Definition: Apple A series

A system-on-chip (SoC) family from Apple that provides most of the processing in iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices. Based on the ARM CPU architecture, these chips provide the equivalent processing power of desktop computers launched only a year or two earlier than the mobile product. Following are all the SoCs Apple used since 2007, including models prior to the A series. The "X" suffix denotes a higher-performance version of the chip. See process technology, SoC and ARM.

Apple S, W and T series
The S chips are dual-core processors in Apple Watch. The W series refers to wireless chips in AirPods and Apple Watch, and the T series deals with Touch ID and security in MacBooks and iMacs.

 Apple A Series
                     Process
  Year          Max  Technology  ARM CPU
 (20xx) Model  Clock  (nm) Bits    #Cores

 07 APL0098  412 MHz   90  16  ARM11    1
 08 APL0278  533 MHz   36  32  ARM11    1
 09 APL0298  600 MHz   65  32  CortexA8 1
 09 APL2298  800 MHz   45  32  CortexA8 1

 10  A4      1.0 GHz   45  32  CortexA8 1
 11  A5      1.0 GHz   32  32  CortexA9 2
 12  A5X     1.0 GHz   45  32  CortexA9 2
 12  A6      1.3 GHz   32  32  Swift    2
 12  A6X     1.4 GHz   32  32  Swift    2

 13  A7      1.3 GHz   28  64  Cyclone  2
 14  A8      1.5 GHz   20  64  Typhoon  2
 14  A8X     1.5 GHz   20  64  Typhoon  3
 15  A9      1.8 GHz   14  64  Twister  2
 15  A9X     2.3 GHz   16  64  Twister  2
 16  A10     2.4 GHz   10  64  Fusion   4
 17  A11     2.4 GHz   10  64  Bionic   6
 18  A12     2.4 GHz    7  64  Bionic   6
 19  A13     2.4 GHz    7  64  Bionic   6