Apple lifted the curtain on its new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro on Tuesday, with the Pro model making headlines for its unprecedented gaming capabilities. Significantly, the device features an A17 Pro chip that promises to revolutionize mobile gaming.
The A17 Pro chip, which houses the device’s Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), has been dubbed the “game-changer” by Apple. The chip employs mesh shading, a technique that boosts graphics performance by optimizing shader processing. Consequently, games will run more smoothly, offering players a more immersive experience.
Moreover, the chip introduces hardware-accelerated ray tracing, allowing games to operate at 30 frames per second. Ray tracing is a groundbreaking technology that enhances lighting effects in 3D gaming environments, providing a level of realism rarely seen in mobile games. Apple claims that this feature will result in a smoother, less stuttered gameplay experience.
Additionally, the iPhone 15 Pro comes equipped with Metal FX upscaling. This feature improves graphics while optimizing battery consumption, striking a balance between performance and power usage. The device also offers compatibility with console game controllers like the PlayStation 5’s, providing further options for avid gamers.
Besides its internal features, the iPhone 15 Pro supports variable refresh rates. Users can adjust their phone’s screen refresh rate, and higher refresh rates generally equate to a superior gaming experience.
Fabrice Navrez, Ubisoft Mobile’s Executive Producer, praised the A17 Pro chip for its capabilities. According to Navrez, the chip will enable games like Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence and Assassin’s Creed: Mirage to offer higher resolution, dynamic lighting, and enhanced environmental visual effects when they launch in 2024.
Fish Ling and Meng Wang from Hoyoverse, a Chinese video game development company, also lauded the new chip. They stated that the A17 Pro chip has significantly improved the performance of their games Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact.
Tsuyoshi Kanda, producer of Resident Evil 2, encapsulated the sentiment by stating, “This is the future of mobile gaming, all thanks to the power of iPhone 15 Pro.”
Preorders for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro will commence on September 15, while the devices are slated for retail release on September 22. With such groundbreaking features, the iPhone 15 Pro is set to redefine the boundaries of mobile gaming.
