An Apple event staple is the famous game dev gushing over new Apple hardware, followed by a tease of upcoming high-end titles. But with last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and again with this year’s iPhone 16 Pro, Apple raised the stakes, boldly claiming its smartphone lets you play your favorites anywhere—including the biggest AAA hits.
How far can you really push the iPhone as a video game system? We decided to find out. Consoles and PCs were tidied away. Then, armed with only an iPhone, a few choice accessories, and steely resolve, we explored whether Apple’s gaming hype is real and what it means for the future of mobile gaming.
The GameSir G8 Galileo controller with the iPhone 16 Pro
Playing AAA Games on iPhone
Apple might claim the iPhone is a AAA powerhouse, but when playing the current crop of headliners—Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding, Resident Evil Village—you find they have one thing in common: The AAA experience has come across too literally.
These games first demand you download many gigabytes of data, and you can’t do anything with your iPhone while it’s chugging away. Most forget touchscreens exist, forcing you to navigate menus using on-screen gamepads, and controls are strewn across the display. Even if you’re a finger gymnastics champ, you’ll cover half the action while you play.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage makes the best effort to optimize for touch, but it’s still far from ideal. So a controller is a must. Using one has the added benefit of keeping your hands clear of your iPhone, which can get toasty as you play.
Still from Assassin's Creed Mirage with onscreen touch controls
Still from Resident Evil Village
With the iPhone ensconced in a controller, it then hits you: You’re playing a modern AAA game. On a phone. And in the case of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4, games that jumped from console to iPhone in just eight months. We’re a long way from Angry Birds.
A long way from consoles, too. Visually, these titles look great—for iPhone games. Compared to their console and PC counterparts, you notice softness in the visuals. The output is 720p, but it’s being upscaled from something lower. That means a lack of clarity, lower-quality textures, missing lighting effects, and artifacts around characters as reconstruction wizardry fails to keep up. It’s impressive, but not a PlayStation 5 (or even a PS4) in your pocket.
The same goes for performance—although Apple is making strides there. Run these games on an iPhone 15 Pro and they are playable, but quite often dip below 30 fps. With an iPhone 16 Pro, frame rates are more stable. Maybe there’s something to those Apple keynote performance claims after all.
Consider the Costs
Wow factor aside, is this enough? You can play these games on other systems, so why use an iPhone? That’s a good question. Especially since various parties keep adding reasons not to. Capcom’s games now require an internet connection, rendering them useless on flights. Assassin’s Creed Mirage won’t even start without a Ubisoft account.
Then there’s the iPhone hardware. Every iPhone 16 has 8 GB of RAM, yet that’s cutting it close for the most demanding titles and can lead to crashes. Even if that doesn’t happen, your battery will rapidly drain while playing AAA games. Running out of juice on a Steam Deck or a Switch is frustrating; it’s much worse when your iPhone dies by midafternoon because you spent an hour on the train beating up zombies.
