The developer of the game-running tool Vapor has reported running a benchmark of the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) on an iPhone 18 Pro Max. In a post dated September 27, 2026, the developer said the run averaged 66 fps while driving through the city and 80 fps in a different scene.
It is notable that concrete frame rates have been shown for an attempt to run PC games on a smartphone. However, judging from this result that the phone matches a GeForce GTX 1650, or that it delivers "1,180% higher performance per watt," would require measurements from the PC side for comparison. Here we go through how much can be concluded from the conditions that have been made public.
The post showed scene-by-scene averages of 66 fps and 80 fps
An embed of Vapor's developer post in an article says the developer ran a GTA V benchmark on the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
According to the post, the run averaged 66 fps while driving through the city and 80 fps in another scene. Both are averages. They do not mean the game held those frame rates at all times, or that it ran at the same speed in the most demanding scenes.
The resolution is listed as 1080p and the graphics API as DirectX 11. Texture quality was set to High, with FXAA (which smooths edges) and 16x anisotropic filtering enabled. Population density was set to 75%, the scaling for distant-object draw distance to 50%, and MSAA was disabled.
So this is not a configuration that can be called "maximum quality" just because texture quality is high. It is the poster's own graphics setup, with several options adjusted.
We were able to confirm the URL of the original X post, but could not access the post itself at the time of reporting. The figures and settings above are therefore limited to what could be confirmed from the post content embedded in Wccftech's article.
The end of the settings list is truncated in the embed, and we could not independently verify the video itself, the benchmark's run time, the device temperature, or the scene where the frame rate dropped lowest. The developer himself says some parts still need fixing.
Also, lumping scene averages together as a single "GTA V fps" hides differences in load.
In a city drive, more vehicles, pedestrians and surrounding buildings have to be rendered. Hitting 80 fps in another scene does not guarantee the same performance while moving around or in combat. In actual play, how far the frame rate drops in demanding scenes also matters.
The 66 fps average may also simply be the result of averaging frames that rendered quickly with frames that took longer. To judge whether play would feel stuttery, you need to look at frame-time data, a continuous record of how long each frame took to render.
Results also change depending on whether the test ran long enough for the device to heat up fully. Because the post contains no record of extended operation, these average fps figures cannot be taken as performance during long play sessions.
GTA V running on an iPhone: what is known and what isn't
The point here is not that a new version of GTA V optimized for iPhone has been released. It is an in-development demonstration of the PC version of GTA V running on an iPhone via Vapor.
When PC games are run on a different platform, performance depends not only on the game's own rendering work but also on the processing used to translate APIs and instructions, and on compatibility.
For that reason, the recorded fps cannot be treated as the raw performance of the A20 Pro's GPU alone.
The game version also needs attention.
Rockstar Games' official store splits the PC version of GTA V into "Enhanced" and "Legacy," each listing different system requirements.
From the excerpt of the post alone, we cannot tell which version was run. Even for the same GTA V, different versions have different graphics features and processing loads. Any performance comparison with a PC would first need to match the game version.
The mention of DirectX 11 in the post is not enough to pin down the game version, either.
Furthermore, unless it is known how the draw commands the game sends to DirectX 11 are handled inside Vapor and ultimately reach the iPhone's GPU, it is hard to reproduce the same conditions on other devices or PCs.
The post also does not reveal which translation technologies Vapor combines, or in what form ordinary users will eventually be able to use it.
Running one benchmark scene is a separate matter from ordinary users being able to play the game through to the end stably with the same settings.
Can the game be installed without problems? Do inputs from keyboards and controllers work correctly? Can save data be stored properly? Do rendering and game progression stay problem-free over long sessions?
The published average fps says nothing about these practical questions. At this stage, it is best viewed as a technology demonstration showing the possibility of running a large PC game on an iPhone at a high frame rate.
Not enough data to judge "GTX 1650 parity" or "1,180% higher efficiency"
The Wccftech article that started this says in its headline that the A20 Pro achieves frame rates equal to the GTX 1650 and beats it by 1,180% in performance per watt.
However, the article does not give the specific GTX 1650 product used for comparison, its average fps in the same benchmark scene, or the power the two machines actually consumed while running the game.
From the iPhone's 66 fps and 80 fps alone, neither the "equal to the GTX 1650" assessment nor the "1,180%" figure can be recalculated.
| Published item | Value and subject | Problem when comparing |
|---|---|---|
| Vapor demonstration | iPhone 18 Pro Max: 66 fps average driving in the city, 80 fps average in another scene | No GTX 1650 measurement for the same scenes |
| Example GTX 1650 product spec | Rated power consumption of the MSI GeForce GTX 1650 D6 VENTUS XS V1: 75 W | Not confirmed as the product used for comparison, and not a measured value during gameplay |
| Values needed to calculate performance per watt | Average fps in the same scene ÷ power consumption measured over the same period | No measured power published for either the iPhone or the PC |
Combining the 75 W product spec with the iPhone's measured 66 fps cannot yield performance per watt during gameplay.
The 75 W listed in MSI's specification sheet is the rated value for that product. It does not mean that every GTX 1650 card operates under the same conditions, or that the card actually drew 75 W while running GTA V.
There is also the question of what exactly is counted as power consumption.
The power draw of a GPU card alone and that of an entire iPhone cover different scopes. Comparing against a whole PC would also include the CPU, memory, storage and so on.
Dividing fps by watts without matching the measurement scope does not give a fair power-efficiency comparison.
The same goes for comparing frame rates.
You need to use the same GTA V version, the same 1080p resolution, the same graphics settings and the same benchmark scenes, such as a city drive, and record not just average fps but also the variation in frame times.
Then power consumption over the same measurement period must be measured on both the iPhone and the PC, and it must be stated whether that power is for the GPU alone or for the whole device.
If cooling conditions or graphics settings differ on only one side, then even if a performance gap appears, it cannot be attributed to a difference in the hardware's power efficiency itself.
The measurement data needed to reproduce this comparison has not been published for the "1,180%" figure currently being cited.
What Apple's official A20 Pro specs do and don't tell us
In its announcement of the iPhone 18 Pro series, Apple says the A20 Pro's 7-core GPU is up to 40% faster than the A19 Pro's.
Apple also says it adopted a structure that places the memory beside the chip, out of the heat-dissipation path, and connects the chip directly to a vapor chamber. It further expanded the surface area of the cooling components to three times that of the iPhone 17 Pro, and says the device's sustained performance is up to 40% better than the previous generation.
The two "up to 40%" figures, however, mean different things.
One is the A20 Pro GPU's rated performance compared with the A19 Pro; the other is the whole device's sustained performance compared with the previous-generation iPhone.
Neither is a measured value from running GTA V through Vapor, nor a result of comparison with the GTX 1650.
Improved cooling could help limit performance drops during long gaming sessions. But from the scene-by-scene average fps published this time, it is impossible to isolate how much of an effect it had.
The Vapor demonstration is meaningful in that a large PC game actually ran on an iPhone and reached an average of 66–80 fps in certain scenes.
At the same time, there is still not enough data to verify claims such as "equal to the GTX 1650" or "1,180% higher performance per watt."
Only by preparing a GTX 1650 PC with the same GTA V version and graphics settings, measuring frame rate and frame times in the same scenes, and measuring power consumption over the same period on both the iPhone and the PC by the same standard could performance and power efficiency be compared directly.
Until then, the demonstration result that "GTA V ran on an iPhone at this frame rate" must be kept separate from performance claims like "GTX 1650-class" and "1,180% more efficient."