iQOO 15 beats Steam Deck in PS3 emulation with up to 52 FPS in Gran Turismo 5

The iQOO 15 smartphone outperforms the Steam Deck in PS3 emulation tests, achieving up to 52 FPS in Gran Turismo 5 and proving mobile chips can handle legacy gaming.

PlayStation 3 emulation on smartphones is reaching a new level of viability, as recent tests show the iQOO 15 outperforming the Steam Deck in several titles. This comparison matters because it challenges the assumption that dedicated handheld consoles are the only practical way to run legacy PC and console emulators at playable frame rates. Buyers who prefer portable gaming on a phone now have a device that matches or beats a dedicated gaming handheld in specific emulation scenarios.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 smartphone outperforms handheld console in benchmarks

The test pits the iQOO 15, a smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, against the Steam Deck running SteamOS 3.8.16. The Android device uses ARMSX3 version 0.9.8.2 for emulation, while the Steam Deck relies on RPCS3 version 0.0.41. Both systems ran the same three PlayStation 3 titles to ensure a direct comparison of performance capabilities.

iQOO 15 FPS (God of War 3): 43 FPS
Steam Deck FPS (God of War 3): 29 FPS
iQOO 15 FPS (Gran Turismo 5): 52 FPS
Steam Deck FPS (Gran Turismo 5): 26 FPS
iQOO 15 FPS (God of War: Ascension): 40 FPS

In God of War 3, the iQOO 15 maintained an average of 43 FPS, significantly higher than the Steam Deck's 29 FPS. Gran Turismo 5 showed an even larger gap, with the phone averaging 52 FPS compared to the Deck's 26 FPS. God of War: Ascension also favored the smartphone, which held 40 FPS while the Steam Deck dropped to 21 FPS.

The iQOO 15 also led in tests of Infamous 2 and Uncharted 1, continuing the trend of superior performance in these emulation benchmarks. These results indicate that the mobile chipset in the iQOO 15 can handle the heavy computational load of PS3 emulation more effectively than the Steam Deck's hardware in these specific cases. The data suggests that high-end Android phones are becoming serious contenders in the handheld emulation market.

The iQOO 15 demonstrates that modern smartphone processors can deliver playable frame rates for PS3 games, often exceeding the performance of the Steam Deck. This performance shift provides gamers with a viable alternative to dedicated handhelds for legacy emulation. The results highlight the rapid evolution of mobile hardware capabilities in gaming workloads.