Apple A12 Bionic vs HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G

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CPU comparison with benchmarks

-VS-

CPU lineage

Apple A12 Bionic or Apple A12 Bionic – which processor offers superior performance? In this comparison, we examine disparities and assess which of these two CPUs outperforms the other. We delve into technical specifications and benchmark outcomes.
The Apple A12 Bionic features 6 processor cores and has the capability to manage 6 threads concurrently.
It was released in Q3/2018 and belongs to the 12 generation of the Apple A series series.
The HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G features 8 processor cores and has the capability to manage 8 threads concurrently.
It was released in Q3/2019 and belongs to the 8 generation of the HiSilicon Kirin series.
Mobile Segment Mobile
Apple A12 Bionic Name HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G
Apple A series Family HiSilicon Kirin
12 Generation 8
Apple A12/A12X/A12Z Group HiSilicon Kirin 990
 
 

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A12 Bionic has 6 CPU cores and can calculate 6 threads in parallel.
The clock frequency of the A-Core is 2.49 GHz.
The number of CPU cores greatly affects the speed of the processor and is an important performance indicator.
Processors with hybrid (big.LITTLE) architecture strike a balance between performance and power efficiency, making them ideal for mobile devices.
The HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.
The clock frequency of the A-Core is 2.86 GHz.
None None 4x Cortex-A55
None None 1.95 GHz
1.59 GHz B-Core Frequency 2.36 GHz
2.49 GHz A-Core Frequency 2.86 GHz
4x Tempest Cores B 2x Cortex-A76
2x Vortex Cores A 2x Cortex-A76
No Overclocking No
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
6 Threads 8
No Hyperthreading No
6 CPU Cores 8
 
 

Internal Graphics

The Apple A12 Bionic has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short.
Specifically, the Apple A12 Bionic uses the Apple A12, which has 256 texture shaders
and 32 execution units.
The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
The HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short.
Specifically, the HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G uses the ARM Mali-G76 MP16, which has 256 texture shaders
and 16 execution units.
1.13 GHz GPU frequency 0.6 GHz
Q3/2018 Release date Q3/2018
-- Direct X 12
Apple A12 GPU name ARM Mali-G76 MP16
7 nm Technology 7 nm
-- Max. displays --
256 Shaders 256
4.0 GB Max. GPU Memory 4.0 GB
32 Execution units 16
9 Generation Bifrost 3
-- GPU (Turbo) --
 
 

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

8 Neural cores @ 5 TOPS AI specifications Da Vinci Architecture. 1x Ascend Lite + 1x Ascend Tiny
Apple Neural Engine AI hardware HUAWEI HiAI 2.0
 
 

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.
Decode AVC Decode / Encode
Decode VC-1 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode VP8 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode JPEG Decode / Encode
No AV1 No
 
 

Memory & PCIe

The processor supports a maximum memory capacity of 4.0 GB distributed across 1 memory channels. It offers a peak memory bandwidth of 34.1 GB/s. Both the type and quantity of memory can have a substantial impact on the overall system performance.
1 Memory channels 4
4.0 GB Max. Memory 8.0 GB
pci PCIe pci
No AES-NI No
No ECC No
34.1 GB/s Bandwidth --
LPDDR4X-4266 Memory type LPDDR4X-4266
 
 

Thermal Management

The processor has a thermal design power (TDP) of 6 W watts.
TDP indicates the cooling solution needed to effectively manage the processor's heat. It generally provides an approximate indication of the actual power consumption of the CPU itself.
-- Tjunction max --
6 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 6 W
 
 

Technical details

The Apple A12 Bionic is manufactured using a 7 nm process.
A smaller manufacturing process indicates a more contemporary and energy-efficient CPU.
A substantial cache can significantly enhance the processor's performance, particularly in scenarios like gaming.
The HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G is manufactured using a 7 nm process.
In total, this processor boasts a generous 2.0 MB cache.
Q3/2018 Release date Q3/2019
-- Part Number --
8.0 MB L2-Cache 0 bytes
None Virtualization None
ISA extensions
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
A12 Architecture Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55
7 nm Technology 7 nm
Socket
iOS Operating systems Android
-- Release price --
Technical data sheet Documents Technical data sheet
ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
0 bytes L3-Cache 2.0 MB