4 reasons the iPhone XS is great news for pocket gamers
XSive but cool
Apple announced the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max at last week's special event, and the internet collectively shrugged its shoulders.
We're not going to pretend that the latest iPhone range is the most exciting thing we've ever seen. It's patently not.
In fact, the iPhone XS family is quite possibly the least-essential iPhone upgrade yet, when you hold it up against last year's trailblazing iPhone X.
But that doesn't mean they're a complete write-off. In fact, when it comes to portable gaming, there's a fair amount these two phones have going for them.
Will you be picking up an iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, or are you going to pass this year? Let us know in the comments below.Larger screen
The biggest new feature of the iPhone XS family compared to the iPhone X is that second model.
It might be no different to the iPhone XS internally, but crucially the iPhone XS Max supplies a huge 6.5-inch OLED display. This is almost certain to supply a brilliant gaming canvass.
As anyone who owns or has used an iPhone X will tell you, its screen is wonderful, with rich, accurate colours. But when it comes to gaming, thanks to those curved corners, that notch, and that stretched out aspect ratio, things can often feel surprisingly cramped.
The iPhone XS Max promises to open things out a whole bunch. No more squinting at the horizon on PUBG.
Louder stereo speakers
We were big fans of the stereo speakers on the iPhone X, but they were still not what you'd call punchy.
The iPhone XS family boosts things considerably. Apple claims that they're 50% louder than before.
You don't want to be THAT person on public transport playing games really loudly, but in the comfort of your own home this audio boost could be very welcome indeed.
Faster A12 Bionic CPU
We've put this one quite far down the list because, quite frankly, the iPhone X was already blisteringly fast. Nothing on the Android scene has managed to top it for raw performance.
Still, extra speed is always welcome, and the A12 Bionic supplies a particularly healthy 50% boost on the all-important graphics front.
Another helpful boost comes from an increase in RAM from 3GB to 4GB. More memory headroom is always welcome.
Bethesda cropped up to show the kind of visual punch the iPhone XS can add to proceedings, with the kind of nifty lighting effects you'd expect to see on the latest console blockbuster.
Stacks of storage
In general, mobile apps and services have moved to a cloud-based approach (think music and video streaming), placing less of an onus on local storage.
One type of media in particular demands more storage than ever, however: games. If you're an avid gamer, your phone can rapidly fill up with apps. GRID Autosport alone takes up nearly 6GB, for goodness sake.
The iPhone XS family has you covered. There's a new 512GB option, which is frankly a ridiculous amount of storage for a phone. That's bigger than the SSD of your average laptop.
