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Apple A16 Bionic vs Apple A12 Bionic

Apple A16 Bionic

► remove from comparison Apple A16

The Apple A16 Bionic is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the iPhone 14 Pro (2022) models. It offers 6 cores divided in two performance cores (codename Everest, up to 3.46 GHz) and four power-efficiency cores (codename Sawtooth, up to 2.02). According to Apple, the most improvements were made to the efficiency cores and the improved memory bandwidth (+50% thanks to LPDDR5). According to the die analysis from angstronomics, the e-core cluster still has the same 4 MB L2 cache, but the p-cores now offer 16 MB L2 cache. The SLC (System Level Cache) however seems to be reduced to 24 MB.

The Neural Engine still offers 16 cores and offers an increased performance of 17 TOPS (vs. 15.8 of the A15) for AI tasks. The integrated graphics engine still offers 5 cores and benefits mostly from the higher memory bandwidth. The new display engine supports adaptive refresh rates down to 1 Hz, the new always-on display, and improved anti-aliasing (for the dynamic island animations).

The CPU performance only shows small improvements to the last generation (Apple A15 Bionic). Still, the A16 is by far the fastest mobile CPU for smartphones and leaves e.g. the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 easily behind (in Geekbench 5.4 single- and multi-thread tests).

The chip is manufactured on the modern 4nm process at TSMC and integrates nearly 16 billion transistors (compared to the 15.8 billion of the A15 and 11.8 of the A14). Apple emphasized on efficiency and e.g. mentioned 20% power savings for the big performance cores and class-leading efficiency of the e-cores.

Apple A12 Bionic

► remove from comparison Apple A12 Bionic

The Apple A12 Bionic is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the iPhone Xs and Xr. It was announced late 2018 and offers 6 cores divided in 2 performance cores and four power efficiency cores. Compared to the previous A11 Bionic, the A12 should offer a 15% improved CPU performance for the performance cores and a 50% lower power consumption for the efficiency cores (both according to Apple).

The chip also includes a new GPU that is advertised as 50% faster, the M12 Motion co-processor and a Neural Engine with 8 cores for up to 5 trillion operations per second.

With 6.9 billion transistors, the A12 Bionic is a big chip especially compared to the Snapdragon 835 (3 Billion) or a Skylake desktop quad-core Soc (1.75 Billion). Compared to the A11, the A12 integrates 60% more transistors.

ModelApple A16 BionicApple A12 Bionic
CodenameCrete
SeriesApple Apple A-SeriesApple Apple A-Series
Clock2020 - 3460 MHz <=2490 MHz
L2 Cache20 MB8 MB
L3 Cache24 MB
Cores / Threads6 / 66 / 6
Transistors16000 Million6900 Million
Technology4 nm7 nm
FeaturesARMv8 Instruction Set, Machine Learning Controller, 16-Core Neural Engine, Secure Enclave, Advanced Image Signal ProcessorARMv8 Instruction Set
iGPUApple A16 GPU 5-CoreApple A12 Bionic GPU
ArchitectureARMARM
Announced
Series: Apple A-Series
Apple A18 Pro compare - 4 GHz6 / 6 cores
Apple A18 compare - 3.8 GHz6 / 6 cores
Apple A15 Bionic compare2.02 - 3.23 GHz6 / 6 cores32 MB L3
Apple A12 Bionic « - 2.49 GHz6 / 6 cores
Apple A6x compare1.4 GHzcores
Apple A6 compare1 GHzcores
L1 Cache256 KB

Benchmarks

3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Physics
min: 27400     avg: 27548     median: 27547 (23%)     max: 27717 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited Physics
min: 2723     avg: 3064     median: 3056 (29%)     max: 3347 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Sling Shot (ES 3.0) Unlimited Physics
min: 2880     avg: 3129     median: 2961 (34%)     max: 3493 Points
Geekbench 6.4 - Geekbench 6.4 Single-Core
100%
A16 +
min: 2465     avg: 2574     median: 2566 (64%)     max: 2644 Points
1325 Points (33%)
Geekbench 6.4 - Geekbench 6.4 Multi-Core
100%
A16 +
min: 5939     avg: 6448     median: 6673 (26%)     max: 6923 Points
2850 Points (11%)
Geekbench 6.0 - Geekbench 6.0 Single-Core
100%
1 A16 +
2531 Points (80%)
Geekbench 6.0 - Geekbench 6.0 Multi-Core
100%
1 A16 +
6460 Points (27%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.5 64 Bit Single-Core
100%
A16 +
min: 1878     avg: 1882     median: 1883 (74%)     max: 1885 Points
min: 1116     avg: 1118     median: 1117.5 (44%)     max: 1119 Points
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.5 64 Bit Multi-Core
100%
A16 +
min: 4688     avg: 5273     median: 5433 (10%)     max: 5538 Points
min: 2772     avg: 2815     median: 2814.5 (5%)     max: 2857 Points
Geekbench 5.0 - Geekbench 5.0 64 Bit Single-Core
1118 Points (5%)
Geekbench 5.0 - Geekbench 5.0 64 Bit Multi-Core
2910 Points (9%)
Geekbench 4.4 - Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 64 Bit Single-Core
min: 4750     avg: 4779     median: 4774 (48%)     max: 4824 Points
Geekbench 4.4 - Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
min: 11244     avg: 11418     median: 11480 (11%)     max: 11598 Points
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
100%
A16 +
min: 411.4     avg: 462.6     median: 469.9 (1%)     max: 506 ms
min: 603     avg: 627     median: 626.5 (1%)     max: 653 ms
Sunspider - Sunspider 1.0 Total Score *
100%
1 A16 +
min: 55.7     avg: 56.2     median: 56.2 (1%)     max: 56.7 ms
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
100%
A16 +
min: 68554     avg: 73020     median: 74261 (56%)     max: 75718 Points
min: 41367     avg: 42312     median: 42333.5 (32%)     max: 43280 Points
WebXPRT 4 - WebXPRT 4 Score
100%
1 A16 +
min: 201     avg: 213     median: 202 (55%)     max: 236 Points
WebXPRT 3 - WebXPRT 3 Score
100%
A16 +
min: 286     avg: 288.3     median: 287.5 (52%)     max: 292 Points
min: 155     avg: 159.5     median: 159.5 (29%)     max: 166 Points
AnTuTu v7 - AnTuTu v7 MEM
min: 7312     avg: 9998     median: 10135.5 (31%)     max: 12409 Points
AnTuTu v7 - AnTuTu v7 UX
min: 59570     avg: 65177     median: 66701 (82%)     max: 67735 Points
AnTuTu v7 - AnTuTu v7 GPU
min: 129473     avg: 147840     median: 151931 (47%)     max: 158023 Points
AnTuTu v7 - AnTuTu v7 CPU
min: 106600     avg: 124761     median: 127986 (78%)     max: 136472 Points
AnTuTu v7 - AnTuTu v7 Total Score
min: 302955     avg: 347775     median: 358800 (63%)     max: 370545 Points
AnTuTu v8 - AnTuTu v8 UX
min: 71574     avg: 71607     median: 71606.5 (60%)     max: 71639 Points
AnTuTu v8 - AnTuTu v8 MEM
min: 45962     avg: 56767     median: 56767 (46%)     max: 67572 Points
AnTuTu v8 - AnTuTu v8 GPU
min: 166588     avg: 170290     median: 170290 (31%)     max: 173992 Points
AnTuTu v8 - AnTuTu v8 CPU
min: 98561     avg: 122385     median: 122385 (44%)     max: 146209 Points
AnTuTu v8 - AnTuTu v8 Total Score
min: 411764     avg: 421049     median: 421048 (41%)     max: 430333 Points
Antutu v9 - AnTuTu v9 Total Score
100%
A16 +
min: 949107     avg: 1066570     median: 971870 (47%)     max: 1373450 Points
549549 Points (27%)
Antutu v9 - AnTuTu v9 CPU
100%
A16 +
min: 245636     avg: 275383     median: 246294 (61%)     max: 363306 Points
129427 Points (32%)
Antutu v10 - AnTuTu v10 Total Score
100%
1 A16 +
min: 1388870     avg: 1413010     median: 1399540 (46%)     max: 1464080 Points
Antutu v10 - AnTuTu v10 CPU
100%
1 A16 +
min: 364610     avg: 375815     median: 374190 (11%)     max: 390270 Points
PassMark PerformanceTest Mobile V1 - PerformanceTest Mobile V1 CPU Tests
100%
A16 +
10812 Points (1%)
min: 482773     avg: 486852     median: 486197 (64%)     max: 491585 Points
CrossMark - CrossMark Overall
100%
1 A16 +
min: 1260     avg: 1307     median: 1329 (50%)     max: 1332 Points
Power Consumption - Geekbench 5.5 Power Consumption 150cd *
100%
1 A16 +
min: 3.48     avg: 4.3     median: 3.7 (2%)     max: 6.25 Watt
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption 150cd 1min *
100%
1 A16 +
min: 0.776     avg: 1.3     median: 0.9 (1%)     max: 2.87 Watt

Average Benchmarks Apple A16 Bionic → 100% n=10

Average Benchmarks Apple A12 Bionic → 500% n=10

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
red legend - Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

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v1.33
log 29. 00:50:20

#0 ran 0s before starting gpusingle class +0s ... 0s

#1 checking url part for id 14602 +0s ... 0s

#2 checking url part for id 10166 +0s ... 0s

#3 redirected to Ajax server, took 1753743020s time from redirect:0 +0s ... 0s

#4 did not recreate cache, as it is less than 5 days old! Created at Mon, 28 Jul 2025 05:17:35 +0200 +0s ... 0s

#5 composed specs +0.004s ... 0.004s

#6 did output specs +0s ... 0.004s

#7 getting avg benchmarks for device 14602 +0.001s ... 0.004s

#8 got single benchmarks 14602 +0.007s ... 0.011s

#9 getting avg benchmarks for device 10166 +0s ... 0.012s

#10 got single benchmarks 10166 +0.002s ... 0.014s

#11 got avg benchmarks for devices +0s ... 0.014s

#12 min, max, avg, median took s +0.012s ... 0.026s

#13 return log +0s ... 0.026s

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Benchmarks / Tech > Processor Comparison - Head 2 Head
Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)