Apple has the potential to revolutionize mobile gaming through the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, opening the door to AAA console titles such as Resident Evil Village, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
During its ‘Wonderlust’ event, Apple introduced the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, highlighting their native compatibility with console games, including high-profile titles like ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed Mirage’.
Apple emphasized the prowess of its new mobile chipset, the A17 Pro Bionic, powering the iPhone 15 Pro series. This chipset brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing support, a feature not even present in the latest Macs.
Apple argued that hardware-based ray tracing offers a significant fourfold speed improvement compared to software-based solutions. However, while this assertion holds true for desktop GPUs, where AMD’s Radeon series lags behind NVIDIA’s RTX GPU series with dedicated Ray-Tracing cores, the real-world performance of Apple’s latest GPU in games with ray tracing support remains to be tested.
Leveraging TSMC’s 3nm process node, Apple claimed that the pro-class GPU offers a notable 20 percent performance boost over its predecessor. It features a novel 6-core architecture that enhances energy efficiency. The A17 Pro Bionic also introduces mesh shading, enabling games to render complex environments with reduced power consumption. Additionally, it includes support for the AV1 decoder, a feature commonly found in mid and high-tier GPUs.
Apple officially announced that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will have native compatibility with games like Death Stranding, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Village, and Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed Mirage. While the first three games are expected to become available later this year, Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iPhone is anticipated to debut in the first half of 2024. However, Apple has not yet provided details regarding the battery life of the devices during gameplay of graphics-intensive AAA titles.
Over recent years, iPhones have gained popularity among gamers. While some prefer Android devices for gaming due to factors like rapid charging, Apple’s Bionic chipsets stand out for their ability to maintain performance without thermal throttling, unlike Qualcomm’s recent Snapdragon chipsets.
As an increasing number of AAA console and PC games become accessible on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple seems to be positioning itself to compete with handheld gaming consoles like the Lenovo Legion Go and ROG Ally. These consoles enable on-the-go PC gaming but come with limited battery life, typically a couple of hours. Therefore, investing in a more expensive smartphone that can serve both as a gaming console and a regular device may be a more cost-effective choice. The iPhone 15 Pro starts at Rs 1,34,900, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for Rs 1,59,900.
