Grand Theft Auto V Runs on the iPhone 17 Pro Max... But Let's Not Push It! [VIDEO]

Hot news News 08/04/2026

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Apple’s current flagship smartphone can run Rockstar’s game, but its performance isn’t impressive.

Apple doubled the gaming performance of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max by integrating the A19 Pro chip. This prompted one user to try running Grand Theft Auto V on the device. Unfortunately, this is only possible through emulation. Given the performance and low resolution, it’s probably not worth trying.

Using the XeniOS Xbox 360 emulator, r/mertbaris01 ran the 2013 game on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. However, running the game on iOS was perhaps the easier part of the task. Maintaining a stable frame rate seems nearly impossible for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but that’s to be expected when running a game through an emulation layer. We’ve heard that the A19 Pro chip, found in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, can deliver a performance boost of up to 69% compared to the A18 Pro and A17 Pro chips. This demonstrates Apple’s commitment to improving its system-on-chip (SoC) technology for gaming purposes. The addition of a heat pipe helped somewhat, but in this case, it was of little use. Aside from running Grand Theft Auto V at a resolution of 1280×720, the performance meter showed only 19–20 FPS.

While exploring the city by helicopter, the frame rate dropped to 12 FPS. Not to mention, the iPhone 17 Pro Max overheated. In short, we don’t believe this is due to shortcomings of the A19 Pro; rather, we think XeniOS could be improved with frequent updates. Even if the iPhone 17 Pro Max had been subjected to extreme cooling, we don’t believe it would’ve significantly impacted the frame rate.

Hopefully, by the time the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are released with the Apple A20 Pro SoC, significant strides will have been made in the Xbox 360 emulator.

Source: WCCFTech

Redditor mertbaris01 managed to get GTA 5 running on an iPhone 17 Pro Max through the XeniOS Xbox 360 Emulator, but I wouldn’t say that the experience is enjoyable.

Unable to cross 20FPS and dipping down to 12FPS while exploring on the helicopter suggests that there is tons of… pic.twitter.com/IM0mItgkiP

— Omar Sohail (@omarsohail90) August 2, 2026

Angyal Anikó

Anikó, our news editor and communication manager, is more interested in the business side of the gaming industry. She worked at banks, and she has a vast knowledge of business life. Still, she likes puzzle and story-oriented games, like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, which is her favourite title. She also played The Sims 3, but after accidentally killing a whole sim family, swore not to play it again. (For our office address, email and phone number check out our IMPRESSUM)