The iPhone 16 Will Have 30% More Gaming Power, Apple Says [CNET]

Faster ray-traced graphics on the iPhone are coming, thanks to Apple’s new A18 CPUs.

The new iPhone 16 will power better video gaming experiences, Apple says, with 30% higher sustained performance than last year’s model and access to more AAA titles. AAA videogames are major releases from top publishers, which often have big budgets and incorporate the latest graphics technology.

During its Monday “Glowtime” Apple Event, the tech company said that its new A18 chip, thermal improvements and enhancements to the iPhone 16’s GPU will allow for better hardware-accelerated ray tracing and speedier performance. Games such as War Thunder Mobile can create more realistic lighting effects, such as sunlight on the ocean, and higher frame rates than software acceleration, as the company showed in a video.

Read more: Catch Up on Everything From the Apple Event

The new hardware also means games such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which were only available on iPhone Pro models, will now be playable on the new base iPhone model.

Looking to preorder the latest Apple devices? We’re rounding up the best iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4 deals at launch.

Apple also showed off a version of Honor of Kings: World, a new edition of the popular Chinese MOBA from Tencent, that will be available for iPhone 16 next year. It will have an ultra graphics mode optimized for the iPhone 16.

The new Apple phones will be available for preorder Sept. 13, and available in stores as of Sept. 20.