COD Warzone Mobile 'Peak' graphics: Can your phone handle it?
After years of anticipation, ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’ has finally landed on mobile devices – and it’s looking pretty slick, especially on iOS. The real star of the show is the new ‘Peak’ graphics setting that kicks the visuals into high gear. But can your phone actually handle all that eye candy?
As of now, the iPhone 15 Pro models are the only smartphones that can run Warzone at its maxed out ‘Peak’ preset. These devices can do so at an ‘Uncapped’ frame rate as well. The latest iPads can run handle this setting too.
Basically, any iPad or iPhone sporting Apple’s latest A17 Bionic Pro chip or M1 (and newer) silicon qualifies for the setting. So the lucky bunch is as follows:
– iPhone 15 Pro – iPhone 15 Pro Max – iPad Air (2022, 5th gen) – 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2021, 5th gen) – 11-inch iPad Pro (2021, 3rd gen) – 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022, 6th gen) – 11-inch iPad Pro (2022, 4th gen)
How’s ‘Peak’ different from ‘High’?(Image: Activision)
Peak graphics allows the game to hit a crisp 2K resolution while improving textures and caching resolution for straight-up gorgeous visuals. The draw distance improves, which should be particularly noticeable while you’re in the air. Shadows also turn more detailed.
Activision has dropped some further details with a post on the App Store: “You’ll see all sorts of visual enhancements across the famed Verdansk map. Improved draw distance makes objects on the horizon clearer. Foliage is much more detailed—once generic flowers are now clearly dandelions. And reflection mapping and ambient occlusion breathe newfound life into locations like Dam and Airport.”
What about Android?Unfortunately, Android gamers aren’t getting that peak experience yet. We fired up Warzone on the OnePlus 11R with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and could only reach ‘High’ settings, not ‘Peak.’ Weirdly, Activision has seemingly gatekept the ‘Min’ and ‘Low’ options to entry-level devices – those settings are grayed out on the 11R.
(Express image)
But the graphics stretch beyond the ‘Peak’ graphic setting. Even at the ‘High’ preset, the resolution seems noticeably lower on Android flagships than the same ‘High’ setting on newer iPhones. Basically, mighty Android flagships like Galaxy S24 Ultra (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) still can’t quite match iPhone 14 Pro/15 Pro visuals at that level.
Meanwhile, midrange Android phones like the Nothing Phone 2a (Dimensity 7200 Pro) top out at ‘Mid.’ We tested it on the device and the framerate can thankfully still be set to uncapped. It’s effective too because the game does play smoother with it on.
Needless to say, fragmentation of Android hardware is likely the culprit here. With so many different chips from Qualcomm, Samsung, MediaTek, and more, it’s a huge optimisation challenge compared to Apple’s tight hardware control.
Will ‘Peak’ arrive on more devices?The good news is Activision seems to be leaving the door open for ‘Peak’ on Android eventually because the option is still displayed, even if it’s locked away.
Warzone just launched, so perhaps future updates will start unlocking those top-tier visuals for the latest and greatest Android hardware. Activision would be silly to ignore such a massive chunk of the mobile market.
That said, there’s one cool parting detail from Activision – no matter which preset you’re running, Warzone Mobile’s visuals can actually improve over time (up to a limit, of course). The game quietly downloads optimised assets in the background as you play, giving you an incrementally sweeter-looking experience.
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