• Apple has launched its latest generation of smartphones in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro.
• The iPhone 15 Pro has improved hardware that is reportedly capable of running modern AAA console games.
• Resident Evil Village, the Resident Evil 4 remake, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage are slated to be playable on the smartphone, ushering in a new era of mobile gaming.

On Tuesday evening, or morning if you were in the US, Apple unveiled its latest products at its Wanderlust Apple Event. Among announcements, including a new Apple Watch series, the Cupertino giant also revealed the iPhone 15 Pro – the premium version of iPhone 15.

Coming with a host of improvements over the base 15, and for a higher price point, the iPhone 15 Pro makes impressive strides in mobile performance capabilities, thanks to Apple’s new A17 Pro chipset. This insane piece of engineering brings the capabilities of a high-end PC or console to the 187 gram casing of a smartphone.

This includes hardware-accelerated raytracing, which means that games will look better, and run faster. To drive home the capabilities of the new device, Apple revealed that a few console-only games would soon be available on iPhone 15 Pro.

Resident Evil Village, the Resident Evil 4 remake, Death Stranding and Assassin’s Creed Mirage are in the first wave of titles. These are new, and relatively new, AAA games, and their port to mobile means a new era of gaming on smartphones – and we’re not just parroting Apple’s marketing here.

Previously, mobile games would have to make certain concessions in terms of their graphical fidelity in order for smartphone hardware to run them. Popular titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail went with stylised cartoon graphics in order to look good and be playable. The graphical requirements for a modern console game would melt a smartphone.

But the iPhone 15 Pro with its 6-core GPU, CPU and a faster neural engine seems capable enough, even if nothing much has been said about how the device will keep from becoming as hot as the sun after a few hours of playtime.

“The new CPU is up to 10 percent faster with microarchitectural and design improvements, and the Neural Engine is now up to 2x faster, powering features like autocorrect and Personal Voice in iOS 17. The pro-class GPU is up to 20 percent faster and unlocks entirely new experiences, featuring a new 6-core design that increases peak performance and energy efficiency,” noted Apple of its performance in a press release.

Apple showed off what seems like gameplay of Death Stranding and Resident Evil 4 on the device, and if to be believed it seems that few concessions have been made to the graphics. Of course, actually playing the games may be different, but as long as we get a solid 30 frames per second, no stuttering or lag and a serviceable UI then Apple could have a game changer on its hands.

One that opens up the future of mobile gaming, with big developers now adding “iPhone 15 Pro” to their list of platforms alongside PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Could you imagine?

The iPhone 15 Pro will be available in the US from 22nd September 2023, with the base version retailing for $999 and the Pro Max version – with even better specs – going for $1 199. No word yet on when it will hit South African shelves, but usually Apple devices land a few weeks after the US launch.

[Image – Steam]