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Semiconductor analytics firm TechInsights has posted a die comparison photo of the M1 and A14 Bionic to explain the differences between the two chips.
M1 die size is 37% larger than A14 Bionic
Both the M1 and A14 Bionic are manufactured by Taiwan TSMC’s 5nm process and seem to have much in common in architecture, but both chips seem to be optimized for the onboard device.
According to TechInsights, the number of Firestorm cores, which are high-performance cores, is the same for 4 M1s and 2 for A14 Bionic, and the number of Icestorm cores, which are high-efficiency cores, is the same for 4 of both chips, CPU1 core and GPU of M1. The core is doubled from the A14 Bionic, and the DDR interface is twice that of the A14 Bionic (8 to 4).
The M1 also integrates a T2 chip and other controllers, so the die size seems to be 37% larger than the A14 Bionic.
M1 is equipped with 16 billion transistors
According to the company, the number of transistors installed in the A14 Bionic has increased to 11.5 billion, while that of the M1 has increased to 16 billion.
TechInsights explains that the A14 Bionic is optimized for mobile devices with no cooling system and limited battery capacity, and the M1 is optimized for desktop applications where power savings are less important.
Source: TechInsights (1), (2)
(FT729)
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