Apple introduced the new A17 Pro chip in the iPhone XNUMX Pro Max. iPhone 15 Pro, which features a new Pro-class six-core GPU. Apple has emphasized how graphics rendering will be significantly improved, and a key factor is the new ray tracing mechanism. In this article, we want to explain everything you need to know about ray tracing on the iPhone 15 Pro series.
Fun fact, Apple planned to integrate ray tracing into the A16 Bionic chip with iPhone 14 Pro Last year, it pulled the plug at the last minute. Apple added the feature this year and claims that ray tracing will revolutionize iPhone gaming. But what's the deal with ray tracing, and why is it important at all? Let's find out!
What is ray tracing in games?
Ray tracing is a technique used to create realistic images in video games and virtual environments. This technique simulates how light interacts with all objects in a virtual environment. Rather than approximating how light behaves in a virtual environment, ray tracing tracks the path of individual light rays as they travel through a scene. Ray tracing is widely used in 3D environments because of its ability to deliver stunning images that closely mimic the behavior of light in the real world.
How does ray tracing work?
Ray tracing visualizes many light rays and the entire path they travel as they emerge from a source, for example a virtual camera, through a 2D plane into a 3D environment, and back to the source.
These rays bounce around objects, pass through objects, or are even blocked by objects—just as light rays behave around such objects in the real world. As they interact with objects, the light rays gather information about what they hit and what they see. Finally, these light rays are returned to the source, and the information is collected and processed to produce the visual image on your screen.
Here's an infographic developed by Nvidia that does a good job of explaining the concept:
How is hardware-based ray tracing different in the Apple A17 PRO?
Ray tracing is a demanding task, requiring a significant amount of processing power. Until the launch of the iPhone 15 Pro, high-quality, realistic visuals were only possible through software-accelerated ray tracing. There was no dedicated component within the GPU for ray tracing, and existing hardware was used to accelerate the software's ray tracing algorithms.
However, the calculations and estimations performed in software-based ray tracing are much slower than in hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Therefore, the quality of renderings in software-based ray tracing are often less accurate and less realistic.
With the launch Pro A17Apple has debuted its hardware-accelerated ray tracing technology on the iPhone. While we can't wait to get our hands on the new iPhone and experience it firsthand, we were able to get a glimpse of the feature and how the new ray tracing mechanism differs during the launch.
Apple shows a comparison where ray tracing is approximated by cube maps—a 2D representation of a 3D environment used to simulate reflections and lighting effects on objects in a scene. However, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, visual elements—primarily shadows, object lighting, and light reflections—appear much more accurate.
Furthermore, graphics performance with ray tracing on the A17 Pro is unaffected, and frame rates are significantly smoother.
Additionally, the A17 Pro is power-efficient and performs ray tracing four times faster than the software-based ray tracing in the A16 Bionic. However, if this sounds like a smartphone innovation from Apple, you're wrong.
Apple's A17 PRO has a competitor: smartphones with hardware ray tracing technology.
In 2022, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform with ray tracing support. Alongside Qualcomm, MediaTek also announced ray tracing with the Dimensity 9200 chipset, and Samsung with the Exynos 2200 chipset.
Popular smartphones featuring these chipsets include the series. Samsung Galaxy S23 OnePlus 11, Xiaomi 13 Pro, Oppo Find X6, and more.
However, Apple boldly claims that the A17 Pro CPU offers the best gaming performance among all smartphones. We'll know more once we get our hands on the iPhone 15 Pro.
Apple has joined the ray tracing bandwagon alongside other big names, and it looks like this feature will be standard on most flagship phones in 2023—but how will it impact mobile gaming? Let's find out.
How will ray tracing affect mobile gaming?
There's no doubt that hardware-accelerated ray tracing on smartphones will lead to a more realistic and immersive visual experience during gameplay. However, it would be unfair to expect console-level accuracy and detail in visuals, even with hardware-accelerated ray tracing on smartphones.
Furthermore, ray tracing is a spectrum—an entire scene may be rendered using ray tracing, or only a few parts of the scene may be rendered using ray tracing. However, we can expect subtle shadows and reflections for less demanding visual components within a 3D scene.
With first-generation processors featuring ray tracing, it's a fair expectation to deliver good-quality shadows, highlights, and reflections. In the coming days, we'll learn whether ray tracing on the iPhone 15 Pro is as good as Apple claims and whether there's a shift in the standard.
It's worth noting that when ray tracing was announced on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, no accompanying games supporting ray tracing were shown off. However, with the launch of the A17 Pro, we've seen several titles that take advantage of the new hardware in the iPhone 15 Pro—providing a glimpse into the future of gaming on iPhone.
When Ray Tracing was announced for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, not a single game was announced. Not a single SD 8 Gen 2 Android phone has any RT games.
This is the difference between Apple making an announcement and Android making one. Respect, Apple. Respect. #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/8yj7zuI6F9
- Ershad Kaleebullah (@ r3dash) September 12, 2023
If you have any further questions, see the FAQ section below.
common questions:
Q1. Is ray tracing available in all games?
The answer: No, ray tracing will only be available in games that use hardware or the ray tracing algorithm on your smartphone.
Q2. Is ray tracing available on the iPhone 15?
The answer: Hardware-based ray tracing is not available on the iPhone 15.
Q3. Does ray tracing lower FPS?
The answer: Yes, ray tracing will result in lower frame rates than usual because it requires additional hardware resources. However, the A17 Pro's dedicated ray tracing hardware component will ensure a smoother frame rate.
A new era of gaming on iPhone 15 Pro
Here's everything you need to know about ray tracing in the A17 Pro on the iPhone 15 Pro series. Based on what Apple showed us at its launch event, it's fair to say we're heading into a new gaming landscape on the iPhone.
