During last week’s iPhone 15 keynote, Apple placed significant emphasis on the gaming capabilities of the new A17 Pro chip. In a recent interview, three Apple executives provided more details about the company’s plans to turn the iPhone 15 into the world’s ‘ultimate gaming console.’ Apple’s ambitions for gaming on iPhones are set to take a significant leap forward with the iPhone 15 Pro.
What was said about iPhone 15 Pro and A17 Pro
The new A17 Pro processor in the iPhone 15 Pro series primarily focuses on improvements in GPU performance. The new ‘professional-grade’ GPU offers a 6-core design, which Apple claims not only enhances performance but also improves energy efficiency. It is expected to deliver up to 20% faster GPU performance, along with hardware-accelerated ray tracing for the first time.
IGN sat down for a deeper dive into Apple’s gaming focus with Apple’s Senior Director of GPU Software, Jeremy Sandmel, Vice President of Platform Architecture, Tim Millet, and Vice President of iPhone Product Marketing Worldwide, Kaiann Drance. In the interview, Tim Millet emphasized that Apple’s goal is not necessarily to directly compete with specific consoles like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S.
Instead, he mentioned that their focus is on creating a platform and tools that directly appeal to game developers. Drance added that they are working differently for each iPhone, addressing concerns such as overheating and sustaining performance during intense gaming. She stated that they are doing a lot on the SoC (System on a Chip) side and testing these with their software efforts.
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Tim Millet added that developers also bear some responsibility for striking the perfect balance between performance, quality, and more. He explained that the screen has excellent scaling technology, the GPU can scale, and with technologies like ray tracing, they’ve managed to finely tune the balance between quality and performance. He noted that after the software and system work in such harmony, the next part relies on the optimization skills of game developers.
Sandmel referenced the old saying, ‘the best gaming console is the one you have with you.’ However, he mentioned that this is not Apple’s aim this time. Instead, Sandmel believes that the iPhone will be unequivocally ‘the best gaming console’.
