Head to head

Compare any two computers

Pick two machines from 50 years of computing, or pit one against the phone in your pocket. Every number comes from the atlas catalogue.

Computer A

Computer B

Apple · 1976

Apple I

Hand-built by Steve Wozniak and sold as a bare circuit board for $666.66.

CPU	MOS 6502 @ 1 MHz
Memory	4 KB
Storage	Cassette (optional)
Launch price	$666.66 ≈ $3,680 today
In the atlas	Be the first to add it

Various · 2025

A 2025 flagship phone

The computer most people now carry.

CPU	8-core ARM @ 3 GHz
Memory	8 GB
Storage	256 GB flash

The verdict

The A 2025 flagship phone has 2.1 million× the memory of the Apple I and a clock 3,000× faster.

They are 49 years apart. Doubling every two years (Moore's law) would predict about 23.7 million×; the memory actually grew slower than that. Across the whole catalogue memory doubled every 1.9 years.

Memory4 KB vs 8 GB

Clock speed1 MHz vs 3 GHz

Bars use a logarithmic scale so both machines stay visible.

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