Apple S8 vs Apple A12 Bionic

Apple S8

The Apple S8 is a 64-Bit dual core processor for the Apple Watch Series 8. It integrates a GPU, 32 GB flash memory, Bluetooth 5.0, 1 GB RAM, 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi and satellite positioning (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS). According to Apple the SiP has two CPU cores based on the Apple A13 and offers 20% more performance than the old Apple S5 in the Watch Series 5. It looks like the S8 is technically identical with the Apple S6 and S7 (same model number of t8301).

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.