How iPhone's technology makes it perfect for mobile gamers

It is the end of June 2007 and Rihanna sits atop of the charts with her catchy, yet slightly annoying hit song Umbrella. Harry Potter fans all around the world are sat nervously awaiting the release of the latest installment in the movie franchise - Order of the Phoenix.

A brand new phenomenon is also taking place, at Apple stores across the length and breadth of the United States. On the eve of June 29th hundreds of thousands of people descend on their local store and camp out overnight to catch their very first glimpse of Apple’s latest release - the iPhone.

It won’t be the last time that this happens - over the coming 12 years fans will camp out overnight on a bi-annual basis for the latest Apple release - but it is the most pivotal in the company’s history.

That very first iPhone revolutionized the way we communicate with one another and digest information. Perhaps the biggest beneficiary from the quality of iPhones is the gaming industry. Mobile games continue to improve, for example, new mobile slots are continuously being developed and the competitive nature of the industry has ensured improvements are made year on year.

In the dozen years since its release, a number of contenders have attempted to dethrone Apple as the best smartphone provider on earth, they have all failed, especially in terms of gaming.

In this article, we take a look at the technology behind iPhones that makes them still, vastly superior to their Android rivals.

^{Umbrella by Rihanna was the theme tune to the summer of 2007 when Steve Jobs and Apple completely changed the mobile landscape}

Android users love to berate Apple users for the inability to add extra storage to their device through a memory card. If you make the wrong storage choice when purchasing your iPhone, you will end up being hamstrung as to what you can and cannot download in the future.

However, one thing that chippy Android users fail to mention is that apps and games on their devices take up way much more memory than they do on Apple products. On-demand resources in the App Store means that games can be downloaded with minimal storage requirements.

All add-on materials, extra updates or unnecessary items are stored in the App Store and simply used when needed. Meaning you can download whatever game you want without having to delete the entire contents of your phone first.

Sprite Kit

Basic 2D games on Apple devices are not just better than on other platforms, they are infinitely better and that’s because of something called Sprite Kit. In layman's terms, Sprite Kit enables developers to add high-performance 2D content with seamlessly smooth animations to their games.

The tool takes developers drawings from paper to digital and the various rendering tools allow them to add small details that give their drawings a life-like characteristic. Games like Candy Crush and online Slots come alive on Apple products because of Sprite Kit.

It is a particularly handy tool for online slots like the one mentioned above as it’s perfectly conducive to the design and layout of slot games.

Scene Kit

For developers looking to make higher-quality 3D games, the scene kit is the tool to use. It is a top-level 3D graphics framework that allows animators and developers to effortlessly add in animated scenes and effects into their apps.

The tool lets developers have complete control over every tiny detail in their scenes like geometry, lighting, materials and camera angles. Scene Kit incorporates a physics engine and a particle generator that gives users the best chance to get their developments up to scratch.

Metal

This is what brings everything together for game developers on Apple devices. Metal gives users almost direct access to the graphics processing unit which developers to maximize the graphics of their game or app.

As is Apple’s raison d’etre, Metal makes all of this easier and much more accessible to users. Metal software is egalitarian, allowing even the smallest of companies and developers the opportunity to create a visually stunning and appealing app.

The Basics - Gameplay

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world for the first time in 2007, he briefly touched on the many problems facing smartphones throughout the decades. One of those problems was the layout of phones - as technology improved, it seemed that more and more buttons had to be added to devices to make them usable.

The iPhone's unique selling point was the lack of a keyboard and the introduction of touch screen technology. Of course, that layout has been copied by every major phone manufacturer since, but Apple’s touch screen technology still remains as the best on the market.

In the very simplest of terms, playing games on an Apple device is far easier and user-friendly than it is on any other device. iPhone controls are quite simply idiot-proof, making their games not only easier to access but more popular than their Android counterparts.

Apple Arcade - The Next Frontier

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll be aware that Apple have a certain penchant for improvement. Sometimes that comes in the form of wireless headphones that anger everyone around the world, but sometimes it comes in the form of a revolutionary gaming platform…

Apple Arcade is set to launch later this year and many experts are speculating that it will fundamentally change the way we game on our mobile devices. The new platform will be available on a subscription basis, allowing users to stream any game of their choosing on the App Store at any time.

Not only will it reduce the strained memory capabilities of certain devices, but it will open up a whole host of AAA gaming titles to new players. Apple Arcade has the potential to be the Netflix of gaming, and will most likely put Apple devices further out of reach of their Android competitors.