iPhone 15 Pro's AAA games support isn't about competing with consoles, says Apple exec

Apple recently announced the new best iPhone, the iPhone 15 Pro. It gets a bunch of upgrades, but one upgrade that caught everybody’s attention is that the phone will be able to run the console versions of some AAA titles. These include the Resident Evil 4 Remake, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and The Division Resurgence. Presumably, there are more AAA titles that will arrive on the iPhone later, including Death Stranding.

It appears Apple is gunning to make the iPhone a gaming console. In a recent interview with IGN, Apple executives Jeremy Sandmel, Senior Director of GPU Software, Tim Millet, VP of Platform Architecture, and Kaiann Drance, VP of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, discussed this new era of iPhone gaming, and how it’s not about competing with consoles.

iPhone is going to be the best game console, says Apple exec

Apple executive Kaiann Drance said in the interview that the choice of input in these is going to be with the developers and users, and Apple isn’t going to limit it.

Drance said, « Obviously, certain types of gameplay work fine and great with onscreen controllers. Some of them want an option so that you have the gameplay in an external controller, and as you probably saw yourself, we showcase the Backbone controller, it works with the iPhone 15 Pro and it’s a great experience. There are other controllers, and Bluetooth controllers as well, but we are not saying, « gamers, you have to do this or that. »

Jeremy Sandmel added, saying that Apple has the tools and technology to support developers to add either input as per their choice of experience.

While Sandmel said that the iPhone will be the best game console, Tim Millet elaborated that it’s not looking to compete with consoles. The focus is on the developers and the titles.

Millet said, « I think console is just a convenient way for us to talk about the classic games and the types of games that the developers that we’re targeting, the ones who have been successful in deploying there. We’ve done our best to try to deliver that same toolbox to the developers and we’re working hard with them. »

While the actual performance is yet to be tested, the future looks bright for gaming on the iPhone, which is something Apple hasn’t pushed with its Macs.