We know that Apple’s M1 chips are capable enough to run desktop and laptop Macs, which is why their inclusion in the latest iPad Pro and Air is mighty impressive. Even the basic M1 found in these tablets is leagues ahead of other ARM processors like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon in benchmark tests, such is the latent advantage.
But while Cupertino is getting close to reaching the processor’s full potential in iPadOS 16.1 (you can read our review here), there aren’t many other avenues where the devices can flex their power. However, it appears YouTuber ETA Prime has found a way—using an iPad Air M1 to run PlayStation Portable, Nintendo GameCube and Wii emulators and play classic console games.
The host was even able to ramp up the resolution (up to ten times the PSP’s 480×272 resolution) and frame rate (to 60fps), and still the device managed to run these games without skipping a beat. Cel-shaded titles like Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and cult favourite arcade racer Auto Modellista looked especially gorgeous in 1440p, whereas the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8—powered by the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip—was only able to comfortably run the latter at a measly 720p.
Video game emulation is infamously resource intensive, requiring significantly more powerful hardware than the original consoles just to run the games smoothly. This is a deeply impressive performance, even though it’s not exactly unexpected, given that the M1 is supposedly a desktop-class chip.
Which is why it’s a big shame that running an emulation is such a pain on an iPad, as the video points out. It’s well known that iOS and iPadOS don’t let you sideload apps the way Android does, so the host had to use a workaround app, AltStore, to download the emulators. The selection of emulators on the app is also quite limited—there’s none for the popular PlayStation 2, for example.
Again, that’s not a surprise, given that the legality of emulators is not clear cut—game studios generally take a dim view to these applications as they lose out on profits from their intellectual property. Still, this experiment is fascinating glimpse at the pure horsepower under the M1 iPads’ bonnet. Now, if you excuse me, I’m off to furnish my Auto Modellista garage.
