If you're into gaming on a mobile device, you would already know that Apple handles the category on iPhone flawlessly. While the companyuses its own Metal API, there are other options available in the industry which might deliver more high-performance graphics games. Now, Mac, iPhone and iPad users will soon see several mobile titles with improved graphics as the hefty Vulkan API is coming to iOS and macOS. So let's dive in to see some more details on the matter.

Vulkan API Support Coming To iOS And macOS, High-Performance Graphics Games Coming Soon

So what basically is Vulkan and how will it deliver better performance on iOS and macOS games? Vulkan is cross-platform, open API for GPU that already supports mobile devices, plainly, Android devices, Windows, Linux, VR Kits, game consoles and other mediums as well. It has the potential available to use graphics chips from several major companies which include Nvidia, ARM, AMD and more.

The Vulkan GPU API is developed by Khronos Group and the consortium aims to bring cross-platform APIs and open standards to the graphics industry. Now, its support is coming for iOS and macOS. This is not Apple's decision to support it on its platform.

“Today, that gap is being substantially filled, with the open source, royalty-free release of MoltenVK—a runtime for macOS and iOS that offers an almost complete subset of the Vulkan API implemented using Metal. Released under the Apache 2 license, MoltenVK will enable developers to build their Vulkan applications for Apple’s platforms, allowing for a single codebase to span Windows, Linux, Android, macOS, iOS, and more.”

Arstechnica notes that Valve has been experimenting Vulkan support on iOS and macOS version if Dota 2. It further notes:

Valve is an early adopter of MoltenVK. The company has been testing MoltenVK for the macOS version ofDota 2, and indications are extremely promising: the Vulkan-on-Metal version of the game has frame rates as much as 50 percent higher than the version using Apple’s OpenGL stack. Apple’s OpenGL drivers have long been criticized, both for their poor performance and for Apple’s refusal to support the latest versions of the specification. TheDota 2experience suggests that developers can reap big dividends by bypassing them.

However, the MoltenVK dies not fully feature functions of the Vulkan API. However, the attempt is to focus on predictable performance with minute processing costs. This will ensure that the game runs smoothly. There will be more to the story, so be sure to stay tuned in for more details.

As for now, share your views regarding the Vulkan AOI support for iOS and macOSin the comments.

News Source: ArsTechnica