Can anyone else see the irony?

[groove-agent]

So the iPhone is the first Apple product to benefit from the 3nm process plus have hardware raytracing. Isn't it weird that the iPhone, a small little device with a 6.x" screen has practically the most advanced and powerful CPU/ GPU? I'm sure some could take advantage of that horsepower, but generally it seems like overkill. Allow us to connect a monitor to that phone and use it like a computer and I'll change my mind.

Really the 3nm process would have been better spent in a Mac. I get it though. Apple sells way more phones than computers. I was really hoping for hardware raytracing in a MBP this fall so I can finally ditch my PC and all the cables it adds to my desk. Yes I'll lose access to some games, but that's not a bad thing as I feel like gaming is a guilty pleasure.

I know hardware raytracing is coming to Mac, but I didn't think it would come to the phone first.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

So the iPhone is the first Apple product to benefit from the 3nm process plus have hardware raytracing. Isn't it weird that the iPhone, a small little device with a 6.x" screen has practically the most advanced and powerful CPU/ GPU?

It is not the most advanced and powerful SoC. Not by a longshot lmao.

In a phone yeah it's the most powerful, but most powerful in general it ain't anywhere close to M series, let alone Ryzen

It's a phone chip so there's only so far it can go. Remember, iPhones don't have fans so there's only so hard you can push fidelity on it before you start getting thermal throttled, unless you get a cooling fan accessory for your phone, which kinda defeats the purpose.

I'm sure some could take advantage of that horsepower, but generally it seems like overkill. Allow us to connect a monitor to that phone and use it like a computer and I'll change my mind.

Why does it need to connect to a monitor to change your mind? That level horsepower is pretty necessary for an ARM SoC to be able to match the same fidelity level as x86 GPUs

Really the 3nm process would have been better spent in a Mac. I get it though. Apple sells way more phones than computers. I was really hoping for hardware raytracing in a MBP this fall so I can finally ditch my PC and all the cables it adds to my desk. Yes I'll lose access to some games, but that's not a bad thing as I feel like gaming is a guilty pleasure.

I'm gonna be honest with you, raytracing in games is overrated, and this is coming from someone who has an RTX 30 series card. Raytracing tanks the framerate for what is very little graphical gain. Plus there's smarter graphics techniques that can accomplish a lot of the things raytracing does while not making performance worse.

 

[maflynn]

You posted this in the game section which has nothing to do with iPhones.

Allow us to connect a monitor to that phone and use it like a computer and I'll change my mind

I don't think Apple going to go down that path with their iPhones

screen has practically the most advanced and powerful CPU/ GPU?

Sorry but there are much more powerful CPUs and GPUS out there then what is found in the A series processor.

Really the 3nm process would have been better spent in a Mac.

It will, Apple does the iPhone processor first.

I was really hoping for hardware raytracing in a MBP this fall so I can finally ditch my PC

That doesn't mean the MPB is going to be a better computer for game playing.

 

[Mackilroy]

I don't think Apple going to go down that path with their iPhones

I’ve heard rumors the USB-C port supports video out.

 

[groove-agent]

It is not the most advanced and powerful SoC. Not by a longshot lmao.

Sorry I misspoke as I was in a hurry before heading to work. I think the point I was trying to make was the iPhone 15 has the latest and newest tech from Apple using the 3nm process before any Mac or iPad.

 

[groove-agent]

You posted this in the game section which has nothing to do with iPhones.

That doesn't mean the MPB is going to be a better computer for game playing.

My post is not about iPhones. This post is really about gaming on the Mac and the irony of how there is hardware raytracing (a big gaming GPU feature) on the iPhone before the Mac. It seems overkill to me, but I appreciate (and concede to) the ubiquity of the iPhones compared to the popularity of the Mac.

I never said gaming on the Mac would be better than other computers. However maybe with the M3 (3nm / hw raytracing) it would be adequate enough for me to ditch my PC.

 

[groove-agent]

I’ve heard rumors the USB-C port supports video out.

That would be pretty cool. Could you imagine the value of the iPhone if you could KVM it and use it for casual computing? That being said I can't see Apple wanting to do that as their focus seems to be pulling people into their ecosystem of multiple devices.

 

[diamond.g]

My post is not about iPhones. This post is really about gaming on the Mac and the irony of how there is hardware raytracing (a big gaming GPU feature) on the iPhone before the Mac. It seems overkill to me, but I appreciate (and concede to) the ubiquity of the iPhones compared to the popularity of the Mac.

I never said gaming on the Mac would be better than other computers. However maybe with the M3 (3nm / hw raytracing) it would be adequate enough for me to ditch my PC.

I don't think it is irony, Apple makes more money off gaming on iPhone than they do macOS so they are going to cater to that market more.

 

[MRMSFC]

Ironic? Not totally since mobile gaming is the biggest part of the industry by revenue. (And is far easier than solving the issue of gaming on the Mac).

That would be pretty cool. Could you imagine the value of the iPhone if you could KVM it and use it for casual computing?

God, I wish. My friggin phone is more powerful than half the old junk laptops I have.

Just having a small emulator machine that I could plug into any tv with a bluetooth controller would be a lot of fun, and with better performance than flagship Android phones.

Also, I can see that the new iPhones would support video out. You could previously use a dongle to do it (which worked via airplay, but I digress), and it’s a decent selling point.

 

[groove-agent]

I don't think it is irony, Apple makes more money off gaming on iPhone than they do macOS so they are going to cater to that market more.

Yes, I concede to that:

I get it though. Apple sells way more phones than computers.

However I bet I'm not the only one who thinks features like hardware raytracing is a bit of a waste on a 6.x screen with a notch/ pill in it. Most could agree that games are better on bigger screens.

Regardless, M3 is coming with hardware raytracing. It's just a matter of when.

 

[groove-agent]

I'm gonna be honest with you, raytracing in games is overrated, and this is coming from someone who has an RTX 30 series card. Raytracing tanks the framerate for what is very little graphical gain. Plus there's smarter graphics techniques that can accomplish a lot of the things raytracing does while not making performance worse.

I respectfully disagree. I also have an RTX card and even in games like WoW I feel it makes a huge difference, but not always an obvious one. Everything seems more visually immersive (realistic) even for a cartoony-style game like WoW. If I play it on my Mac, I lose those visuals and don't enjoy it as much then get back on my PC. Maybe because I'm a creative and notice the detail? Not sure.

With games like WoW, the artistic style of the game would have lower overhead and the with those savings they could put in visuals like hardware raytracing. Let's consider Valheim for example. The game is very low poly, and low resolution textures, but they put in a ton of high-tech filters and effects to give it an overall stunning look where almost every screenshot looks like an artistic painting.

 

[Mackilroy]

I have a 4080, and I turn on ray tracing where available. Lighting, reflections, etc. look better, and with DLSS I still get high framerates. With anything much less than, say, a 3080 Ti, I can see why someone would turn it off though.

 

[Starfia]

I don't really see irony so much as the continuation of a 15-year pattern. The iPhone (and later, the iPad) was the first modern device class for which Apple designed the silicon and plenty of the other major components, and all sorts of those advances, which make sense on it, have eventually come to the Mac when ready.