iPhone 17 Pro Max AAA gaming test shows Resident Evil 4 running at 60 FPS without thermal throttling
The A19 Pro chip powering the iPhone 17 Pro Max brings significant GPU upgrades. This was evident in a leaked set of benchmarks, where the A19 Pro scored on par with the M2 iPad Air. Moreover, in a review video by popular YouTuber The Tech Chap, we also saw how the A19 Pro in the iPhone 17 Pro Max easily outperformed last year’s A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
But benchmarks only tell part of the story. To see how the chip actually performs in real life, YouTuber MrMacRight tested 10 AAA games on Apple’s latest top-of-the-line flagship, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the results were impressive.
GRID Legends was one of the first games tested. In performance mode, it ran smoothly at 60 FPS at 1778 × 818 with dynamic resolution scaling in place. Frame pacing remained stable, and thermal output stayed nominal. According to MrMacRight, the iPhone 16 Pro Max often dipped closer to 50 FPS in the same scenario, making the A19 Pro’s consistency a noticeable upgrade.
Resident Evil 2 also highlighted the raw GPU gains. On the A19 Pro, the game managed close to 50 FPS at native 1080p, whereas the A17 and A18 Pro devices struggled to stay above 35 FPS. According to the YouTuber, switching to the 30 FPS preset improved frame pacing and graphical detail, though at the cost of responsiveness.
With Resident Evil 4, Apple’s new chip demonstrated its biggest leap. By adjusting config files, MrMacRight was able to push the A19 Pro to reach up to 60 FPS, though not perfectly locked. More importantly, the updated vapor chamber cooling kept thermals at a manageable level, with the Metal HUD showing a thermal rating of “Fair” instead of “Serious,” the latter being common on the A18 Pro and A17 Pro where throttling occurred. Older Pro iPhones tended to overheat under the same load.
Death Stranding, on the other hand, highlighted both strengths and limitations. Out of the box, the game targets 30 FPS at 720p with aggressive upscaling. On the A19 Pro, it held this target consistently and ran cooler compared to the A17 Pro and A18 Pro. Experimenting with the config files and a 60 FPS cap, the YouTuber showed that the game could reach up to 40 FPS, suggesting room for further optimisation.
Finally, Assassin’s Creed Mirage provided a more realistic view of gaming expectations on iPhone. The title is capped at 30 FPS and relies on upscaling, but thanks to the new chip, it was able to sustain higher graphics quality. However, the YouTuber noted that this “high” preset is not the same as the high settings available on PC and console.
These results confirm that the A19 Pro is a major leap forward for mobile gaming, especially in maintaining stable performance without rapid thermal throttling. However, most AAA titles are still limited to 30 FPS targets, and the main challenge for Apple continues to be its limited gaming library, at least when compared with other handheld devices like the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch 2.
For a deeper dive, including tests on Hitman, Sniper Elite 4, Subnautica and more, you can watch MrMacRight’s full video where he breaks down all ten games in detail.
Source(s)
