Is the iPhone 15 still worth it for Gaming in 2025?
Even though the iPhone 15 is already over a year old at this point, it still packs plenty of power for mobile gaming. It comes with the same A16 Bionic chip as last year’s iPhone 14 Pro models, so you can expect solid performance and smooth gameplay. That makes the iPhone 15 a great option for all kinds of mobile games, whether you’re into casual ones or more graphics-heavy titles. If you’re excited to try the latest games or just want to play your favourites, here’s what the iPhone 15 brings to the table in terms of performance and game compatibility.
iPhone 15: Display
The iPhone 15 comes with the same 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, but it packs more pixels with a resolution of 2,556 by 1,179, delivering a sharp 460ppi pixel density. Brightness has received a major upgrade too and the iPhone 15 now tops out at 1,000 nits for typical brightness, 1,600 nits for HDR content, and can hit a peak of 2,000 nits when you’re outdoors in bright sunlight.
For comparison, last year’s iPhone reached a maximum of 1,200 nits. This makes the iPhone 15’s display on par with the iPhone 15 Pro max models in terms of brightness, which is a huge plus. However, don’t expect any changes in refresh rate as the iPhone 15 is still capped at 60Hz.
iPhone 15: Chipset and Performance
Inside the iPhone 15, you’ll find the A16 Bionic chip, which was previously exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro models. It’s built on a 4nm process and has a six-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four efficiency cores. For graphics, the A16 packs a five-core GPU, and there’s a 16-core Neural Engine for machine learning tasks. Despite being last year’s chipset, the A16 Bionic is a beast.
When you look at Geekbench scores, the iPhone 15 scored 2,607 on the single-core test and 6,231 on multi-core, which is a huge improvement over the iPhone 14’s scores (1,753 and 4,734, respectively). It also beats out the Galaxy S23, which scored 1,541 and 4,949 on Geekbench 5.5. While the graphics performance improvement is modest, the iPhone 15 still holds its own in games. It averaged 60fps on demanding benchmarks like GFXBench Aztec Ruins and T-Rex, showing a slight improvement over the iPhone 14’s 58fps.
iPhone 15: Real-world gaming performance
When it comes to gaming, the iPhone 15 punches above its weight. While it doesn’t have the A17 Pro chip found in the Pro models, the A16 Bionic is more than capable of handling demanding titles. In terms of real-world performance, the iPhone 15 easily handles demanding games like Genshin Impact, PUBG Call of Duty mobile, Marvel Snap, Diablo Immortal, and Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, even when set to the highest settings. Simpler games from Apple Arcade run without breaking a sweat, and mobile gaming in general is incredibly smooth. iPhone 15 does get a bit warm during long or heavy gaming sessions, but it’s not overly concerning.
iPhone 15: Battery
Battery life during gaming is solid as well. You can game for hours without noticing a significant dip in battery life. The iPhone 15’s battery typically lasts all day without issues, though its USB-C 2.0 connection means charging is slower compared to some Android smartphones. However, it’s worth noting that the iPhone 15 tends to heat up when playing demanding games or during long gaming sessions, which can be expected, since iPhones tend to be more conservative with cooling. You may experience thermal throttling sooner than you would with gaming phones or tablets, but still, the performance holds up well overall.