Gaming on iPhone 7: The Complete Guide

iPhone 7

So you want to know how terrible, great, or average will gaming be on the new iPhone 7? You’ve come to the right spot. I’ve been following and monitoring iPhone news since a couple weeks ago. Gaming, obviously, was my focus. Gaming on iPhone 7, is what we all are waiting for.

Today I’ll write an in-depth article about gaming on iPhone 7. Is it going to be a show-stealer given all the promises the developers had under their belt or is it just going to be the normal stuff whipped with more cream (read better graphics)?

For a general iPhone 7 update about how is it really good and what new power features or flashy blow-ups are added to it – I recommend you read Chris Pereira’s brilliant article on GameSpot.

1. The new chip: console-level gameplay?

We’re promised console-level gameplay with the iPhone 7. iPhone 6 used the A9 GPU, and the iPhone 7 uses A10 Fusion – something Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president, said was the best GPU in any iPhone ever.

Gaming on iPhone 7
The best ever iPhone GPU is here. 4 cores (two of the high performance — 40% faster than the previous A9. Here’s a full comparison of A9 and A10.

To live-test it, Schiller invited Oz: Broken Kingdom’s developer to run the game. The developer confirmed that there was a performance improvement.

Essentially, iPhone 7 has been designed with faster video playback and gameplay in mind. The A10 Fusion chip will also provide higher performance and stability to games like Pokémon GO. It’s a 64-bit quad-core GPU that’s believed to be 50% faster, graphically, than 6s’ A9 chip.

(Don’t confuse A10 with AMD’s processor.)

Let’s chop up a few more details I think might be useful here. iPhone 7 comes with stereo speaker setup (with double the sound of 6s) and a wider color gamut. Resolutions are same as 6s and 6s Plus.

The only question I have is whether this will mean battery problems. In my experience I’ve known iPhones to almost always depend on powerbanks for providing good gaming. A more advanced GPU might mean increased backup problems, even if Apple promises “longest battery life ever in an iPhone.”

Whatever the case, Tim Cook is trying to leverage “consoles in your pocket” idea, which is pretty interesting.

2. Nintendo’s shares skyrocket: Mario is coming

The new Super Mario Run is coming for the iPhone 7. This is the first time a Mario game will make its presence on a mobile platform. Run can be played with one hand, and thanks to the performance improvements in iPhone 7 – fans are really looking forward to it.

Mario will keep running automatically, you can make it jump. The longer you tap, the higher the jump. The movement looks really great. Check the video in the last section from 7:23 to see a glimpse of the gameplay.

It will release on holiday time (December) this year with a fixed price. No idea about the price. Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary game developer from Japan, himself announced about the details of the game and how it fits with iPhone’s abilities.

Nintendo’s shares jumped 18% shortly after this surprise announcement, adding close to $4.5 billion to Nintendo’s market value – reaching ¥29,200 (not that you have any idea about this value). Needless to say, it’s a huge opportunity for Apple as well as Nintendo to grow their gaming spaces. The game is expected to be hugely successful, and might entail a healthy partnership.

After Pokémon GO, Run might be the next milestone in Nintendo’s third-party franchise. Although Nintendo always kept its games in-house now perhaps it’s pressurized by its stakeholders as casual mobile and console gaming is soaring new heights.

3. The iPhone games

F1 2016 was previewed onstage to give a feel of console-level gaming on iPhone 7. Besides that, and Super Mario Run, there are more titles for iOS.

TouchArcade specializes in iPhone gaming news. This new iPhone games list is taken from Eli Hodapp’s New iPhone Games article:

  • All Star Quarterback 17 (by Full Fat Games)
  • Think Shift (by unexpect3rd)
  • Yomo – An Epic Tile Adventure (by WANYOMO LIMITED)
  • Bullet Rain (by Cybergate technology Ltd)
  • Submerged: Miku and the Sunken City (By Uppercut Games)
  • Monster Super League (by Four Thirty Three)
  • Defender Rush (By Ross Mcrae)
  • ORB: A Puzzle Logic Game (by Richard Mochrie)
  • Red Ball Bounce Rush (by Lifesyle Appstudios)
  • Skipping (by shun liu)

And of course, the one tested: Oz: Broken Kingdom.

Furthermore, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Eisenhorn: Xenos, GTA: San Andreas, Riptide GP Renegade, and Chameleon Run are good picks to utilize the iPhone 7 graphics and performance.

4. Competition with PS4 and Xbox One

PS4 and Xbox are big deals in gaming. However, the time has passed when you could just simply disregard mobile gaming in favor of consoles.

“Hah, mobiles? Dude, play real games.”

Nope. Apple’s iPhone 7 takes us one step closer to achieving gaming integrity. Mobile, PC, consoles, all will be comparable.

Recently I was reading an amazing article about Night Terrors – an iPhone game and how it beats the consoles by utilizing augmented reality. It’s scary. It’s fun. And it’s powerful enough to give consoles a run for their money.

With time, mobile gaming is becoming a tough competitor for consoles like PS4 and Xbox. Yes, the controls aren’t as fleshed out as in consoles, but gaming stands for fun. If Angry Birds can give you more fun than a heavy action game on PS4 which is just a rip-off of another mainstream ninja battle gig – I’d better shoot the Birds up.

Given that and the performance improvements in iPhone 7 – it can be painlessly said that iPhone 7 brings a message of tough competition for PS4 and Xbox.

5. Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is the future beast we’re all looking forward to. Strap a VR headset to your iPhone and enjoy the experience.

Yes, there’s time before Apple comes with its own dedicated VR equipment and games. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t experiment ahead. Virtual reality is the god of gaming. And what will be better than utilizing VR on a device with:

  • Stereo sound system,
  • 1920×1080 pixels size, 400+ DPI resolution,
  • iOS 10,
  • Quad-core 2.23 GHz CPU,
  • A10 Fusion GPU (that we’ve already talked about),
  • Retina display.

So let’s keep the window open for some VR experimentation.

However, in case you want to experiment already, Michael Grothaus writes about top picks of iPhone-compatible VR headsets and games on Know Your Mobile.

6. Wrapping up with more features

The best of games will be able to utilize an amazing degree of frame rate, obviously.

The haptic feedback engine has been further engineered by Apple. The perfected engine now supports more immersion in gaming like treble effects. I wonder whether dropping Earthquake spells will create trembles!

With other costly add-ons you can buy later-on, you can use the AirPods, the Inductive ChargingPad, and so on and whatnot to enhance your experience.

And you won’t believe me, I sat through the whole 2 hours’ video of the September event. There, Tim Cook also said that the Apple devices are world’s most popular gaming platform, pretty much based on the facts that the App Store is more sales-friendly – double than Android actually, and that there’s over 5,00,000 games in it.

And the best thing. You can play your iPhone 7 games while taking a shower. Oh. God. Yes! It’s water and dirt resistant, this time 100% and officially. So, that was my take on Gaming in iPhone 7. What do you think about this fruit? (Since it’s an Apple product) Start a discussion in the comments below.

Keep in touch with Spiel Times for more gaming, technology and esports related information, news and stuff.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *