iPhone 16 Has Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing And Native Support For AAA Games

Apple introduced the iPhone 16 on September 9, promising a souped-up five-core GPU that can support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and play AAA games previously only available on the iPhone 15 Pro. Here’s what we know so far about the next iPhone’s gaming capabilities.

While Apple’s announcement for the iPhone 16 has a strong focus on generative AI, it also showed off how the device’s five-core GPU will deliver higher performance for more demanding games. Thanks to the new A18 GPU, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus can now support hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which Apple says can model light with up to five times higher frame rates than software-based ray tracing.

Both iPhone 16 models will be able to support AAA titles previously only available on the higher-powered iPhone 15 Pro, including Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Some of the other AAA titles supported by the iPhone 15 Pro include Resident Evil Village, the Resident Evil 4 remake, and Death Stranding.

In a surprising move for an iPhone event, Apple also gave an update on Honor of Kings: World, a new open-world action-RPG based on Tencent’s Honor of Kings MOBA, revealing that it would release next year for iPhone. It also revealed that the RPG will have an ultra graphics mode that’s been optimized for the iPhone 16.

In conjunction with the gaming announcements, Apple also revealed that the iPhone 16 will have an even bigger battery, allowing it to support high-intensity activities like gaming for longer periods. The battery performance is also supported by software upgrades in Apple’s latest OS update, iOS 18, which will include a frame-rate-boosting Game Mode.

The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will be available from September 20, with preorders opening on September 13. Pricing for the new generation of iPhone starts at $799.