Can iPhone 17 Pro Replace My Handheld Gaming PC?

Tom's Guide

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.

Transcript

00:00Hey, if you've been watching this channel for a while then you know I have been obsessed

00:04with portable gaming for the past couple years. It started with the original ASUS ROG Allite and

00:08lately it's almost been exclusively with the MSI CLAW 8 AI+. But as far as these handhelds have

00:15come, there's still one big limitation. They're not exactly pocketable. So with my new iPhone 17 Pro

00:22which has some big performance upgrades, I decided to try something pretty ridiculous. I replaced

00:27my handheld gaming console with Apple's latest smartphone. Yes, an iPhone as my main gaming

00:33machine. I know this sounds crazy, but stick around because by the end of this video you're

00:37going to want to try this out too. All right, so the thing that actually got me interested in this

00:41video from the start is that I wanted to get more gaming in on the go without necessarily having to

00:45carry one of these around all the time. But here's why I thought the iPhone 17 Pro was up to the job.

00:51The A19 Pro chip that we find under the hood in this generation's phone is much better for GPU

00:58performance. And I'm not just saying that because it's what Apple advertises. We actually benchmarked

01:02the iPhone 17 Pro and it did in fact hit 30 plus frames per second in many demanding AAA games. And

01:08I'll share a few of my favorites in just a sec. That wasn't the case for the 16 Pro and all the

01:13iPhones before it. So that's thanks to the A19 Pro chip, but then there's also the new vapor cooling

01:18chamber and that lets the entire phone run cooler. But that's not just for making it easier to hold

01:23without burning your hands during intensive tasks. It also means that the phone has better sustained

01:28performance, which for more demanding games, which I'm going to be putting this phone through,

01:32it absolutely needs. On top of all that, the iPhone 17 Pro lasts a lot longer and our test it runs for

01:38about an hour and a half more than the 16 Pro. So mix that all together and we get the most capable

01:43iPhone for gaming yet. But what kind of games can we actually play on the 17 Pro and Pro Max?

01:50So I'm going to be focusing on my three favorite categories of games that you can play on the

01:53iPhone, including AAA games, which have been ported over from PC and consoles. That includes

01:57Death Stranding, Resident Evil and Assassin's Creed. Apple's own library of games, including those on

02:02Apple Arcade. And then something I've been getting into a lot recently, cloud streaming, which I'm

02:07starting to believe is going to be the future of all gaming. But let's put that into the scope of

02:12gaming handhelds. Of course, my MSI Claw 8 AI+, which runs Windows 11, gives me access to way more games,

02:19especially since I'm not just limited to one app store. You've probably already heard me rave

02:23about how versatile the claw is and why I think it's and why I think it's the best handheld that

02:28you can buy today. But the iPhone 17 Pro is no slouch either. Apple's library of first party games is

02:34becoming more impressive each month, and we're getting a steady amount of ported over AAA games,

02:40which if you told me I'd be playing them on my iPhone five years ago, I'd never believe you.

02:45Quickly, one last thing. I know if my iPhone 17 Pro is going to have any chance of going head

02:49to head with a real handheld like the MSI Claw, touch controls are not going to cut it. So I've got this.

02:56The Backbone One Pro. It's my favorite phone controller, hands down. If you've ever researched

03:02gaming controllers for your phone, you've probably seen this one before. I mean, just look at how compact

03:07this thing is. My iPhone 17 Pro slots in really quickly. It connects via USB-C, and now I have a

03:13gaming setup that's literally a game changer, especially for shooters and racing titles. It

03:18also has a really nice app library for all your supported games that you can launch into really

03:23quickly. Now, this Pro model is $170, but on top of connecting to USB-C phones and giving you full

03:28size controls, it also has Bluetooth and lets me connect to my iPad, PC, or even my TV. And I'm all

03:34about multi-purpose gadgets that aren't just locked down to one single device. But if you want to save

03:39a little bit more, you can go with a non-pro for $99. It's basically the same thing, but without

03:43Bluetooth. So I'll link the best deals for both down below so you can check them out.

03:49All right. So with my controller ready, let's get into some games. I want to start things off by

03:52talking about the ones that I think look best on iPhone right now. Two years ago, Apple announced that

03:57they were going to be bringing big name AAA games like Resident Evil, Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed,

04:02and a lot more to iPhone. And honestly, I think a lot of people, myself included, were pretty skeptical.

04:07It didn't help that when those games originally launched, it was with the iPhone 15 Pro and those

04:11games didn't really run that well. But with the 17 Pro, it's generally a different story now.

04:17Fans of horror are definitely spoiled here because there are a ton of ported over titles that you can

04:22now run on your iPhone 17 Pro. Understandably, some trade-offs are made to get these games running

04:27as well on something this small, but I think Apple hit a major milestone in getting these visually

04:32demanding games to hit a smooth 30 or even 60 frames per second, whereas my 16 and 15 Pro before that

04:39would definitely dip into the low 50s, 40s, and in some cases, 20s, which for me made them really

04:46unplayable. And overall, it doesn't really feel like you're losing out on too much compared to the

04:50original PS4 version if you ever played that. That is until you start to look at some of the finer

04:55details that do look softer overall, especially in the background and the draw distance just

04:59isn't as great. But with other games like Assassin's Creed Mirage, I think that's also another really

05:04great title. The game now runs much smoother on my 17 Pro, especially in faster action or denser areas

05:10of Baghdad. And it feels a bit weird to say this, but I think this is one of my favorite games to play

05:16now on the go. That's to say, the MSI Claw still has a pretty big edge with its Intel Arc GPU.

05:23Besides the overall sharper visuals and higher frame rates that I can achieve here, I have more

05:27graphic settings, which lets me decide what I want to prioritize, whether that's frame rates or higher

05:32resolution, giving me even more control over how I play my games. But besides how these AAA games

05:38actually run, there's another big setback with iPhone gaming coming from the MSI Claw. First,

05:44the Claw has a much larger 8-inch 16 by 10 display that's way more immersive. I can't tell you the amount

05:51of times I'm just like looking at the details or trying to read text on the smaller screen. It's

05:56just not as enjoyable. And I find myself holding the phone a lot closer to appreciate the details in

06:01those games. But with the MSI Claw, it has another really big advantage. I can quickly go from playing

06:08in portable mode to docking it with my 49-inch ultra wide for getting even more immersion and of course,

06:15connecting to all my peripherals for a true desktop gaming experience. You've probably heard me say this

06:21a ton in our other gaming videos, but I'm that weird guy who actually likes to use the Claw as a

06:26desktop replacement. Especially when I'm at home, I think the Claw strikes a really good balance between

06:31portability and power, especially for the games that I love to play most, that I don't really need

06:35anything more powerful than this. For those of you who also love gaming handhelds, let me see a show of hands

06:41if this is your only gaming PC.

06:44But then things get a little bit more awkward because there's the issue of storage. This is probably the

06:49biggest downside that I didn't even consider at first when going into this. These games can be

06:53absolutely massive and almost as large as their PC and console versions. The iPhone 17 Pro starts with

07:00256 gigabytes of storage and if you're cheap like me and opted for the base model, it's not hard to

07:06see how quickly just a few of these AAA games will eat through all of that. So if you want to install a

07:11couple of these bigger games and still want space for other phone things like your photos, music,

07:16you're probably going to want to seriously consider investing in a larger storage model right off the

07:21bat because there's no upgrading internal storage or using external storage in any way. In a big

07:27contrast with gaming handhelds, they usually start with 512 or a terabyte of storage and that's like

07:32the standard now. And if you wanted to upgrade that down the road, it's super easy. You can either just

07:37pop in a micro SD card slot and install the games there, or if you're a bit more tech savvy, you can

07:42actually upgrade the internal storage by removing a few screws. Yeah, do you ever think you'll see a micro SD

07:48card or external storage support for games on your iPhone? Probably not.

07:55But you know what? My favorite way to play AAA games on my phone right now doesn't actually take

08:00up any storage and that's thanks to Xbox Cloud Gaming. This is part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate,

08:06which chances are if you already own a Xbox or gaming PC, you might be subscribed to. This subscription

08:12tier lets you play a wide library of games from the cloud to a bunch of supported devices, including

08:18an iPhone. Now, no, you don't need an iPhone 17 Pro for this, but I just want to talk about all the

08:23great ways to play amazing games on your new iPhone. And you know, it's kind of funny because Microsoft

08:29has kind of made a joke of itself calling everything an Xbox these days, but I'm starting to get what

08:34they mean. Since everything is streaming, performance is going to be the exact same, whether it's my iPhone,

08:40handheld, or even traditional PC, no matter the game. But here's the thing, performance is heavily reliant on

08:46your internet connection since you're not actually playing these games locally anymore. And if I'm

08:51being fair, games don't look as sharp or visually fluid compared to if they were locally installed

08:56on like my MSI Claw or Xbox. And on top of that, input latency can be an issue, especially with racing

09:02games or shooters. But it makes sense. You're sending your controls to the cloud and then receiving it

09:07back. It's not always a fun experience. Well, let's say you do have a good internet connection and

09:12you're actually cool with streaming your games to your phone. In which case, let me tell you about

09:16one other cool thing called GeForce Now. It's kind of similar to Xbox Cloud Gaming, but it works a

09:22little bit differently in that it streams the games that you already own on Steam, Epic, or even Game

09:27Pass. And at its higher tiers, you're getting RTX 5080 performance on your phone, which, yes, is insane.

09:36In my experience, games look much sharper and run way smoother compared to Xbox Cloud Gaming. And when I

09:41pair it with the Backbone, it's easy to forget I'm streaming. You can actually use it for completely

09:47free on its ad tier, which gives you access to over 2000 plus supported games. But gaming sessions are

09:53capped to one hour up to 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second, but still free. And like I said,

09:59if you have a reliable internet connection and an existing catalog of PC games, or you're already

10:04subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, but you want to take the experience to the next level, this is the best way

10:09to play demanding games on your phone right now.

10:16Okay, but going back to games we can actually install locally and play even when we're offline,

10:21Apple Arcade is Apple's own gaming subscription that supports over 200 plus games and is constantly

10:27adding more like every few weeks. If you just bought a new Apple device like the 17 Pro here,

10:33you can actually get three months for free just by signing up. In Apple Arcade, you're basically

10:38getting ad free versions of many popular games like Angry Birds, Temple Run and Bellatro. But you'll

10:44also find some more visually impressive games like NBA 2K25, maybe NBA 2K26 by the time you're watching

10:50this, Skate City and Outlanders 2. I mean, those are some of my favorites. These games aren't as flashy

10:56compared to, you know, Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed, as well as like all the streaming stuff. But I

11:02mean, that doesn't take away from how fun these games are. And if we're being honest, that's why

11:06we play these, right? So while it would have been nice for Apple Arcade to include some of those

11:11AAA games, and hey, maybe down the road they will, for seven bucks a month or $50 for the year, there are

11:16a lot of hidden gems in the subscription that I think you'll want to check out.

11:19So I gotta say, the iPhone 17 Pro really surprised me and, if I'm being honest,

11:25re-sparked my interest for playing games on the go. With big performance upgrades this year,

11:31more AAA games, and likely more along the way, the 17 Pro does feel like a big moment for iPhone gaming.

11:38So long as you don't mind its smaller screen, when paired with a solid controller like the Backbone 1 Pro,

11:44I think this is one of the best truly portable gaming experiences you can get, albeit with some

11:50caveats like probably having good Wi-Fi if you want a bigger catalog of games. But if you do have any

11:56other setups that you think I should try next time, I'd love to hear them in the comments. So be sure

12:00to share those. For me though, handheld PCs like the MSI Clause still earn their keep with their better

12:04raw gaming performance, storage, and yes, desktop versatility. And that's going to be the case for at

12:10least the next couple of years. But for a console experience that I can basically take anywhere and

12:16yes, put in my pocket, I think the iPhone 17 Pro is the most capable that I've tried in a very long

12:24time. So if you've enjoyed this video, stay subscribed, follow me to see what other cool

12:28tech and gaming content I'm testing out. And until the next one, I'll catch you later.

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