Apple A13 Bionic Processor – Full Overview, Gaming Specification

Apple A13 Bionic Processor is a 64-bit hexa-core ARM SoC of high performance. It is designed by Apple Inc. and introduced in late 2019. Manufactured by TSMC’s and based on 7 nm N7P process, this processor contains 6 cores consisting of 2 high-performance Lightning cores operating at a clocked speed of 2.65 GHz and 4 energy-efficient Thunder cores operating at a clocked speed of 1.8 GHz. Apple A13 Bionic supports up to 4 GB of LPDDR4X RAM. It integrates four-core GPU with M13 motion co-processor that is also designed by Apple.

Overview of Apple Bionic A13 Processor:

Series Apple A series
Codename Lightning / Thunder
Clock Rate 2.65 GHz
Number of Cores 6
Manufacturing Technology 7 nm
Features ARMv8 Instruction Set
GPU Apple A13 Bionic GPU
64 Bit Yes

Features of Apple Bionic A13 Chip:

  • The A13 is estimated up to 23% more i.e. 8.5 billion transistors and 20% larger about 98 mm². It provides not only a custom CPU designed by Apple but also Powered by VR-based graphics processor for custom GPU.
  • It also introduced the Neural Engine including a custom block of silicon separate the CPU from the GPU. It focused on accelerating Machine Learning computations on the device.
  • A13 implements TSMC’s new second-generation 7 nm process for the first time. We can see a bit more transistors in the same space with a higher clock speed at the same power consumption or less power consumption for the normal clock speeds.
  • With its two large high-performance CPU cores and the four energy-efficient CPU cores, A13 Bionic improves 20% faster performance. With custom CPU designs, it delivers faster single-core performance and 20% higher performance for multi-core.
  • Apple’s GPU delivers real-world performance in the A13. With a custom quad-core design it provides metal optimization and 20% faster performance.
  • Combination of CPU and GPU enhances A13 Bionic performance and its gaming-class. Apple has promised to improve in GPU performance by up to 20%.
  • A13 Bionic increase energy efficiency using custom GPU and high-efficiency CPU cores with 40% less power. The high-performance CPU cores consume 30% less and the Neural Engine consumes 15% less power.
  • Including Voltage and clock domains, the performance-per-watt of the A13 is impressive. Having a similar-sized battery and an identical display it can deliver high performance. Daily usage basis the battery lasts longer and A13 Bionic’s power efficiency deliver better performance while using a similar amount of power compared to A12.
  • A set of machine learning accelerators is implemented in A13 Bionic to perform matrix multiplication operations up to six times faster. This matrix multiplication hardware is a part of the CPU cores and separates from the Neural Engine hardware.
  • The CPU is now up to six times faster and the Neural Engine tops out at 20% faster than before. And the GPU is metal optimized that can delivers faster compute performance using the Metal API.
  • There is a machine learning controller in the chip. It automatically operates machine learning between the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine. As a result of this, A13 can run the machine learning codes much faster compared to A12.
  • A13 Bionic competes faster for coming close to the intersection of CPU, GPU and machine learning performance.

Apple A12 Bionic Processor – Specification and Gaming Experience

Monsoons are 25% faster and Mistrals are up to 70% faster than the A10 including a three-core GPU, M11 motion coprocessor and an updated image signal processor. The A11 improves multi-threaded tasks with a new performance controller.

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Gaming Experience:

Based on TSMC’s enhanced N7P process the A13 is providing 8.5 billion transistors featuring with two big Lightning cores operating at a clock speed of 2.65 GHz and four little Thunder high-efficiency cores operating at a clock speed of 1.80 GHz. It provides 20% faster performance gain and 30% less power consumption. With LPDDR4X RAM supporting up to 4GB and custom GPU, A13 Bionic provides smoother gameplay. Also using Retina TFT display it brings many realistic looks for the better gaming experience.

Devices that use Apple Bionic A13 processor:

This chipset is used in Apple handsets like iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone SE.


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