 | |
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Launched | A12X: October 30, 2018 A12Z: March 18, 2020 |
| Discontinued | A12X: March 18, 2020 A12Z: April 20, 2021 |
| Designed by | Apple Inc. |
| Common manufacturer | |
| Product code | APL1083[2] |
| Max.CPUclock rate | to 2.49[3] GHz |
| Cache | |
| L1cache | 128 KB instruction, 128 KB data |
| L2 cache | 8 MB |
| Architecture and classification | |
| Application | Mobile |
| Technology node | 7 nm[4] |
| Microarchitecture | Vortex and Tempest |
| Instruction set | A64 –ARMv8.3-A |
| Physical specifications | |
| Cores |
|
| GPUs | Apple-designed integrated graphics A12X: 7 core GPU |
| Products, models, variants | |
| Variant | |
| History | |
| Predecessor | Apple A10X |
| Successor | Apple M1 |
TheApple A12X Bionic is a64-bitsystem on a chip (SoC) designed byApple Inc., part of theApple silicon series, It first appeared in theiPad Pro (3rd generation), announced on October 30, 2018.[4] The A12X is an 8-core variant of theA12 (four big cores, four small cores) and Apple states that it has 35 percent faster single-coreCPU performance and 90 percent faster overall CPU performance than its predecessor, theApple A10X.[4] TheApple A12Z Bionic is an updated version of the A12X, adding an additional GPU core, and was unveiled on March 18, 2020, as part of theiPad Pro (4th generation).[5][6]
The A12X and A12Z feature an Apple-designed 64-bitARMv8.3-A octa-core CPU, with four high-performance cores calledVortex and four energy-efficient cores calledTempest.[4][1] The Vortex cores are a 7-wide decodeout-of-ordersuperscalar design, while the Tempest cores are a 3-wide decodeout-of-ordersuperscalar design. The Tempest cores are based on Apple's Swift cores from theApple A6, and are similar in performance toARM Cortex-A73 CPU cores.[7][8] It is Apple's first SoC with an octa core CPU.[1]
The A12X integrates an Apple-designed 7-coregraphics processing unit (GPU), with twice the graphics performance of the A10X.[4] The A12Z has an 8-core GPU, one more core than the A12X, enabling better performance in 4K video editing, rendering, andaugmented reality.[9][10] Embedded in the A12X and A12Z is the M12motion coprocessor.[11] The A12Z additionally features tuned performance controllers and a better thermal architecture compared to the A12X, which potentially allows for higher clock speeds.[12] The A12X and A12Z includededicated neural network hardware that Apple calls a "next-generation Neural Engine".[4] This neural network hardware, which is the same as found in theA12,[1] can perform up to 5 trillion operations per second.[4]
The A12X and A12Z are manufactured byTSMC using a7 nmFinFET process, and it contains 10 billion transistors[1][4] vs. the 6.9 billion on the A12.[13] The A12X is paired with 4 GB ofLPDDR4X memory in the third-generation 12.9" iPad Pro and the first-generation 11" iPad Pro, or 6 GB in the 1 TB storage configurations.[14][2] The A12Z is paired with 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM in the fourth-generation 12.9" iPad Pro and the second-generation 11" iPad Pro.[15]
The A12X has video codec encoding support forHEVC andH.264. It has decoding support for HEVC, H.264,MPEG‑4, andMotion JPEG.[16]
At its 2020Worldwide Developer's Conference, Apple introduced theDeveloper Transition Kit (2020), which uses the A12Z processor with 16 GB RAM in aMac mini enclosure, hence being the firstMacintosh computer to use theApple silicon architecture.[17]
The A12Z would be used as the basis for the design of theM1, Apple's first in-house processor designed for use in Mac computers. In an interview shortly after the introduction of the DTK (2020), Apple's SVP of Software EngineeringCraig Federighi commented:
“Even that DTK hardware, which is running on an existing iPad chip that we don’t intend to put in a Mac in the future – it’s just there for the transition – the Mac runs awfully nice on that system. It’s not a basis on which to judge future Macs ... but it gives you a sense of what our silicon team can do when they’re not even trying – and they’re going to be trying.”[18]
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