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IGN Apple iPhone 15 Pro gaming interview "It's going to be the best gaming console"

LordOfChaos

Member

Sounds like they're quite aware of how games like Star Rail would overheat and dim and throttle previous iPhones. I will be curious for testing on if this still happens on 15 Pro. But it also sounds like they're saying "well developers can do what they want", they can reduce the power burn with MetalFX upscaling but they can still push it in that way that causes it to throttle I guess.

Kaiann Drance, Apple's Vice President of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing: Certainly, this is part of the benefit of us designing for a specific iPhone model. So at a system level, we're able to work across teams to understand how the performance that we're enabling, how it's going to manifest in the actual gameplay, and whether we are going to be able to not only hit those wonderful frame rates and peak performance and graphics that Jeremy talked about, but also whether we're going to be able to sustain them. I know that we do a lot on the SoC side, we do a lot on the software side to make sure that this is enabled to be a great experience. TM: Yeah, I'll jump in, and then Jeremy can back me up if I get something wrong. But Kaiann's point is developers who want to put an exciting new title on the platform. Again, we give them this great toolbox. They could in theory take this amazing GPU and try to burn a hole through the back of the phone. We wouldn't let that happen, but they could definitely do something that was probably not optimal for the experience. But we give them tools like MetalFX that allow them to really burst up in maintaining an experience for a lot longer if they want to. And they can dial that in and out, depending on the experience that they want to go deliver. But it's all about giving them the tools to build that sustainable experience. And it starts with a super efficient and performant SoC, GPU and the associated software that runs with it.
 

Fake

Member
Dr Evil Whatever GIF
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
Apple is the one company worse than MS, Sony, and Nintendo combined.

Fortunately with the recent EU regs their walled garden is coming down.

/you scared gif

This one iPhone release won’t be the end of console gaming but eventually gaming will be mainly on your all in one device in the future. Seems everyone but actual gamers have realized this years ago.
Just like the cloud.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
/you scared gif

This one iPhone release won’t be the end of console gaming but eventually gaming will be mainly on your all in one device in the future. Seems everyone but actual gamers have realized this years ago.
No, because I need my batter on the main phone for actual useful stuff. Calls, work stuff, texts, studying, payments, video calls, news, some YouTube, etc... gaming in the main device is lower in the list of priorities.

It's nice to know that when I am playing on the Switch/SteamDeck/RoG Ally/whatever I am not going to affect my main all-in-one device. Unless there is a miracle and battery life last a whole lot longer then now.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
If they are really serious about console like gaming then I think they should put the A17 Pro in the Apple TV and market it well by offering a banger line-up of 3rd party games plus the dualsense controller bundled in for $249.99 or something like that. They should also commit this time around by fostering long lasting relationships with both 3rd party publishers and indies (and even 1st parties like Sony since I know they do have an existing relationship there via the other Sony divisions). You live and die by 3rd party support after all...
 
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PaintTinJr

Member

Sounds like they're quite aware of how games like Star Rail would overheat and dim and throttle previous iPhones. I will be curious for testing on if this still happens on 15 Pro. But it also sounds like they're saying "well developers can do what they want", they can reduce the power burn with MetalFX upscaling but they can still push it in that way that causes it to throttle I guess.
Feels like they are pre-emptively claiming the new phone is a "games console" to try and fight the legislation coming from the EU and UK about being a gatekeeper regarding competing stores being allowed on their smart(PC) devices and their comms apps needing versions on other OSes.

If that is their angle to defend their cut for their half of the duopoly on smart(PC) OSes, I think we are going to have a much firmer definition of a "games console" when that defence fails.
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
Apple needs to make an easy solution to connecting your phone to a monitor / tv so we can play console like games.

Airplay isn’t the answer it’s to laggy in my tests.

A simple Little dock would do wonders
 
Dualsense, Backbone etc etc. It supports the most popular controllers as well as made for iPhone ones
You’ll need a new backbone now that it supports USB-C. The previous iPhone backbone will no longer be compatible. I don’t believe the Android version has confirmed compatibility, but it’s possible.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Feels like they are pre-emptively claiming the new phone is a "games console" to try and fight the legislation coming from the EU and UK about being a gatekeeper regarding competing stores being allowed on their smart(PC) devices and their comms apps needing versions on other OSes.

If that is their angle to defend their cut for their half of the duopoly on smart(PC) OSes, I think we are going to have a much firmer definition of a "games console" when that defence fails.

Tbh they've been saying some variant on console quality for a looong time, the benefit of never specifying what console they're comparing to lol. I believe I remember at least as far back as the 4S, so what was the console, the Wii lol.

But they are getting some big if a few years old AAA games on there now, Death Stranding, RE4 and Village, so that's an interesting move.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
You’ll need a new backbone now that it supports USB-C. The previous iPhone backbone will no longer be compatible. I don’t believe the Android version has confirmed compatibility, but it’s possible.

Apparently there's no bugbears with their USB C support, it's just USB C


Be interested to see if the existing USB C ones work
 

LordOfChaos

Member
720p re village at 30fps with touch controls on a small screen
The Daily Show Wow GIF by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Lol, but also this part

I saw one of the websites. Maybe it was MacRumors, but they confirmed that all iPhone 15 models would support a display port for up to 4K HDR video output to an external display. Would iPhone 15 Pro owners be able to play Resident Evil 4, for example, on these external monitors?

Jeremy Sandmel, Apple's Senior Director of GPU Software:
As you probably know, there's the display resolution and then there's the gaming resolution, and then the frame rates, the game rendering. With technologies like MetalFX's upscaling, we can sort of separate those two things. The game can run at really high frame rates, get really great quality results, and then upscale whatever resolution the display, whether that's the iPhone display, whether that's an external display. So yes, the iPhone can connect to these 4K displays, and it can drive them externally doing whatever you do on the phone, including gaming to these other displays. The resolution and frame rate are going to highly depend on what the game's actually doing.

They should sell a complete Switch package with a screen dock and controller for it
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
You’ll need a new backbone now that it supports USB-C. The previous iPhone backbone will no longer be compatible. I don’t believe the Android version has confirmed compatibility, but it’s possible.

Apparently there's no bugbears with their USB C support, it's just USB C


Be interested to see if the existing USB C ones work

They do:

We're excited to announce that starting September 12th 2023, all Backbone USB-C products will be upgraded to feature Backbone’s patent-pending universal technology, enabling Backbone USB-C products to work with both iPhone 15 series and Android devices!

Existing Backbone USB-C products will receive a firmware update.

Backbone USB-C products purchased after September 12, 2023 will feature an upgraded charging node allowing it to work with both iPhone 15 and Android without a firmware update!
 
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They're assuming due to the built in userbase of the iphone, ipad, and macbook that they'll be able to leverage those into being a gaming powerhouse.

They're not necessarily wrong but don't think it will be as easy as they think it will be.

That said, wouldn't be surprised if they buy up some studios in the near future.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
Feels like they are pre-emptively claiming the new phone is a "games console" to try and fight the legislation coming from the EU and UK about being a gatekeeper regarding competing stores being allowed on their smart(PC) devices and their comms apps needing versions on other OSes.

If that is their angle to defend their cut for their half of the duopoly on smart(PC) OSes, I think we are going to have a much firmer definition of a "games console" when that defence fails.
Consoles are next.

Walled gardens are collapsing.
 
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