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Can the iPhone 17 Pro replace a gaming handheld? Paul Antill puts Apple’s latest flagship smartphone through a full iPhone 17 Pro gaming review, comparing it directly to the MSI Claw 8 AI+ handheld gaming PC. With the powerful A19 Pro chip, a new vapor cooling chamber for sustained performance and a larger battery, we test whether this is the best gaming phone of 2025.
From AAA console ports like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Resident Evil Village, and Death Stranding to the expanding Apple Arcade lineup, Paul benchmarks FPS, graphics, thermals, and battery life to see how the iPhone 17 Pro really performs for serious gaming. He also dives into Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now to find out if cloud streaming makes the iPhone a true replacement for portable gaming consoles.
If you’re wondering whether the iPhone 17 Pro is good for gaming, how it stacks up to dedicated handhelds like the MSI Claw 8 AI+, which iPhone accessories you need for the best gaming experience or if, simply, Apple finally made a true gaming phone, you've come to the right video.
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0:00
Hey, if you've been watching this channel for a while, then you know I have been obsessed
0:04
with portable gaming for the past couple years. It started with the original ASUS ROG Ally, and lately it's almost been exclusively with
0:11
the MSI Claw 8 AI+. But as far as these handhelds have come, there's still one big limitation
0:18
They're not exactly pocketable. So with my new iPhone 17 Pro, which has some big performance upgrades, I decided to try
0:24
something pretty ridiculous. I replaced my handheld gaming console with Apple's latest smartphone
0:31
Yes, an iPhone as my main gaming machine. I know this sounds crazy, but stick around because by the end of this video, you're going
0:37
to want to try this out too. All right, so the thing that actually got me interested in this video from the start
0:42
is that I wanted to get more gaming in on the go without necessarily having to carry
0:46
one of these around all the time. But here's why I thought the iPhone 17 Pro was up to the job
0:51
The A19 Pro chip that we find under the hood in this generation's phone is much better for GPU
0:58
performance. And I'm not just saying that because it's what Apple advertises. We actually benchmarked
1:02
the iPhone 17 Pro and it did in fact hit 30 plus frames per second and many demanding AAA games
1:08
And I'll share a few of my favorites in just a sec. That wasn't the case for the 16 Pro and all
1:13
the iPhones before it. So that's thanks to the A19 Pro chip. But then there's also the new vapor
1:18
cooling chamber, and that lets the entire phone run cooler. But that's not just for making it
1:22
easier to hold without burning your hands during intensive tasks. It also means that the phone has
1:27
better sustained performance, which for more demanding games, which I'm going to be putting
1:31
this phone through, it absolutely needs. On top of all that, the iPhone 17 Pro lasts a lot longer
1:37
and our test, it runs for about an hour and a half more than the 16 Pro. So mix that all together
1:42
and we get the most capable iPhone for gaming yet. But what kind of games can we actually play
1:47
on the 17 Pro and Pro Max. So I'm going to be focusing on my three favorite categories of games
1:52
that you can play on the iPhone, including AAA games, which have been ported over from PC and consoles
1:57
and that includes Death Stranding, Resident Evil, and Assassin's Creed. Apple's own library of games, including those on Apple Arcade
2:04
And then something I've been getting into a lot recently, cloud streaming, which I'm starting to believe is going to be the future of all gaming
2:10
But let's put that into the scope of gaming handhelds. Of course, my MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, which runs Windows 11, gives me access to way more games
2:19
especially since I'm not just limited to one app store. You've probably already heard me rave about how versatile the claw is and why I think it's
2:25
the best handheld that you can buy today, but the iPhone 17 Pro is no slouch either
2:32
Apple's library of first-party games is becoming more impressive each month, and we're getting
2:37
a steady amount of ported over AAA games, which if you told me I'd be playing them on
2:41
my iPhone five years ago, I'd never believe you. Quickly, one last thing. I know if my iPhone 17
2:47
Pro is going to have any chance of going head to head with a real handheld like the MSI claw
2:52
touch controls are not going to cut it. So I've got this. The Backbone One Pro. It's my favorite
2:59
phone controller hands down. If you've ever researched gaming controllers for your phone
3:03
you probably seen this one before I mean just look at how compact this thing is My iPhone 17 Pro slots in really quickly It connects via USB and now I have a gaming setup that literally a game changer especially for shooters and racing titles
3:18
It also has a really nice app library for all your supported games that you can launch
3:22
into really quickly. Now, this Pro model is $170, but on top of connecting to USB-C phones and giving you
3:28
full-size controls, it also has Bluetooth and lets me connect to my iPad, PC, or even
3:33
my TV. and I'm all about multi-purpose gadgets that aren't just locked down to one single device
3:38
But if you want to save a little bit more, you can go with a non-pro for $99
3:42
It's basically the same thing, but without Bluetooth. So I'll link the best deals for both down below so you can check them out
3:49
All right, so with my controller ready, let's get into some games. I want to start things off by talking about the ones that I think look best on iPhone right now
3:55
Two years ago, Apple announced that they were going to be bringing big-name AAA games
4:00
like Resident Evil, Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed, and a lot more to iPhone
4:04
And honestly, I think a lot of people, myself included, were pretty skeptical. It didn't help that when those games originally launched
4:09
it was with the iPhone 15 Pro and those games didn't really run that well. But with the 17 Pro, it's generally a different story now
4:17
Fans of horror are definitely spoiled here because there are a ton of ported over titles that you can now run on your iPhone 17 Pro
4:24
Understandably, some trade-offs are made to get these games running as well on something this small
4:29
but I think Apple hit a major milestone in getting these visually demanding games
4:33
to hit a smooth 30 or even 60 frames per second, whereas my 16 and 15 Pro before that would definitely dip into the low 50s, 40s
4:42
and in some cases, 20s, which for me made them really unplayable
4:47
And overall, it doesn't really feel like you're losing out on too much compared to the original PS4 version if you ever played that
4:53
That is until you start to look at some of the finer details that do look softer overall
4:57
especially in the background and the draw distance just isn't as great. But with other games like Assassin's Creed Mirage
5:02
I think that's also another really great title. The game now runs much smoother on my 17 Pro
5:08
especially in faster action or denser areas of Baghdad. And it feels a bit weird to say this
5:13
but I think this is one of my favorite games to play now on the go. That's to say the MSI Claw still has a pretty big edge with its Intel Arc GPU
5:23
Besides the overall sharper visuals and higher frame rates that I can achieve here
5:26
I have more graphic settings, which lets me decide what I want to prioritize, whether that's frame rates or higher resolution, giving me even more control over how I play my games
5:36
But besides how these AAA games actually run, there's another big setback with iPhone gaming coming from the MSI Claw
5:44
First, the Claw has a much larger 8-inch 16x10 display that's way more immersive
5:50
I can't tell you the amount of times I'm just like looking at the details or trying to read text on the smaller screen
5:56
it's just not as enjoyable and I find myself holding the phone a lot closer to appreciate
6:00
the details in those games. But with the MSI Claw it has another really big advantage. I can quickly
6:06
go from playing in portable mode to docking it with my 49 inch ultra wide for getting even more
6:13
immersion and of course connecting to all my peripherals for a true desktop gaming experience You probably heard me say this a ton in our other gaming videos but I that weird guy who actually likes to use the claw as a desktop replacement Especially when I at home I think the claw strikes a really good balance between portability
6:31
and power, especially for the games that I love to play most, that I don't really need
6:35
anything more powerful than this. For those of you who also love gaming handhelds, let me see a show of hands if this is your
6:42
only gaming PC. but then things get a little bit more awkward because there's the issue of storage this is
6:49
probably the biggest downside that i didn't even consider at first when going into this these games
6:53
can be absolutely massive and almost as large as their pc and console versions the iphone 17 pro
6:59
starts with 256 gigabytes of storage and if you're cheap like me and opted for the base model it's
7:05
not hard to see how quickly just a few of these triple a games will eat through all of that so if
7:10
you want to install a couple of these bigger games and still want space for other phone things like
7:14
your photos, music, you're probably going to want to seriously consider investing in a larger
7:19
storage model right off the bat because there's no upgrading internal storage or using external
7:25
storage in any way. In a big contrast with gaming handhelds, they usually start with 512 or a
7:31
terabyte of storage and that's like the standard now. If you wanted to upgrade that down the road
7:35
it's super easy. You can either just pop in a micro SD card slot and install the games there
7:40
or if you're a bit more tech savvy, you can actually upgrade the internal storage by removing
7:45
a few screws. Yeah. Do you ever think you'll see a micro SD card or external storage support for
7:50
games on your iPhone? Probably not. But you know what? My favorite way to play AAA games on my
7:58
phone right now doesn't actually take up any storage and that's thanks to Xbox Cloud Gaming
8:03
This is part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which chances are if you already own a Xbox or gaming
8:09
PC you might be subscribed to. The subscription tier lets you play a wide library of games from
8:14
the cloud to a bunch of supported devices, including an iPhone. Now, no, you don't need
8:20
an iPhone 17 Pro for this, but I just want to talk about all the great ways to play amazing games
8:25
on your new iPhone. And you know, it's kind of funny because Microsoft has kind of made a joke
8:30
of itself calling everything an Xbox these days, but I'm starting to get what they mean
8:35
Since everything is streaming, performance is going to be the exact same, whether it's my
8:39
iPhone, handheld, or even traditional PC, no matter the game. But here's the thing
8:45
performance is heavily reliant on your internet connection since you're not actually playing these
8:49
games locally anymore. And if I'm being fair, games don't look as sharp or visually fluid
8:54
compared to if they were locally installed on like my MSI Claw or Xbox. And on top of that
8:59
input latency can be an issue, especially with racing games or shooters. It makes sense. You're
9:04
sending your controls to the cloud and then receiving it back. It's not always a fun experience
9:10
Well, let's say you do have a good internet connection and you're actually cool with streaming your games to your phone
9:15
In which case, let me tell you about one other cool thing called GeForce Now
9:19
It's kind of similar to Xbox Cloud Gaming, but it works a little bit differently in that it streams the games
9:24
that you already own on Steam, Epic, or even Game Pass. And at its higher tiers you getting RTX 5080 performance on your phone which yes is insane In my experience games look much sharper and run way smoother compared to xbox cloud gaming and when i pair it with the backbone it easy to
9:43
forget i'm streaming you can actually use it for completely free on its ad tier which gives you
9:49
access to over 2 000 plus supported games but gaming sessions are capped to one hour up to 1080p
9:55
resolution and 60 frames per second but still free and like i said if you have a reliable internet
10:00
connection and an existing catalog of PC games or you're already subscribed to Xbox Game Pass but
10:05
you want to take the experience to the next level, this is the best way to play demanding games on
10:11
your phone right now. Okay, but going back to games we can actually install locally and play
10:19
even when we're offline, Apple Arcade is Apple's own gaming subscription that supports over 200 plus
10:25
games and is constantly adding more like every few weeks. If you just bought a new Apple device
10:31
like the 17 Pro here, you can actually get three months for free just by signing up. In Apple
10:37
Arcade, you're basically getting ad-free versions of many popular games like Angry Birds, Temple Run
10:42
and Bellatro. But you'll also find some more visually impressive games like NBA 2K25, maybe
10:48
NBA 2K26 by the time you're watching this, Skate City, and Outlanders 2. I mean, those are some of
10:53
my favorites. These games aren't as flashy compared to, you know, Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed
11:00
as well as like all the streaming stuff. But I mean, that doesn't take away from how fun these
11:04
games are. And if we're being honest, that's why we play these, right? So while it would have been
11:09
nice for Apple Arcade to include some of those AAA games, and hey, maybe down the road they will
11:13
for seven bucks a month or $50 for the year, there are a lot of hidden gems in the subscription that
11:18
I think you'll want to check out. So I got to say the iPhone 17 Pro really surprised me and
11:24
I'm being honest, re-sparked my interest for playing games on the go. With big performance
11:30
upgrades this year, more AAA games and likely more along the way, the 17 Pro does feel like a
11:36
big moment for iPhone gaming. So long as you don't mind its smaller screen, when paired with a solid
11:42
controller like the Backbone One Pro, I think this is one of the best truly portable gaming
11:48
experiences you can get, albeit with some caveats like probably having good Wi-Fi if you want a
11:53
bigger catalog of games. But if you do have any other setups that you think I should try next time
11:58
I'd love to hear them in the comments. So be sure to share those. For me though, handheld PCs like the MSI Claw still earn their keep with their better raw gaming performance
12:06
storage, and yes, desktop versatility. And that's going to be the case for at least the next couple
12:11
years. But for a console experience that I can basically take anywhere and yes, put in my pocket
12:17
I think the iPhone 17 Pro is the most capable that I've tried in a very long time
12:24
So if you've enjoyed this video, stay subscribed, follow me to see what other cool tech
12:28
and gaming content I'm testing out. And until the next one, I'll catch you later
12:47
Thank you
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