The fact that we use phones so much in our daily lives may increase the idea of console games coming to Android. Smartphone hardware development has tended to slow down since 2020. Every year, new chipsets are launched that gain little in performance compared to the previous chip. This is mainly because manufacturers are trying to improve the existing model due to the chip crisis that has been going on for some time. However, the last quarter of 2023 will see a significant acceleration in the hardware performance of mobile devices. Apple stated that some popular games released on game consoles are playable on the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models.
Apple unveiled the new iPhone 15 series on September 12. The new iPhone series consists of 4 different models, but there are hardware differences that distinguish the regular models and “Pro” models. While the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are equipped with the Apple A16 Bionic chipset, which was also used in the Pro models of the previous series, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models feature the completely renewed Apple A17 Pro chipset.
Current status of ray-tracing in mobile devices
Apple’s next generation of mobile chipsets uses the “Pro” suffix instead of the “Bionic”, which has been used since the A11 chips. There are great reasons for using this name suffix. The Apple A17 Pro is the world’s first 3nm chip and features a 6-core GPU. The new GPU, which is 20% faster than the 5-core graphics unit in the Apple A16 Bionic, supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing is a feature we’re familiar with from current NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards and Android smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
This feature significantly improves the quality of light reflected from objects in game graphics and increases their realism. Environmental details reflected in a puddle in the game are much clearer thanks to hardware-assisted ray tracing. This feature can also be implemented in software, but there are significant performance losses. The fact that Apple’s new chipset has hardware-accelerated ray tracing technology will lead to a significant increase in the graphics quality of mobile games.
Moreover, according to the information given at the launch of the new Apple product, Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding and Assassin’s Creed Mirage can be played on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max in game console quality. This information is proof of how far the hardware performance of current Apple phones has advanced.
Will popular console games coming to Android?
The main question users are asking is when hardware-supported ray tracing will catch on with Android smartphones and whether a new game console games coming to Android as it has with Apple. Currently, Qualcomm’s current Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, but the number of mobile games that support the feature is quite small. Since the ray tracing capability has not yet been integrated into popular games, this amazing feature of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 cannot be fully utilized.
Apple’s serious moves in the mobile games field might spur new developments in the gaming industry on the Android side. It is expected that the new Adreno GPU, which will be introduced along with the soon-to-be-announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, will be similar in performance to the Apple A17 Pro’s 6-core GPU, and it is therefore very likely that some console games coming to Android. It may be possible to play populer console games coming to Android. that will be introduced in 2024.
