5 games to play on your new iPhone XR or iPhone XS
Are you getting a new iPhone for Christmas? Man, I need to get some new friends. And family.
Congratulations on your shiny new uber-gadget. May it bring you much portable gaming joy in 2019.
You'll have to wait until a little way into the New Year before you can play the true showcase for this generation of Apple gadget, The Elder Scrolls: Blades. But the following games are out right now, and they will make your new toy sing.
These aren't necessarily the absolute best games on iOS - we've dealt with that elsewhere on the site. But they do all shine on the newer Apple smartphones.
Whether it's that punchy A12 Fusion chip, which is by far the most powerful mobile processor our there, or the latest AR-friendly sensors, these are true showcases for your new iPhone.
1
GRID Autosport
GRID Autosport has been out for a while now, but it remains one of the finest graphical showcases on mobile. That's because it's one of the most impressively faithful ports of a 3D console game we've ever seen.
This is beautiful racing game with stunning lighting effects and loads of high-polygon car models squealing around detailed tracks. The physics are on point too.
Feral Interactive recently updated this already-beautiful game with improved graphics, including a number of tweaks that take advantage of the new A12 chip. The best just got better.
2
Fortnite Battle Royale
You're either on the Fortnite bandwagon or you're firmly off it by this point. It's a technicolour juggernaut that keeps raking in the attention, like it or loathe it.
But one thing is undeniable irrespective of which camp you're in. The way it runs on mobile is an absolute technical marvel.
Or rather, the way it runs on decent mobile hardware. Playing it on the latest iPhones is to see the game at its 60fps battle royale best.
3
Asphalt 9: Legends
Sure, it's another 3D racer, but Asphalt 9 is well worthy of its place on this list. It catches the eye in different, showier ways to GRID.
This is a gaudily colourful, impossibly fast arcade racer that leaves sober realism and finely tuned physics at the start line. It's all about automotive excess.
What's more, Gameloft hasn't rested on its laurels. It's updated Asphalt 9 to run at full 60fps on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. So it's now as fluid as it is pretty.
4
Inside
We've gone with Inside not because it's a beautiful, brilliant side-scrolling platform-puzzler. Though it's certainly that.
Rather, we've gone with it because of its stunningly grimy world. It's one of the most beautiful environments on mobile.
We particularly think that it will benefit from the iPhone XS and XS Max's new and improved displays. Apple claims to have wrung 60 percent greater dynamic range out of them compared to the iPhone X, which should help a lot with Playdead's subtly shady aesthetic.
Besides which, the iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR screens are just plain bigger than before, which should suit these rich environments to a tee.
5
Mekamon Robot V2
The other games on this list are all graphical showcases, but our most recent addition is all about the VR.
Mekamon Robot V2 is a bit of an extravagance - it involves purchasing a £250 robot for goodness sake. But it's also an awful lot of AR-enhanced fun.
You can build virtual worlds for your little buddy to skitter around in, and the twin-stick shooter action is pretty darned solid too. We don't know if this is the future of gaming, but it's one possible future, and it plays great on the latest iPhones.
