SoC - System on a Chip
System on a chip: a "chip" (integrated circuit) that integrates all or most components of a computer or other electronic system. (CPU + GPU + Memory + other chips)
Modern SoCs often have some lower-performance, battery-saving cores.
Heterogeneous computing: using multiple different chips.
Apple M Chips
ARM-based SoC.
All M1 Chips use 5nm process.
Name | # Transistors | CPU Cores | GPU Cores | Memory Bandwidth |
---|---|---|---|---|
M1 Max | 57 billion | 8 + 2 | 24 or 32 | 409.6 GB/s |
M1 Pro | 33.7 billion | (6 or 8) + 2 | 14 or 16 | 204.8 GB/s |
M1 | 16 billion | 4 + 4 | 7 or 8 | 68.2 GB/s |
CPU Cores = performance cores + efficient cores
Apple A Chips
Name | # Transistors | CPU Cores | GPU Cores | Memory Bandwidth |
---|---|---|---|---|
A15 | 15 billion | 2 + 4 | 4 or 5 | 34.1 GB/s |
Google Tensor
Google's own chip design, moving away from Qualcomm.
- CPU: 2 high-performance cores (ARM Cortex-X1), 2 mid cores (Cortex-A76), 4 high-efficiency cores (Cortex-A55) In comparison, the Snapdragon 888 only features one of Cortex-X1.
- GPU: 20 cores (Mali-G78 MP20)
- System Cache
- Security
- Context Hub: ultra low power engine, powers some of the always-on machine-learning features on the phone.
- TPU: ML engine
- ISP: Advanced Image signal Processor
Google Tensor is used in Pixel 6.