M5 (iPad) vs A20 Pro

We compared the 10-core Apple M5 (iPad) (custom) with the newer 6-core A20 Pro (Apple A20 Pro GPU) SoC. 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 M5 (iPad)
  • Has 4 more cores
  • Performs 43% better in floating-point computations
  • Supports 33% higher memory bandwidth (153 against 115.2 GB/s)
Pros of Apple A20 Pro
  • Has a smaller size transistor (2 versus 3 nm)
  • 7% higher CPU clock speed (4930 vs 4610 MHz)
  • Better instruction set architecture

Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks
SoC:
vs

AnTuTu 11

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
3396957
A20 Pro +1%
3434654
CPU 965229 879839
GPU 1313129 1407166
Memory 458312 418755
UX 660296 728894
Total score 3396957 3434654
Samples [3 tests] Less than 3

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
4193
A20 Pro +14%
4772
Multi-Core Score
M5 (iPad) +23%
15913
12989
Asset compression 576.8 MB/sec -
HTML 5 Browser 374.9 pages/sec -
PDF Renderer 380 Mpixels/sec -
Image detection 452.7 images/sec -
HDR 549.3 Mpixels/sec -
Background blur 55 images/sec -
Photo processing 161.4 images/sec -
Ray tracing 18.3 Mpixels/sec -
Samples 4 tests -
Compute Score (GPU)
M5 (iPad) +38%
76009
55120
Background blur 153 images/sec -
Face detection 177.6 images/sec -
Horizon detection 2.22 Gpixels/sec -
Edge detection 2.84 Gpixels/sec -
Gaussian blur 5.76 Gpixels/sec -
Feature matching 0.95 Gpixels/sec -
Stereo matching 188 Gpixels/sec -
Particle physics 6580.5 FPS -
API Metal -
Samples 4 tests -

3DMark

A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
4104
A20 Pro +4%
4263
Score 4104 4263
Stability 71% -
Graphics test 30 FPS -
3DMark Solar Bay
17310
A20 Pro +3%
17850
Score 17310 17850
Graphics test 66 FPS -
Section 1 88 FPS -
Section 2 63 FPS -
Section 3 46 FPS -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
n/a
9024
Score - 9024

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M5 (iPad)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-09 (patrick)AnTuTu 113511739
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-12 (LBWNB)AnTuTu 113396957
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-17 -> LiberoGeekbench 6 GPU76909
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-17 -> LiberoGeekbench 6 CPU4193 / 15913
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-06 (Toxicaliv)Geekbench 6 GPU76009
Apple A20 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-25 -> LiberoGeekbench 6 CPU4707 / 12705
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-25 -> LiberoGeekbench 6 GPU65077
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-24 (Ianzzzz)AnTuTu 113659652
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-20 (ThΓ©o's)AnTuTu 113428810
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-12 (hiya)Geekbench 6 GPU64915

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of M5 (iPad) and A20 Pro

CPU

Architecture 4x 4.61 GHz –
6x 2.95 GHz –
2x 4.93 GHz –
4x 2.64 GHz –
Cores 10 6
Frequency 4610 MHz 4930 MHz
Instruction set ARMv9.2-A ARMv9.4-A
L1 cache 192 KB 192 KB
L2 cache 16 MB 16 MB
Process 3 nanometers 2 nanometers
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC

Graphics

GPU name - Apple A20 Pro GPU
Architecture - Apple A GPU
GPU frequency 1620 MHz 1620 MHz
Pipelines - 7
Shading units - 128
Total shaders - 896
FLOPS 4147.2 Gigaflops 2903 Gigaflops

AI Accelerator

Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine

Memory

Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory frequency 4800 MHz 4800 MHz
Bus 8x 16 Bit 3x 32 Bit
Max bandwidth 153 Gb/s 115.2 Gb/s
Max size 24 GB 12 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Storage type NVMe NVMe
Max display resolution 2752 x 2064 -
Max camera resolution - 3x 48MP
Video capture 4K at 60FPS 4K at 120FPS
Video playback 4K at 60FPS 4K at 120FPS
Video codecs - H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP9
- H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP8
- VP9
- Motion JPEG
Audio codecs - AAC
- AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV
- AAC
- AAX
- AAX+
- AC-3
- AIFF
- CAF
- E-AC-3
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV

Connectivity

Modem C1X Apple C2
4G support LTE Cat. 24 -
5G support Yes Yes
Wi-Fi 7 7
Bluetooth 6.0 6.0
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC

Info

Announced October 2025 September 2026
Class Flagship Flagship
Model number T8142 APL1Y01

Cast your vote

So, which SoC would you choose?
42 (67.7%)
20 (32.3%)
Total votes: 62

Comments

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