A15 Bionic vs A12 Bionic
We compared two 6-core processors: Apple A15 Bionic (with Apple A15 GPU graphics) and A12 Bionic (Apple A12 GPU). Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.
Review
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulkan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score
Key Differences
Pros of Apple A15 Bionic
- Performs 3x better in floating-point computations
- Shows significantly better (up to 58%) AnTuTu 11 score β 1413K vs 895K
- Has a smaller size transistor (5 versus 7 nm)
- 30% higher CPU clock speed (3230 vs 2490 MHz)
- Higher GPU frequency (~19%)
- Better instruction set architecture
Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarksAnTuTu 11
| CPU | 410975 | 309104 |
| GPU | 370837 | 144993 |
| Memory | 164151 | 139578 |
| UX | 467312 | 301952 |
| Total score | 1413275 | 895627 |
| Samples | [69 tests] | Less than 3 |
GeekBench 6
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
| Asset compression | 208.1 MB/sec | 116.8 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 122.9 pages/sec | 59.4 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 139.1 Mpixels/sec | 71.7 Mpixels/sec |
| Image detection | 125.1 images/sec | 23.7 images/sec |
| HDR | 179.4 Mpixels/sec | 98.7 Mpixels/sec |
| Background blur | 22.3 images/sec | 11.2 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 53.2 images/sec | 36.1 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 6.26 Mpixels/sec | 3.49 Mpixels/sec |
| Samples | 37 tests | 5 tests |
Compute Score (GPU)
| Background blur | 35.4 images/sec | 16.1 images/sec |
| Face detection | 44.8 images/sec | 19.2 images/sec |
| Horizon detection | 0.62 Gpixels/sec | 0.26 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge detection | 0.82 Gpixels/sec | 0.39 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | 0.84 Gpixels/sec | 0.73 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature matching | 0.3 Gpixels/sec | 0.12 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | 71.1 Gpixels/sec | 24.1 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | 2198.2 FPS | 608.2 FPS |
| API | Metal | Metal |
| Samples | 19 tests | Less than 3 |
3DMark
3DMark Solar Bay
| Score | 3765 | - |
| Stability | 71% | - |
| Graphics test | 14 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 19 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 14 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 9 FPS | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Score | 2854 | 1482 |
| Stability | 76% | 65% |
| Graphics test | 17 FPS | 8 FPS |
Recent User Tests
Apple A15 Bionic
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-23 -> HotPower | AnTuTu 11 | 1184759 |
| π 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 GPU | 21284 |
| π 2026-09-19 (Vova) | AnTuTu 11 | 1297615 |
| π 2026-09-19 -> HotPower | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2423 / 5985 |
| π 2026-09-18 (charlesddd) | AnTuTu 11 | 1461749 |
Apple A12 Bionic
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-16 -> op1 | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1344 / 4757 |
| π 2026-07-31 (ΠΠΈΠΌΠ°) | AnTuTu 11 | 644981 |
| π 2026-06-27 -> USAball386 | Geekbench 6 GPU | 7868 |
| π 2026-06-27 -> USAball386 | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1306 / 2770 |
| π 2026-05-12 -> Giahuy | AnTuTu 11 | 756483 |
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of A15 Bionic and A12 BionicCPU
| Architecture | 2x 3.23 GHz β Avalanche 4x 2.02 GHz β Blizzard |
2x 2.49 GHz β Vortex 4x 1.6 GHz β Tempest |
| Cores | 6 | 6 |
| Frequency | 3230 MHz | 2490 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8.5-A | ARMv8.3-A |
| L1 cache | 256 KB | 128 KB |
| L2 cache | 12 MB | 8 MB |
| Process | 5 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Transistor count | 15 billion | 6.9 billion |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | 6 W | 6 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
Graphics
| GPU name | Apple A15 GPU | Apple A12 GPU |
| Architecture | Apple Bionic GPU | Apple Bionic GPU |
| GPU frequency | 1338 MHz | 1125 MHz |
| Pipelines | 5 | 4 |
| Shading units | 128 | 64 |
| Total shaders | 640 | 256 |
| FLOPS | 1712.6 Gigaflops | 576 Gigaflops |
AI Accelerator
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Neural Engine |
| NPU theoretical performance | 15.8 TOPS | - |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory frequency | 2133 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Bus | 4x 16 Bit | 4x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 34.1 Gb/s | 34.1 Gb/s |
| Max size | 6 GB | 4 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Max display resolution | 2732 x 2048 | 2688 x 1242 |
| Max camera resolution | - | 1x 32MP, 2x 12MP |
| Video capture | 4K at 60FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video playback | 4K at 60FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video codecs | - H.264 - H.265 - VP8 - VP9 - Motion JPEG |
- H.264 - H.265 - Motion JPEG |
| Audio codecs | - AAC - AAX - AAX+ - AC-3 - AIFF - CAF - E-AC-3 - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
- AAC - AACβLC - AAX ΠΈ AAX+ - Apple Lossless - HEβAAC - HEβAAC v2 - Linear PCM - MP3 |
Connectivity
| Modem | - | Intel XMM 7560 |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 24 | LTE Cat. 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
| Download speed | Up to 7500 Mbps | Up to 1000 Mbps |
| Upload speed | Up to 3000 Mbps | Up to 350 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi | 6 | 5 |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
Info
| Announced | September 2021 | September 2018 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | APL1W07 | APL1W81 |
| Successor | - Apple A19 Pro | - Apple A19 Pro |
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Total votes: 1028