Apple A12 Bionic Benchmark, Test and specs
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The Apple A12 Bionic has 6 cores with 6 threads and is based on the 12. gen of the Apple A series series. The processor was released in Q3/2018. The Apple A12 Bionic scores 1,116 points in the Geekbench 5 single-core benchmark. In the Geekbench 5 multi-core benchmark, the result is 2,731 points.
| Name: | Apple A12 Bionic |
|---|---|
| Family: | Apple A series (22) |
| CPU group: | Apple A12/A12X/A12Z (3) |
| Architecture: | A12 |
| Segment: | Mobile |
| Generation: | 12 |
| Predecessor: | Apple A11 Bionic |
| Successor: | Apple A13 Bionic |
CPU Cores and Base Frequency
The Apple A12 Bionic has 6 CPU cores and can calculate 6 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple A12 Bionic is 2.49 GHz. The number of CPU cores greatly affects the speed of the processor and is an important performance indicator.
| CPU Cores / Threads: | 6 / 6 |
|---|---|
| Core architecture: | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| A-Core: | 2x Vortex |
| B-Core: | 4x Tempest |
| Hyperthreading / SMT: | No |
|---|---|
| Overclocking: | No |
| A-Core Frequency: | 2.49 GHz |
| B-Core Frequency: | 1.59 GHz |
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.
| AI hardware: | Apple Neural Engine |
|---|---|
| AI specifications: | 8 Neural cores @ 5 TOPS |
Internal Graphics
The Apple A12 Bionic has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. Specifically, the Apple A12 Bionic uses the Apple A12, which has 256 texture shaders and 16 execution units. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
| GPU name: | Apple A12 |
|---|---|
| GPU frequency: | 1.13 GHz |
| GPU (Turbo): | No turbo |
| Compute units: | 16 |
| Shader: | 256 |
| Hardware Raytracing: | No |
| Release date: | Q3/2018 |
| Max. displays: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Generation: | 9 |
| Direct X: | -- |
| Technology: | 7 nm |
| Max. GPU Memory: | 4 GB |
| Frame Generation: | No |
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.
| h265 / HEVC (8 bit): | Decode / Encode |
|---|---|
| h265 / HEVC (10 bit): | Decode / Encode |
| h264: | Decode / Encode |
| VP8: | Decode / Encode |
| VP9: | Decode / Encode |
| AV1: | No |
|---|---|
| AVC: | Decode |
| VC-1: | Decode |
| JPEG: | Decode / Encode |
Memory & PCIeThe processor can use up to 4 GB memory in 1 (Single Channel) memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 34.1 GB/s. The memory type as well as the amount of memory can greatly affect the speed of the system. |
|
| Memory type: | Memory bandwidth: |
|---|---|
| LPDDR4X-4266 | 34.1 GB/s |
| Max. Memory: | 4 GB |
| Memory channels: | 1 (Single Channel) |
| ECC: | No |
| PCIe: | |
| PCIe Bandwidth: | -- |
Thermal ManagementThe thermal design power (TDP for short) of the processor is 6 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently. The TDP usually gives a rough idea of the actual power consumption of the CPU. |
|
|---|---|
| TDP (PL1 / PBP): | 6 W |
| TDP (PL2): | -- |
| TDP up: | -- |
| TDP down: | -- |
| Tjunction max.: | -- |
Technical details
The Apple A12 Bionic is made in 7 nm. The smaller the manufacturing process of a CPU, the more modern and energy-efficient it is. Overall, the processor has 8.00 MB cache. A large cache can greatly speed up the processor's speed in some cases such as games.
| Technology: | 7 nm |
|---|---|
| Chip design: | Chiplet |
| Socket: | -- |
| L2-Cache: | 8.00 MB |
| L3-Cache: | -- |
| AES-NI: | No |
| Operating systems: | iOS |
| Virtualization: | None |
|---|---|
| Instruction set (ISA): | Armv8-A (64 bit) |
| ISA extensions: | -- |
| Release date: | Q3/2018 |
| Release price: | -- |
| Part Number: | -- |
| Documents: | -- |
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Benchmark results
The benchmark results for the Apple A12 Bionic have been carefully checked by us. We only publish benchmark results that have been created by us or that have been submitted by a visitor and then checked by a team member. All results are based on and fullfill our benchmark guidelines.
Screenshots:
Screenshots:
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.
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Intel Core i5-9400H
4C 8T @ 4.30 GHz |
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Intel Core i7-10510U
4C 8T @ 4.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i7-9850HE
6C 12T @ 4.40 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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Intel Core i7-6850K
6C 12T @ 3.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-1035G4
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-1035G7
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz |
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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.
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Intel Core i5-3550
4C 4T @ 3.30 GHz |
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Intel Core i7-3612QE
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz |
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Intel Core i7-4700HQ
4C 8T @ 3.00 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-4460
4C 4T @ 3.30 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-8365UE
4C 8T @ 2.60 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-7500T
4C 4T @ 3.10 GHz |
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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.
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Intel Core i5-9300H
4C 8T @ 4.10 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-9300HF
4C 8T @ 4.10 GHz |
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AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
6C 12T @ 4.20 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-8265U
4C 8T @ 3.90 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-10100TE
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz |
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Intel Xeon Gold 5122
4C 8T @ 3.70 GHz |
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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.
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Intel Core i3-6100
2C 4T @ 3.70 GHz |
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Apple A10X Fusion
6C 6T @ 2.36 GHz |
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Intel Core i7-7600U
2C 4T @ 3.90 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-6300T
2C 4T @ 3.30 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-6098P
2C 4T @ 3.60 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8145U
2C 4T @ 2.80 GHz |
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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.
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AMD GX-217GI
AMD Radeon R6E @ 0.76 GHz |
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AMD A8-7670K
AMD Radeon R7 - 384 (Kaveri) @ 0.76 GHz |
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AMD A10-9620P
AMD Radeon R5 - 384 (Bristol Ridge) @ 0.76 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
Apple A12 @ 1.13 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-14100T
Intel UHD Graphics 730 @ 1.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-14100
Intel UHD Graphics 730 @ 1.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-13100TE
Intel UHD Graphics 730 @ 1.50 GHz |
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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.
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.
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MediaTek Dimensity 1000L
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz |
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MediaTek Dimensity 1000C
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz |
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MediaTek Dimensity 820
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz |
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HiSilicon Kirin 985 5G
8C 8T @ 2.58 GHz |
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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.
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Intel Core i3-7320
2C 4T @ 4.10 GHz |
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Intel Xeon Bronze 3204
6C 6T @ 1.90 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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Intel Core i5-7442EQ
4C 4T @ 2.10 GHz |
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Intel Xeon D-1518
4C 8T @ 2.20 GHz |
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MediaTek Dimensity 900
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz |
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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).
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 765
8C 8T @ 2.30 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G
8C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Apple A12 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.49 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2
8C 8T @ 2.55 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz |
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G
8C 8T @ 2.30 GHz |
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Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,488 entries
2,488 entries
Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,461 entries
2,461 entries
Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,754 entries
1,754 entries
Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,702 entries
1,702 entries
FP32 SP (iGPU)
2,026 entries
2,026 entries
AnTuTu 8 Benchmark
118 entries
118 entries
PassMark CPU-Mark
2,391 entries
2,391 entries
AI / ML Performance
116 entries
116 entries
Description of the processor
The Apple A12 Bionic processor commissioned by Apple is manufactured by the Taiwanese company TSMC using the 7-nanometer FinFET process. It was first installed in the iPhone XR and iPhone XS, which were launched in the third quarter of 2018. In 2019 it was also installed in the new third-generation iPad Air and in the fifth-generation iPad Mini. The Apple A14 Bionic came onto the market in 2020, but the 8th generation standard iPad was then given the Apple A12 Bionic again.The Apple A12 Bionic consists of 2 high-performance cores (Vortex) and 4 efficiency cores (Tempest). The Vortex cores clock at up to 2.49 gigahertz and the Tempest cores at up to 1.59 gigahertz. Due to the hybrid processor design, the Apple A12 Bionic is very efficient, since the built-in high-performance cores are only used for really computing-intensive tasks. The six cores of the Apple A12 Bionic cannot be overclocked, nor does the processor have hyperthreading.
The Apple A12 Bionics own graphics are made up of 32 execution units and 256 shaders. Like the processor, it is manufactured with a structure width of 7 nanometers, has a fixed clock rate of 1.13 gigahertz and thus achieves an FP32 computing power (single precision) of 576 gigaFLOPS.
LPDDR4X-4266 type RAM is installed in the Apple A12 Bionic. In the Apple A12 Bionic, this main memory achieves a maximum bandwidth of 34.1 gigabits per second. the maximum size of the RAM with which the Apple A12 Bionic is equipped is 4 gigabytes and is used in the iPhone XS.
In the Geekbench 5 benchmark, the Apple A12 Bionic achieves a single-core value of 1116 points and a multi-core value of 2731 points.
On our partner site www.check-mac.com you will find an overview of all Apple devices with the Apple A12 Bionic: www.check-mac.com/de/cpu-apple_a12_bionic
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