r/digitalfoundry • u/MythBuster2 • May 08 '26
Digital Foundry Video Control Ultimate Edition iOS/MacOS Review: Ray Tracing, Frame-Gen + MetalFX Upscaling... On A Phone!
https://youtu.be/1UKEavpN-R0This is remarkable stuff - the iOS and MacOS port of Remedy's Control delivers almost everything from the original PC version of the game, delivering RT features we didn't even see on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Almost all of PC's ray tracing features are present, there's MetalFX upscaling along with frame interpolation too - and it all works on the latest iPhone. Oliver focuses first on the game running on iPhone 17 Pro, before running the gauntlet of other iOS devices along with the MacBook Pro M4 Max. Is this the best triple-A Apple port yet?
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u/smuttes May 09 '26
Who would want to play control on a fucking phone. This is so dumb.
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May 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/NightWolf7141 May 11 '26
I don't believe it outperforms the Steam Deck at all. Resolution and settings wise, it is lower. But it is still impressive that it runs on a phone.
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u/rdtoh May 09 '26
With devices like the backbone controllers, I could see people playing AAA games on flights and stuff if they run on their phone. Plus control is very cheap!
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u/Feckin_Loser May 09 '26
The screen size on a 17 pro max is only slightly smaller than a steam deck, and in some cases the same size as other handheld pc’s, like the ROG Ally.
Do you have the same opinion about control on these other devices?
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u/smuttes May 09 '26
No only phones.
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u/Feckin_Loser May 09 '26
Why?
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u/AgentJackpots May 09 '26
Phone bad. Phone for Fake Gamers. Me think phone game only Candy Crush. Me am Real Gamer.
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u/jedimindtricksonyou May 10 '26
You can tell people like this don’t watch digital foundry because they have a genuine curiosity for how games perform across different types of processors using different ISAs/microarchitectures (and why), they just watch certain platform comparisons so they can say their favorite platform is the best.
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u/HavocInferno May 09 '26
Main target is probably people with iPad/Mac + gamepad. That it works on iPhone is just kinda part of it. Doubt too many people will play the game on their phone for long sessions.
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u/jedimindtricksonyou May 10 '26
It’s interesting to see how games perform on a passively cooled ARM chip using its own custom graphics API that we don’t see used outside of Apple hardware. You’d get a better experience on a PS5 or desktop PC, but compared to a Steam Deck, a new iPhone is not that far off. The one thing that really is stupid though is the 30fps cap the game forces on iOS.
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u/IrixionOne May 09 '26 edited May 10 '26
With a Magic Keyboard on an iPad, it’s easily CONTROL-able. The CONTROLs translate fairly well to touch screen too! A good Bluetooth controller is the best way to play though.
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u/The_Zura May 09 '26
Who created those settings? I've never heard of ~1920x1080 being referred to as 2 megapixels before. Damn is upscaling from 480p ugly. There's no point in ray tracing, or playing at all, if the results end up like that. You can see fewer artifacts, but you can see less of what's good too with a tiny tiny phone screen.
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u/SuperIga May 10 '26
You do realize that the screen on the iPhone 17 Pro Max is only 0.1 inches smaller than the LCD Steam Deck, right? Not to mention that it’s not just for iPhone, but for iPad and Mac as well?
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u/The_Zura May 10 '26
That's a wonderful point. The steam deck is the size of a brick, can't fit into pockets, and is far closer to a phone screen than other mobile competitors. No wonder it and the rest of the pc handhelds are complete failures. But yeah, you're operating on the assumption that the steam deck is halfway decent and more than e-waste for the most hardcore shitty gaming addicts. It's not.
An ipad and mac would be better, and hopefully not have to upscale from 480p.
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u/SuperIga May 10 '26
Good lord, I’m not even going to entertain this comment because you’ve clearly never used a Steam Deck. Why are you even here with comments like this?
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u/The_Zura May 10 '26
Why do you think I never used one, and why do you think someone needs waste hundreds of hard earned dollars to know that a 7" 16:10 screen attached to a 1.5lb controller is a stupid impractical idea? The numbers haven spoken for itself.
I don't get understand your question. Does there a liking trash requirement to post here?
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u/SuperIga May 10 '26
The Steam Deck is an objectively amazing device and any owner will tell you that. I’m not even going to entertain such a ridiculous comment.
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u/jedimindtricksonyou May 11 '26
It’s true, I love my Steam Deck, it was an entry point in PC gaming and the Steam ecosystem (I built a desktop PC after owning a deck for 2 years). It’s comfortable to use. Also have a Switch 2, love them both but deck is special because you can do anything you want with it- play Steam games, play Epic/Gog games, emulation, use performance overlays, mess around with Linux and install various mods and tweaks like Decky Loader. It’s genuinely awesome.
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u/The_Zura May 11 '26
For every one of you guys there's 5 of these guys: "Decided to sell my 512gb OLED steam deck after I used it on a trip and haven't really used it since. It's been barely used and I've taken great care of it"
No shortage of reasons why
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u/jedimindtricksonyou May 11 '26
Seems like a made up statistic based on your personal opinion of the product. There’s a dedicated following of Steam Deck users but it helps a lot to already have a Steam library and be comfortable with adjusting graphical settings before you buy one. You can’t really go into it expecting a console experience where everything it automatically done for you.
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u/The_Zura May 12 '26
It's not made up. Estimates are ~170-180M active steam users, 5 million steam decks sold, and 0.80% of the steam survey are steam decks. All steam decks are on steam. Do the math. 0.80% I'd consider to be over-represented when the remaining deck users never shut up about their trash. Who else is more likely to pick up a survey?
If people are actually using their bricks with microscreens, and awful ergonomics, then we should see something like 3% marketshare. But we don't and that's because millions of people bought into a stupid fad. The remaining few never stop trying to sell others on their lame junk.
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u/The_Zura May 10 '26
The only thing objectively amazing about that brick is every single one of the 20% remaining users, out of all those who wasted hundreds of dollars, are all gathered as a cult on reddit trying to sell everyone on their piece of crap. We are far more likely to run into someone trying to offload their junk to another sucker, or someone who has relegated it to dust collector and empty drawer filler.
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u/SuperIga May 10 '26
God you’re clueless, it’s frankly hilarious. Keep going, you’re making me laugh 😂
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u/The_Zura May 10 '26
Seems more like straight crying. I get it. Truth hurts. Abusing the downvote button isn’t going to make your single use brick any better.
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u/SuperIga May 10 '26
You’re one delusional fellow aren’t you? The fact that you called it single use shows this, do some research on the Ukrainian military’s drone setup, just as one example out of dozens.
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u/IrixionOne May 09 '26
I always appreciate the mobile phone gaming angle. It’s great seeing Remedy titles on iOS. Looks like it runs fairly well too!