Apple M2 10-Core GPU vs Qualcomm Adreno 510 vs Qualcomm Adreno 530

Apple M2 10-Core GPU

The Apple M2 GPU is an integrated graphics card offering 10 cores designed by Apple and integrated in the Apple M2 SoC. It uses the unified memory architecture of the M2 SoC (up to 24 GB LPDDR5-6400 with 100 GB/s bandwidth) and should offer 160 execution units.

According to Apple it offers a 25% higher performance at slightly higher power consumption. The theoretical performance is rated at 3.6 Teraflops and therefore 1 TFLOP higher than the M1 8-core GPU. In our benchmarks, the GPU was able to top the M1 with up to 40%, but still stays behind the 14-core GPU in the M1 Pro. Compared to other iGPUs from AMD and Intel, the M2 benefits greatly from the unified memory architecture and the high bandwidth.

The M2 chip is manufactured in the second generation 5nm process at TSMC (most likely N5P). The power consumption is around 13.5 Watt (in our tests under load of the MBP13) and up to 15W according to Apple.

Qualcomm Adreno 510

The Qualcomm Adreno 510 is a mobile graphics card for mid-range smartphones and tablets (mostly Android based). It is included in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 and 652 SoCs and based on the Adreno 500 architecture (like the Adreno 520 in the S820, which should be fully compatible in software).

The GPU supports modern standards like Vulkan 1.0 (according to Wikipedia), OpenGL ES 3.1 + AE (3.2 in other sources), OpenCL 2.0 and DirectX 12 (FL 12.1 according to Wikipedia, 11.1 according to Qualcomm). Furthermore, the GPU supports Universal Bandwidth Compression (UBWC) to save memory bandwidth.

Compared the the faster Adreno 530, the 510 is currently produced in the older 28nm process (650 and 652) and should offer less ALUs. The clock speed is not disclosed.

Early benchmarks and performance ratings from Qualcomm position the GPU on a level with the old Adreno 330 (former high end GPU) in the Snapdragon 810. Therefore, it should be able to handle most Android games up to Full HD fluently.

Qualcomm Adreno 530

The Qualcomm Adreno 530 is an integrated graphics card for (mostly Android based) smartphones and tablets. It was introduced in the last quarter of 2015 and is integrated in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC. It supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and DirectX 11.1.

The GPU uses a still unknown amount of unified shaders clocked at up to 624 MHz. In 2015 it belongs to the fastest GPU for smartphones. Compared to the predecessor Adreno 430, the 530 is especially faster in demanding benchmarks.