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You don’t need to go Pro: the iPhone 16 can run high-end games

By Carli Velocci Updated September 9, 2024

Eight game covers placed side by side, including Resident Evil 7 and Village, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Death Stranding Director's Cut, and Sniper Elite 4 — Apple

Video games didn’t get much airtime during Apple’s September “It’s Glowtime” event, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the game just yet. Many of the company’s big hardware announcements not only mean it’ll continue to improve game performance, but that it’s bringing those features to non-Pro models.

The only new game announced for iOS devices during the presentation was Honor of Kings: World, the open-world RPG version of the massively popular Chinese MOBA game series. It’ll be coming to iPhones sometime in 2025. However, Apple claims that the iPhone 16 can run some already released AAA titles like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and four of the latest Resident Evil titles, such as the Resident Evil 4 remake and Resident Evil: Village. These games were only playable previously on iPhone 15 Pro phones.

Apple also made hardware changes to the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro’s thermal capabilities that’ll reduce heat and result in 30% higher sustained performance. The A18 chip in the regular iPhone 16 also helps it to achieve hardware-accelerated ray tracing that’s up to two times faster than the A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus only had the two-year-old A16 chip). This means more realistic lighting and shadows, which was previously only available on the M3 and A17 Pro Bionic. It also continues Apple’s commitment to reaching console-level gaming quality on its phones that could potentially match what players can get with the Mac’s M3 chips.

The newest game shown off during the presentation besides Honor of Kings: World, which isn’t out yet, is 2023’s Resident Evil 4 remake. The Death Stranding: Director’s Cut was released for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS in January 2024.

According to mobilegamer.biz, these games haven’t been selling well. It proposes that under 3,000 people have shelled out the $50 to pay Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which launched in June 2024. Digital Trends tried out Resident Evil: Village on an iPad Pro, and found it was “nothing short of a miracle,” with smooth frame rates and graphical fidelity

Topics

Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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