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Apple A17

Apple A17 Pro
General information
LaunchedSeptember 12, 2023 (2023-09-12)
Designed byApple Inc.
Common manufacturer
Product codeAPL1V02
Max. CPU clock rateto 3.78 GHz[2]
Cache
L1 cache320 KB per P-core (192 KB instruction + 128 KB data)
224 KB per E-core (128 KB instruction + 96 KB data)
L2 cache16 MB (performance cores)
4 MB (efficiency cores)
Last level cache24 MB (system level cache)
Architecture and classification
ApplicationMobile (iPhone 15 Pro, iPad Mini (7th generation))
Technology node3 nm (TSMC N3)
Instruction setARMv8.6-A[3]
Physical specifications
Transistors
  • 19 billion
Cores
  • 6 cores (4 efficiency + 2 performance)[4]
Memory (RAM)
GPUApple-designed 5- or 6- core GPU
Products, models, variants
Variant
History
PredecessorApple A16 Bionic
SuccessorsApple A18 Pro (iPhone 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max)

The Apple A17 Pro is a 64-bit ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series, and manufactured by TSMC.[5] It is used in the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad Mini (7th generation)[6] models[2][7] and is the first widely available SoC to be built on a 3 nm process.[8] This chip does not have a non-Pro variant, as Apple moved to the TSMC N3E manufacturing node technology and announced the A18 Series on September 9, 2024, with the A18 and the A18 Pro respectively replacing the A16 and the A17 Pro on the new iPhone 16 lineup.[9]

Design

The Apple A17 Pro features an Apple-designed 64-bit ARMv8.6-A six-core CPU with two high-performance cores running at 3.78 GHz, and four energy-efficient cores running at 2.11 GHz.[2] Apple claims the new high-performance cores are 10% faster due to its improved branch prediction, and wider decode & execution engines, and the new energy-efficient cores are faster and 3x more efficient than the competition.[7] The amount of RAM has increased from 6 GB to 8 GB.[10]

The A17 Pro integrates a new Apple-designed six-core GPU, which Apple claims is 20% faster and their biggest redesign in the history of Apple GPUs, with added hardware accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading support. The 16-core Neural Engine is now capable of 35 trillion operations per second. The A17 Pro also added support for AV1 decoding and USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gb/s).[11] The A17 Pro contains 19 billion transistors, a 19% increase from the A16's transistor count of 16 billion, and is fabricated by TSMC on their 3 nm N3 process.[7]

The A17 Pro is the first SoC used in Apple devices to support hardware decoding of AV1 video.[12]

Products that include the Apple A17 Pro

Comparison of A15, A16 and A17

Variant CPU
cores (P+E)
GPU Neural Engine Memory Process Transistor
count
Used in
Cores EUs ALUs Cores Performance
A15
Bionic
5 (2+3) 5 80 640 16 15.8 TOPS 4 GB LPDDR4X TSMC
N5P
15 billion Apple TV 4K (3rd generation)
6 (2+4) 4 64 512 iPhone 13
5 80 640 4–6 GB LPDDR4X iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 14, iPad mini 6
A16
Bionic
17 TOPS 6 GB LPDDR5 TSMC
N4P
16 billion iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 15
A17
Pro
6 96 768 35 TOPS 8 GB LPDDR5 TSMC
N3
19 billion iPhone 15 Pro
5 80 640 iPad Mini (A17 Pro)

See also

References

  1. ^ Friedman, Alan (September 12, 2023). "Apple introduces the first 3nm smartphone chipset, the A17 PRO, for the iPhone 15 Pro models". PhoneArena. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Apple A17 Pro chipset appears on Geekbench, performance cores clocked at 3.78GHz". GSMArena. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  3. ^ "llvm-project/llvm/unittests/TargetParser/TargetParserTest.cpp at main · llvm/llvm-project". GitHub. September 10, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  4. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (September 12, 2023). "Apple launches the A17 Pro chip with a completely redesigned GPU". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  5. ^ "Apple unveils iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max". Apple (Press release). Cupertino, CA. September 12, 2023. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  6. ^ "Apple introduces powerful new iPad mini built for Apple Intelligence". Apple Newsroom. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Bonshor, Gavin; Smith, Ryan. "The Apple 2023 Fall iPhone Event Live Blog (Starts at 10am PT/17:00 UTC)". AnandTech. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  8. ^ Hill, Brandon; Freedman, Andrew E. (September 12, 2023). "Apple's A17 Pro Is a 3nm Chip Powering iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  9. ^ Apple (September 9, 2024). Apple Event - September 9. Retrieved September 15, 2024 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ Michael, Potuck (September 15, 2023). "A17 Pro vs A16 Bionic: How speed, efficiency, capability compares". 9to5Mac. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  11. ^ "Charge and connect with the USB-C connector on your iPhone 15 - Apple Support". September 13, 2023.
  12. ^ Francis, Andy (June 13, 2024). "Everything you need to know about Apple AV1 Support". Bitmovin. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
Preceded by Apple A17 Pro
2023
Succeeded by