In Cupertino, California, Apple has recently highlighted the advanced gaming capabilities of its new A17 Pro chip, aiming for the iPhone 15 Pro to be recognized as the world’s ‘best game console’. In a conversation gleaning more about Apple’s future gaming strategy, a team of company executives gave insights into the power behind the new iPhone’s optimized gaming experience.
The A17 Pro chip, running the newly launched iPhone 15 Pro, places heavy emphasis on improving GPU performance. The advanced 6-core designed GPU promises boosted performance and better energy efficiency—it is touted to deliver up to 20% faster GPU performance, along with unprecedented hardware-accelerated ray tracing capabilities.
Apple’s high-level executives Jeremy Sandmel, Senior Director of GPU Software, Tim Millet, VP of Platform Architecture, and Kaiann Drance, VP of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, discussed the gaming focus of the iPhone 15 Pro in an in-depth interview. Importantly, Apple does not set out to compete directly against specific gaming councils such as the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S- instead, the tech giant underpins its strategy on fortify tools appealing directly to game developers, according to Millet.
When questioned about the handling of high-intensity games and heat dissipation, Drance shed light on the benefit of designing for a specific iPhone model which allows cross-team collaboration to understand and optimize performance in actual gameplay. Additionally, Millet mentioned that the final gaming experience doesn’t only rely on the hardware technology but also on developers to find the right balance between gaming quality, performance, resolution, and frame rate.
The team is focusing on facilitating a vibrant gaming ecosystem which combines the device’s feasible hardware with suitable software, hence ensuring a balance between performance and battery life. As per Sandmel, it’s not just about having the best game console on you, but rather Apple aims for the iPhone to be the indisputable ‘best game console’ in the world.
It can be observed that Apple’s decision to give an interview to gaming outlet IGN marks a shift away from its traditional marketing arenas, as it works to engage audiences particularly interested in gaming.
The strategic moves come amid years of Apple’s efforts to make substantial strides in the gaming arena. Whether the iPhone 15 Pro powered by the A17 Pro chip will mark a pivotal change in this direction, remains to be seen.
