Apple Inc. (AAPL) iOS games may get graphics upgrade with ‘ray tracing’

Though productivity, work, and email are three of the main uses of all computer systems, gaming is just as popular as any of these as a use for electronic devices, including those running Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS.

The runaway success of “Flappy Bird,” created by a Vietnamese programmer, is just one example. Now, it appears that a spectacular graphics upgrade may be on the way for iOS gaming thanks to the new “ray tracing” developed by Imagination Technologies.

Potentially useful on both the iPhone and iPad, ray tracing is a graphics technology that would immensely improve the look of lighting, shadow, and transparency in video games. The process involves generating lighting effects in the game by calculating a multitude of “rays” emanating from a designated source, such as an in-game sun, lantern, flashlight, bonfire, or explosion. These rays produce a visual lighting effect quite similar to what is seen in reality.

Though ray tracing has existed for some time, it has been too memory intensive for use on mobile platforms prior to the latest developments. What Imagination Technologies has done is reconfigure the process so that it requires far less CPU bandwidth, allowing it to be used on a device such as an iPad or an iPhone. It has constructed a new series of cores, labeled the “Wizard” line, based on this principle.

Since Apple Inc. (AAPL) owns part of the company, though not a majority stake, it is fairly clear that Wizard GPUs will be appearing in future mobile electronics from the Cupertino enterprise. This is further highlighted by the fact that Apple specifically states it will include Imagination Technologies cores in its future products, too.

Since video games are highly visual entertainment and “eye candy” is king, this move could potentially oust controller based games from their privileged position, replacing them with mobile OS games instead. The transition will not be immediate, and the blog of Imagination Technologies itself estimates that it will be 2 to 3 years before Wizard graphics cores make an appearance in iPhones and iPads.

However, raster graphics are probably destined to give place to ray tracing and the superior rendering it offers, and Apple (AAPL) is well positioned to exploit the new medium’s arrival. Better yet, it will not even need to make a dedicated line of game controllers, since iPhones and iPads with a Wizard core fitted should have everything needed to run a graphics intensive video game.