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Apple
Apple A12 Bionic
The iPhone XS/XR chip and Apple's first 7nm design. Its Vortex cores embarrassed 2018 Android flagships, and XR handsets ran current iOS for a remarkable seven years.
Pros
- First 7nm phone chip shipped at scale
- Held a two-year performance lead
- Exceptional longevity in real devices
Cons
- 3GB-RAM devices limit it today
- LTE only
- Formally aged out of iOS support
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Apple A12 Bionic
General
- Announced
- 2018
- Process
- 7 nm
- TDP (typical)
- 6 W
- Architecture
- Armv8.3
CPU
- Cores
- 6
- Core configuration
- 2x2.49 GHz Vortex + 4x1.52 GHz Tempest
- Max clock
- 2.49 GHz
GPU
- GPU
- Apple GPU (4-core)
AI
- NPU
- Neural Engine (8-core)
- AI performance
- 5 TOPS
Memory
- Memory type
- LPDDR4X-2133
- Max bandwidth
- 34.1 GB/s
Connectivity
- Modem
- Intel XMM 7560 LTE (external)
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 5
- Bluetooth
- 5.0
Media
- Max display
- Retina XDR
- Video capture
- 4K@60fps
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 1,325Top 35%
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 2,850Bottom 48%
- 3DMark Wild Life Extreme
- 1,408Top 35%
Devices with the Apple A12 Bionic
6 devices in our catalog use this chip
Quick answers
Is the Apple A12 Bionic good in 2026?
The Apple A12 Bionic earns an Inno Score of 31.8/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The iPhone XS/XR chip and Apple's first 7nm design. Its Vortex cores embarrassed 2018 Android flagships, and XR handsets ran current iOS for a remarkable seven years.
Which devices use the Apple A12 Bionic?
6 devices in our catalog use the Apple A12 Bionic: iPad Air (A12), iPad 8th Gen (A12), iPad mini (A12), iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, and more.
What are the key specs of the Apple A12 Bionic?
Cores: 6 · Process: 7 nm · GPU: Apple GPU (4-core)
What are the closest alternatives to the Apple A12 Bionic?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are MediaTek Dimensity 900, MediaTek Helio G99, Unisoc T7300 — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.
