A15 Bionic vs A13 Bionic

We compared two 6-core processors: Apple A15 Bionic (with Apple A15 GPU graphics) and A13 Bionic (Apple A13 GPU). Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.

Review

General comparison of performance, power consumption, and other indicators
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

Main differences and advantages of each chip
Pros of Apple A15 Bionic
  • Performs 2.7x better in floating-point computations
  • Shows significantly better (up to 56%) AnTuTu 10 score – 1289K vs 825K
  • Has a smaller size transistor (5 versus 7 nm)
  • Announced 2-years and 1-month later
  • 22% higher CPU clock speed (3230 vs 2650 MHz)
  • Higher GPU frequency (~9%)
  • Better instruction set architecture
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Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks

AnTuTu 10

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
A15 Bionic +56%
1289546
825230
CPU 308595 163616
GPU 391360 304908
Memory 194775 133519
UX 382905 221224
Total score 1289546 825230

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
A15 Bionic +34%
2344
1755
Multi-Core Score
A15 Bionic +38%
5750
4179
Asset compression 203.3 MB/sec 147.7 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 124.4 pages/sec 87.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 143.5 Mpixels/sec 104.2 Mpixels/sec
Image detection 130 images/sec 74 images/sec
HDR 169.9 Mpixels/sec 125.4 Mpixels/sec
Background blur 22.2 images/sec 14.3 images/sec
Photo processing 60.2 images/sec 39.3 images/sec
Ray tracing 5.93 Mpixels/sec 4.6 Mpixels/sec
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3DMark

A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Wild Life Performance
A15 Bionic +16%
8702
7532
Stability 78% 72%
Graphics test 52 FPS 45 FPS
Score 8702 7532

Gaming

Table of average FPS and graphics settings in mobile games
PUBG Mobile - 57 FPS
[Ultra]
Call of Duty: Mobile - 60 FPS
[Ultra]
Fortnite - 60 FPS
[High]
World of Tanks Blitz - 60 FPS
[Ultra]
Genshin Impact - 59 FPS
[Ultra]
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang - 60 FPS
[Ultra]
Device - Apple iPhone 11 Pro
828 x 1792
We provide average results. FPS may differ, depending on game version, OS and other factors.

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of A15 Bionic and A13 Bionic

CPU

Architecture 2x 3.23 GHz – Avalanche
4x 2.02 GHz – Blizzard
2x 2.65 GHz – Lightning
4x 1.6 GHz – Thunder
Cores 6 6
Frequency 3230 MHz 2650 MHz
Instruction set ARMv8.5-A ARMv8.4-A
L1 cache 256 KB 128 KB
L2 cache 12 MB 8 MB
Process 5 nanometers 7 nanometers
Transistor count 15 billion 8.5 billion
TDP 6 W 6 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC

Graphics

GPU name Apple A15 GPU Apple A13 GPU
Architecture Apple GPU Apple GPU
GPU frequency 1338 MHz 1230 MHz
Execution units 5 4
Shading units 128 64
Total shaders 640 256
FLOPS 1712.6 Gigaflops 629.8 Gigaflops

Memory

Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory frequency 2133 MHz 2133 MHz
Bus 4x 16 Bit 4x 16 Bit
Max bandwidth 34.1 Gbit/s 34.1 Gbit/s
Max size 6 GB 4 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Neural processor (NPU) Neural Engine Neural Engine
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Max display resolution 2732 x 2048 2688 x 1242
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, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV, AC-3, E-AC-3, AAX, AAX+ AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV, AC-3, E-AC-3, AAX, AAX+

Connectivity

4G support LTE Cat. 24 LTE Cat. 18
5G support Yes No
Download speed Up to 7500 Mbps Up to 1200 Mbps
Upload speed Up to 3000 Mbps Up to 350 Mbps
Wi-Fi 6 6
Bluetooth 5.0 5.0
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo

Info

Announced September 2021 September 2019
Class Flagship Flagship
Model number APL1W07 -

Cast your vote

So, which SoC would you choose?
1263 (66.4%)
638 (33.6%)
Total votes: 1901

Comments

Please give your opinion on the comparison of A13 Bionic and A15 Bionic, or ask any questions
Avatar
Sn0wE 25 October 2021 19:37
Don't see why Apple didn't put a 50MP camera to shoot 8K they have a huge jump over Snapdragon 888+ and yet most Androids can shoot 8K, I guess you could call this an *Apple moment*
+31 Reply
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Putin Kaput 13 March 2022 03:34
What for? Do you watch movies in 8K? Do you know anyone capable to do that? Your eye will recognize the difference between 4K and 8K? — 3D is the next step for the future. But not on iPad, I think.
+15 Reply
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Cherry Poppins 22 March 2022 11:38
I would actually prefer the ability to shoot 4k 4:4:4 chroma subsampled 30fps on the iPhone than the 8k 4:2:0 30fps on androids. This is just because if you uploaded the footage in YouTube, it would result in a higher quality 4k video (after Youtube compression) while 8k video on YouTube is practically unplayable on a lot of devices. Granted 8k TVs are becoming pretty inexpensive, so we might start seeing some TV shows coming out in 8k on Netflix and such (tv-shows without CGI). It will still take some time for 8k to become mainstream due to the diminishing returns; we essentially need bigger TVs (75in) to be able to see a difference in quality from 4k. And this only applies if you sit relatively close to the TV. If you want to see a difference from 4k at average viewing distances, you need an 85in or larger TV.
+4 Reply
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Leon 24 September 2021 10:19
Are people just voting the a13 because they own that one?
+55 Reply
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Tom 19 December 2021 19:43
I think so, A15 is 100% better than A13
+24 Reply
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Kamren 27 December 2021 10:21
Tom, The A15 good sir is 30% better. Translated into a real-life scenario, 10 fps faster in games:)
+22 Reply
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cheese 12 March 2022 23:55
Kamren, true... A15 is still powerful but I think the SE 3 is still worth it unless we go for the iPhone 13...
+10 Reply
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A13 thick boy 23 February 2023 12:55
Why not? 😅 in fact I’m writing this comment on my very own iPhone 11. 😌 I don’t care about the A15 bionic since I can’t afford it anyways. But until then, the A13 Bionic remains my chipset of choice after the Snapdragon 865 & 870. I wouldn’t go near the Snapdragon 888 chipset since that thing burns like the surface of the sun. 😂
+1 Reply
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A13 thickboy 23 February 2023 12:57
cheese, There aren’t that many people who care about the iPhone SE except my grandma.
0 Reply
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Joey 22 September 2021 14:28
There are no 5G towers around, New iPhones have to go back to LTE
+23 Reply
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Theo Bestest 17 September 2021 05:57
I will always go for the lower number. Savvy like that.
+29 Reply
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