Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max gaming test shows up to 69% less performance loss than iPhone 17 Pro Max
With every new generation, the iPhone is inching closer and closer to a gaming handheld. Both the A19 Pro and A20 Pro powering the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro series respectively have enough raw processing power to compete with dedicated gaming handhelds. The A19 Pro comfortably enters Steam Deck territory, while the newer A20 Pro can even match or outperform the ROG Xbox Ally X in some synthetic CPU and GPU workloads.
But no matter how powerful smartphone chips become, they still face one major limitation in thermal throttling. Most smartphones, including iPhones, do not use active cooling such as a fan, and instead rely on passive solutions such as vapour chambers to dissipate heat.
Which is why, when Apple revealed the iPhone 18 Pro series and claimed improved cooling through a new vapour chamber, I, and I assume many other tech enthusiasts, wanted to know exactly how resistant the new iPhone Pro series is to thermal throttling.
iPhone 18 Pro Max thermal throttling tested in Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding
In Resident Evil 4 Remake, both phones were tested at the same 1320p output resolution with the Balanced preset and MetalFX Quality. The iPhone 17 Pro Max reached the “Fair” thermal state after just 2 minutes 39 seconds and progressed to “Serious” before the 8-minute 13-second mark. The iPhone 18 Pro Max, meanwhile, did not even reach “Fair” until 8:13 and took 14 minutes 13 seconds to reach “Serious”.
By around 34 minutes, performance had fallen from roughly 35 FPS to 26 FPS on the 17 Pro Max, while the 18 Pro Max dropped from around 44 FPS to 35 FPS.
For Death Stranding, both phones were tested at 900p using the High preset. Early in the run, the iPhone 18 Pro Max was delivering around 40 FPS, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max was at roughly 32–33 FPS.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max reached the “Fair” thermal state at 6 minutes 31 seconds, whereas the iPhone 18 Pro Max did not reach “Fair” until 11 minutes 27 seconds. By that point, the 17 Pro Max had already progressed to “Serious”, although the video does not give the exact timestamp for that transition. The 18 Pro Max did not reach the “Serious” state until 19 minutes 57 seconds.
By around 34 minutes 40 seconds, the iPhone 18 Pro Max was still delivering roughly 37 FPS, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max had dropped to about 24.5 FPS. So again, the newer phone is not avoiding thermal throttling entirely, but it takes much longer to reach the same thermal states and loses far less performance once it gets there.
Some back-of-the-napkin math suggests the iPhone 18 Pro Max cuts throttling-related performance loss by around 23% in Resident Evil 4 Remake and 69% in Death Stranding. More importantly, the A20 Pro is achieving this while sustaining higher performance and power draw, making the cooling improvement even more significant.
Apple’s rumoured iPhone game controller could unlock better sustained gaming performance
This could become even more interesting going forward. A recent report claims Apple is developing two dedicated iPhone game controllers, with references pointing to features such as dual thumbsticks, a D-pad, analog triggers, haptics and potentially motion controls.
If Apple’s upcoming rumoured iPhone game controller also incorporates some form of active cooling, the iPhone could become a genuinely interesting handheld gaming platform. The A20 Pro already delivers strong sustained performance with passive cooling, so an external fan or cooling plate could potentially help it maintain higher clocks and power levels for longer.
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