Mobile Mavens: Does more powerful hardware for iPhone 16 make a difference to games developers?

The latest iPhone 16 is beginning to roll out, and with it comes a host of new features and the latest in mobile technology.

Apple particularly boasted about the iPhone 16’s gaming capabilities, with its 30% better gaming performance, an ultra graphics mode for Tencent’s upcoming Honor of Kings, and more capability for triple-A games. 

But how much does all this hardware power matter? Does it really make any difference in a market not focused on triple-A experiences and where are wide variety of low-end and high-end devices are available?

Here’s what our Mobile Mavens had to say on the topic.

For most developers, the introduction of any singular generation of phones is inconsequential, as even the latest iPhone accounts for only a small portion of the overall market.

This is not to say you won’t see benefits as a player; you can expect better framerates, stability, and perhaps increased visual fidelity. Unlike consoles and even graphics cards, the yearly release of phones means you often only notice changes over a period of several years.

In terms of raw horsepower, phones have reached the point of diminishing returns; most players aren’t looking for console or PC experiences on the go.

As always, the real value lies in the innovation and creativity of each developer. AI-based machine learning and VR will continue to benefit from improvements in silicon, but these aren’t going to impact the games you see at the top of the charts in the short term.

Günay Aliyeva

Co-Founder
at Gamelight

The latest state of hardware tech advancements makes it more and more forgiving to have unoptimised (from a technical standpoint) games as devices get more and more CPU / RAM.

This makes the market generally more accessible. Few big players in the mobile sphere actually rely on high hardware requirements (e.g., because of high-resolution 3D graphics), and they are benefiting a lot more from technical advancements than, for example, match-3 titles.

We might see a shift in the future of bigger triple-A titles to also include mobile phones in their releases – the question is whether more dedicated players are even interested in playing those kinds of games on the phone.

Christopher Kassulke

CEO
at HandyGames

25 years ago, we had the idea to bring mobile games to these mobile devices. No iOS, Android, Java/J2ME, Symbian and all those cool features phones. We discussed black & white phones with monophonic sound with 32KB to 64KB for the whole game.

The first one we officially showed in 2001 was a racing game (Siemens Racer), and now we play with 140FPS our destruction racing game Wreckfest and crash and race our way on mobile devices like never before. Of course, we are talking about gigabytes, and there are no longer some kilobytes for such a game.

We have mobile devices that are stronger than the Switch and even PS4, so what more do you really want?

Even games like SpongeBob Square Pants Battle for Bikini Bottom or Cosmic Shake show that even action adventures run damn smooth on those little phones. When I look back only a decade ago and think about Deer Hunter from Glu and see how awesome Way of the Hunter looks now – wow, what a difference!

Not only a ‘sniper’ game on a static scenery. You can really go out into the wild, hike, search for animals, and even drive around in such a fantastic landscape. What we all can experience nowadays are PC-like quality games on devices.

Tech advancements are required in portals, and we need to discover our games! Currently, when I watch how the stores look, I am worried. Those stores look like the old operator portals – the same stuff over and over again. The top charts are not moving, and only advertisements are displayed on specific portals. The same games get the features I saw several years ago.

But I am happy that the market has evolved over the last 25 years, and we will see more cool stuff coming! What we really need are players who understand that they partly own mobile devices that cost 1,000 to 2,000 USD/Euros, but they can also play cool games on those that cost only $9,99 to $29,99 without asking to sell their kidneys for IAP or watch nonsensical ads.

Mark Greenshields

VP of the Bangalore Studio
at Kwalee

I do not believe these new devices will change the games industry. The mobile games market is not generally successful at high-end games.

Many publishers have shown that triple-A console-type games do not make money on mobile, so iPhone 16, with even more power, will, in my opinion, make no difference.

Mobile games succeed when they are compelling, very playable, and more casual in their outlook (i.e., they are easy to get into and are aimed at the mass market). We always ensure our games run as well on all specs of devices that we support, as the gaming experience for the users is paramount. Mass market means we will continue targeting the widest possible potential users.  

In my opinion, the hardware does what it needs for mobile gaming, both currently and in the near future. Things that can help in the future are not huge hardware leaps but consistent network speeds, low latency, and perhaps (my wish) some decent tactile buttons for ‘twitch gaming’.

Powerful hardware will help with things like AR applications, but as they are not mainstream yet, to me (although I have bought a 16 pro), the current generation of hardware is more than good enough for the foreseeable future.

Claire Rozain

Co-Founder
at YouthWave Game Africa

The iPhone 16’s focus on games and hardware enhancements – like better GPU performance and faster processing – appeals to the high-end gaming market. However, this isn’t elevating the entire industry, especially in regions like Africa, where accessibility matters more than performance.

Most gamers in Africa aren’t using the latest iPhones. According to StatCounter Global Stats, Android dominates 85% to 90% of the smartphone market across many African countries, while iPhones hold less than 10%.

For developers like us at Youthwave Games, we focus on optimising games for lower-end Android devices, which often have 2GB of RAM or less.

These devices and 3G networks prioritise efficiency, smooth performance, and low data consumption over high-end graphics. Over 60% of devices are lower-end (GSMA Mobile Economy 2022), so our games must run on a wide range of hardware to be appealing in the world and Africa.

Rather than focusing on the latest tech, we’re focusing on developing HTML5 and YouTube-based games. These are lightweight, instantly accessible, and work on almost any device, offering a broader reach to players, regardless of their hardware. We believe this is the future for gaming in Africa, where scalability and accessibility are key.

Jurjen Biewenga

Senior Backend Engineer
at Metaplay

There’s much to say about Apple’s market position and power. With a 70/30 revenue split in favour of Apple compared to Android, they can compel developers to change their games.

In the long-term, we might see more cross-platform releases. Their success will depend on whether they can capture the fundamentally different audience on mobile platforms.