The Apple A11 Bionic Chip is a 64-bit Advanced RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) Machine (ARM)-based custom SoC (System on a Chip) designed by Apple. Apple used A11 Bionic Chip on its latest iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. It has two superior cores which are quicker than the Apple A10 and four high-efficiency cores which are up to 70% quicker than the energy-efficient cores in the Apple A10.
Following is an overview of A11 Bionic Chip:
• 10 nanometer (nm) FinFET (Fin-Field Effect Transistor)Technology
• Microarchitecture: ARMv8-A (the latest generation Arm architecture in the A-profile)
• Cores: Hexa-core(2Monsoon + 4Mistral)
• L1 Cache: 32 KB (Kilo Bytes) instruction, 32 KB Data
• L2 Cache: 8 MB (Mega Bytes)
• GPU (Graphics Processing Unit): Apple designed 3 cores
A11 Bionic Chip Specification Details:
• A11 has an Apple-designed 64-bit ARMv8-A six-core CPU (Central Processing Unit)
• A 11 is manufactured by TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) using a 10 nm FinFET technology, and it contains 4.3 billion transistors
• 2 high-performance cores are called Monsoon, and 4 energy-efficient cores are called Mistral
• A 11 uses a new second-generation performance controller that allows using all six cores synchronously
• Integrated Apple-manufactured 3 core GPU with 30% faster graphics performance than A 10.
• Embedded M11 motion coprocessor
• A11 has a neural network hardware that is called “neural engine” by Apple, which can do up to 600 billion operations per second; it is used for Face Identity, Animoji, and AR (Augmented Reality) like more intricate tasks.
A recent Geekbench test (a cross-platform processor benchmark with a scoring system that separates single and multicore performances, and workloads that simulate real-world scenarios) corroborate that iPhone’s recent A11 bionic chip completely outclasses every other high-class processor chipsets including Samsung’s Exynos 8895, Huawei Kirin 960, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835. A report confirms that the novel A11 bionic chip is the quickest among new generation mobile processor chips with a single-core score of a 4204, and its multi-core score on the 6-core chip reaches 10165 points. Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 has a single-core score of 1800 while it has a multi-core score of 6301 that is far lower than Apple A11 bionic chip score.
Apple is truly claiming its A11 bionic chip as the king of mobile processors. Apple A11 bionic chip is built on the same architecture and 10 nm FinFET technology as that of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835. Qualcomm’s chip is an 8-core design while Apple A11 bionic chip is a 6-core design, and it still performs better than Snapdragon 835. A11 is obviously quicker than three other smartphone chips namely, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835, Samsung’s Exynos 8895, and Huawei’s Kirin 960. A11 is no doubt a remarkable invention as it outperforms every other mobile processor chip in the market.
Apple is way ahead of the competition in the smartphone CPU performance today, and one of the market’s top players, Snapdragon still lag behind in the Android space. Apple’s 11 bionic chip proves itself superior in both single and multicore performance according to Geekbench 4 tests. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon needs lots of improvements to catch up with Apple A11 bionic chip. Apple is definitely a threat to major market players like Samsung’s Exynos, Huawei’s Kirin, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 consists of 3 billion transistors while Apple A11 bionic chip consists of 4.3 billion transistors that are 1.3 billion more than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835. Apple A11 processor is manufactured on 10nm FinFET technology, and it comes with 30% performance boost, and 50% power efficiency that outdo hardcore performance of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835.
Apple’s A11 has the highest multi-core score in the Geekbench test, and it is clearly large than Snapdragon 835 multi-core score of 6301. Apple A11 bionic chip features the same sort of architecture like Samsung’s Exynos 8895 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 have. However, doubling of the number of lower-power processors in A11 is what that Apple has uniquely done. Apple claims that A11 is the fastest mobile processor and better than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 that can be bought today. It’s a legitimate claim considering all 6 cores of Apple A11 bionic chip can work simultaneously on same tasks. It will be interesting to see what Apple will bring in future.
Apple A11 bionic chip is 50 to 70 percent faster than Android, and even those powered by Qualcomm’ Snapdragon 835. Apple has made its competitors to feel shame with its A11 bionic chip single and multi-core score. Apple is consistently working to come up with cutting-edge technology products. Apple’s competitors are also working on to come with state-of-the-art technologies, but still, they are behind Apple. In other words, Apple is giving tough competition to its competitors, and A11 bionic chip is one of the proofs of that. Geekbench 4 test clearly suggests that Apple is leading the market. In the future, it will be decided who move ahead and who remain behind in the competition of mobile processor chips.