apple A14 Bionic is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 28.00 MB cache.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Characteristic Apple A14 Bionic
5 nm Technology 5 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems iOS
Q1/2021 Release date Q3/2020
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.2 stars (11 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple A14 Bionic to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.0 stars (7 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
1088 (68%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
1590 (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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
3250 (77%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
4247 (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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
1174 (57%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
2072 (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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
3151 (67%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
4689 (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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Qualcomm Adreno 660 @ 0.84 GHz
1720 (100%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
Apple A14 @ 1.46 GHz
749 (44%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
816812 (100%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
729968 (89%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
715600 (100%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
628047 (88%)

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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
6125 (72%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
8514 (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 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
26 (100%)
Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic
6C 6T @ 3.00 GHz
11 (42%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Apple A14 Bionic
ASUS Zenfone 8 mini Apple iPhone 12 mini
Apple iPhone 12
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
Apple iPad Air (4. Gen)

Comparison of the two processors

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is a mobile processor for high-end smartphones or tablets. It has 8 CPU cores, one of which is clocked a little higher as the so-called "Prime Core". This core is intended for high load scenarios and shows its advantages especially when only one CPU core can be loaded. In multi-core scenarios, this CPU core calculates with the other cores.

The base clock frequency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is 1.8 GHz, with turbo mode 2.84 GHz (Prime Core only) or 2.4 GHz. The structure of the CPU cores is also referred to as "hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)".

Apple's A14 Bionic processor uses a similar structure. However, it only has 6 CPU cores. The processor does not have a "Prime Core", but its two high-performance cores are stronger than the "Prime Core" of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Therefore, the Apple A14 Bionic achieves an unmatched performance for mobile devices in single-core scenarios.

A Qualcomm Adreno 660 is used as the iGPU (internal graphic) in the Snapdragon 888. The Apple A14 uses its own GPU. This already supports the new and free AV1 video codec, which is used by YouTube and Netflix, among others, and is intended to replace Google's VP8 / 9 video codec as well as the h.265 / HEVC.

Both processors can handle LPDDR4X-4266 memory, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 can also use the newer LPDDR5-3200 memory. While the Snapdragon 888 has an 8 MB level 3 cache, Apple's A14 processor has a slightly different structure and uses 4 MB level 2 cache.

The mobile processors are both manufactured in a 5 nm manufacturing process and are both very energy-efficient. Both processors use the ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) instruction set and run under Android or Apple's iOS operating system.

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