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Apple A17 Pro introduces hardware ray tracing

Mobile gaming just got more intense including new AAA games

Updated: Sep 13, 2023 9:43 am
Apple A17 Pro introduces hardware ray tracing

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In its yearly event, Apple has updated its product lineup once again. With new hardware including phones and processors, it’s adding even more features to what it has to offer. That includes the iPhone 15 Pro which includes the A17 Pro that now upgrades the GPU to include ray tracing on mobile hardware.

Along with this hardware improvement, there are new games coming out to take advantage of it. Even though it’s on the mobile platform, Apple is promising a lot more gaming performance and some focus on it as it shows some of the top games that are coming to it. If you’re wondering what that entails we’ll look further ahead as you might consider where to buy the iPhone 15 Pro.

A17 Pro GPU
Apple’s A17 Pro GPU features, source: Apple

A17 Pro ray tracing hardware and upscaling

We can expect this new hardware to come with the iPhone 15 release coming by the end of September 2023. The processor comes with a redesigned GPU that offers up to 20% faster performance. But more importantly, the inclusion of hardware acceleration brings an improved look and performance according to Apple as seen in the screenshots below.

The comparison first shows how much ray tracing affects the look of the graphics, and how it enhances the experience. Although on such a small screen, we’re not quite sure how much you will be able to enjoy it. But the hardware acceleration does show it running at 30 FPS instead of 8 of the software acceleration, meaning it is at least possible to use it.

Apple also boasts of its rich App Store and gaming ecosystem that provides these quality apps along with support for controllers like Playstation’s Dualsense. Which will come in handy when the new games come out. During the showcase, some big games were revealed coming to the mobile market. With the likes of Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. All of them are not exactly easy to run but enhanced for the mobile market. They could likely rely on the MetalFX upscaling that will allow these AAA titles to come to the handheld. But we will be interested to see if its a worth experience.


With a background in engineering and PC gaming, Seb is a staff writer with a focus on GPU, storage, and power supplies. Also one of tech supports in the office he likes helping and solving problems.

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