A system-on-chip (SoC) family from Apple that provides most of the processing in iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices. Using the RISC-based ARM CPU architecture, the Apple A series 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 has used since 2007, including models prior to the A series. The "X" suffix denotes a higher-performance version of the chip. See
Bionic chip,
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
20 A14 2.4 GHz 5 64 Bionic 6