Apple A14 Explained

Apple A14 Bionic
Produced-Start:September 15, 2020
Fastest:3.0 GHz[1]
Size-From:5 nm (N5)
Designfirm:Apple Inc.
Manuf1:TSMC
Arch:ARMv8.5-A[2]
Microarch:"Firestorm" and "Icestorm"[3]
Code:APL1W01
Transistors:11.8 billion
Numcores:6 (ARM big.LITTLE: 2 "big" Firestorm + 4 "little" Icestorm)
L2cache:8 MB (performance cores)
4 MB (efficient cores)
Application:Mobile
Gpu:Apple-designed 4 core
Predecessor:Apple A13
Successor:Apple A15 (iPhone)
Apple M1 (iPad Air)
Variant:Apple M1
L4cache:16 MB (system cache) [4]

The Apple A14 Bionic is a 64-bit ARMv8.5-A[2] system on a chip (SoC)designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series. It appears in the fourth generation iPad Air and tenth generation iPad, as well as iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Apple states that the central processing unit (CPU) performs up to 40% faster than the A12, while the graphics processing unit (GPU) is up to 30% faster than the A12. It also includes a 16-core neural engine and new machine learning matrix accelerators that perform twice and ten times as fast, respectively.[5] [6]

Design

The Apple A14 Bionic features an Apple-designed 64-bit, six-core CPU, implementing ARMv8[2] with two high-performance cores called Firestorm and four energy-efficient cores called Icestorm.[7]

The A14 integrates an Apple-designed four-core GPU with 30% faster graphics performance than the A12. The A14 includes dedicated neural network hardware that Apple calls a new 16-core Neural Engine. The Neural Engine can perform 11 trillion operations per second. In addition to the separate Neural Engine, the A14 CPU includes second-generation machine learning matrix scalar multiplication accelerators (which Apple calls AMX blocks).[8] The A14 also includes a new image processor with improved computational photography capabilities.[9]

A14 is manufactured by TSMC on their first-generation 5 nm fabrication process, N5. This makes the A14 the first commercially available product to be manufactured on a 5 nm process node.[10] The transistor count has increased to 11.8 billion, a 38.8% increase from the A13's transistor count of 8.5 billion.[11] [12] According to Semianalysis, the die size of A14 processor is 88 mm2, with a transistor density of 134 million transistors per mm2.[13] It is manufactured in a package on package (PoP) together with 4 GB of LPDDR4X memory in the iPhone 12[14] and 6 GB of LPDDR4X memory in the iPhone 12 Pro.

The A14 has video codec encoding support for HEVC and H.264. It has decoding support for HEVC, H.264, MPEG‑4 Part 2, and Motion JPEG.[15]

The A14 would be later used as the basis for the M1 series of chips, used in various Macintosh and iPad models.

Products that include the Apple A14 Bionic

Variants

The table below shows the various SoCs based on the "Firestorm" and "Icestorm" microarchitectures.

VariantCPUcores (P+E)GPU
cores		GPU
EU		Graphics
ALU		Neural Engine coresNeural Engine performanceMemory (GB)Transistor
count
A146 (2+4)4645121611 TOPS4–611.8 billion
8 (4+4) 7 112 896 8–16 16 billion
M1 8 128 1024
8 (6+2) 14 224 1792 16–32 34 billion
M1 Pro 10 (8+2)
M1 Pro 16 256 2048
10 (8+2) 24 384 3072 32–64 57 billion
M1 Max 32 512 4096
20 (16+4) 48 768 6144 32 22 TOPS 64–128 114 billion
M1 Ultra 64 1024 8192

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The iPhone 12 & 12 Pro Review: New Design and Diminishing Returns. Frumusanu. Andrei . November 20, 2020 . May 19, 2024 . November 30, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201130140040/http://www.anandtech.com/show/16192/the-iphone-12-review . live.
  2. Web site: llvm-project/llvm/include/llvm/TargetParser/AArch64TargetParser.h at main · llvm/llvm-project · GitHub. GitHub. 30 November 2023. 30 November 2023.
  3. Web site: Apple Aims to Sell Macs With Its Own Chips Starting in 2021. Gurman. Mark. Wu. Debby. King. Ian. 2020-04-23. Bloomberg. 2020-09-15. September 3, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200903194931/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-23/apple-aims-to-sell-macs-with-its-own-chips-starting-in-2021. live.
  4. Web site: Apple A14 Die Annotation and Analysis – Terrifying Implications For The Industry. 2020-10-30. SemiAnalysis. 2020-10-30. May 12, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210512151937/https://semianalysis.com/apple-a14-die-annotation-and-analysis-terrifying-implications-for-the-industry/. live.
  5. Apple iPhone 12 - Full phone specifications. 2020-10-13. 2020-11-13. November 12, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201112224320/https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_12-10509.php. live.
  6. Apple unveils all-new iPad Air with A14 Bionic, Apple's most advanced chip. Apple. 2020-09-15. 2020-09-15. September 20, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200920003224/https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/09/apple-unveils-all-new-ipad-air-with-a14-bionic-apples-most-advanced-chip/. live.
  7. Web site: Apple Announces new 8th gen iPad with A12, iPad Air with 5nm A14 Chip. Frumusanu. Andrei. 2020-09-15. AnandTech. 2020-09-29. September 29, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929183558/http://www5.anandtech.com/show/16086/apple-announces-new-ipad-with-a12-ipad-air-with-5nm-a14-chip. live.
  8. Web site: Apple A14 Bionic Explained — From iPad Air to iPhone 12. Ritchie. Rene. Rene Ritchie. 2020-09-28. iMore. 2020-09-29. September 29, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929172424/https://www.imore.com/apple-a14-bionic-explained-ipad-air-iphone-12. live.
  9. Apple introduces iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max with 5G. Apple. 2020-10-13. 2020-10-13. October 13, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201013181423/https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/10/apple-introduces-iphone-12-pro-and-iphone-12-pro-max-with-5g/. live.
  10. Web site: Apple Announces 5nm A14 SoC - Meagre Upgrades, Or Just Less Power Hungry?. AnandTech. 2020-09-15. Andrei. Frumusanu. 2020-09-15. September 16, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200916074711/https://www.anandtech.com/show/16088/apple-announces-5nm-a14-soc-meagre-upgrades-or-less-power-hungry. live.
  11. Web site: Sohail. Omar. 2020-09-15. Apple A14 Bionic Gets Highlighted With 11.8 Billion Transistors, 40% Higher Performance, New 6-Core CPU, and More. 2020-09-19. Wccftech. en-US. September 17, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200917205619/https://wccftech.com/apple-a14-bionic-details-11-8-billion-transistors-6-core-cpu-40-percent-performance-increase-more/. live.
  12. Web site: Zafar. Ramish. 2019-09-10. Apple A13 For iPhone 11 Has 8.5 Billion Transistors, Quad-Core GPU. 2020-10-05. Wccftech. en-US. October 14, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201014115040/https://wccftech.com/apple-a13-iphone-11-transistors-gpu/. live.
  13. Web site: Patel. Dylan. 2020-10-27. Apple's A14 Packs 134 Million Transistors/mm², but Falls Short of TSMC's Density Claims. 2020-10-29. SemiAnalysis. en-US. December 12, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212210748/https://semianalysis.com/apples-a14-packs-134-million-transistors-mm2-but-falls-far-short-of-tsmcs-density-claims/. live.
  14. Web site: iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Teardown . . 2020-10-20 . 2020-10-20 . November 28, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201128154518/https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+12+and+12+Pro+Teardown/137669 . live .
  15. Web site: iPhone 12 – Technical Specifications. 2021-10-24. support.apple.com. October 24, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211024033827/https://support.apple.com/kb/SP830?locale=en_US. live.

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