Metal renderer support (feature request).

[iOS4all]

@WilliamLCobb hi there I just wondering if we can get metal support on iOS. I'm sure the performance will increasing a lot besides JIT and fastmemu as well. after that we could play most of games in a fullspeed for sure because iOS devices are really faster than android devices that is because of a great mix between hardware and software.

Just thinking about it and take your time to do it.

[tangalbert919]

@iOS4all, your statement about iOS being faster than Android is not something that anyone can compare, because there are too many device manufacturers out there that make Android phones and Apple is the only company that makes iOS devices.
Android is a Linux platform for mobile phones, and it's open source (meaning you can use the code for free, modify it, distribute it, etc). Anyone can make a custom Android OS out of it (and companies have done that), and android devices differ between the companies that make them. Obviously, the flagship Android devices are the fastest, like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, the Google Nexus 6P, or the OnePlus 3T (which kills flagship devices). Budget android phones are slower, since they're obviously for people on a budget. That means tech specs won't be great, but decent enough for everyday use. It makes sense to compare android devices with other android devices, and people already do that right now.
iOS is a closed-source OS that Apple created (originally called iPhone OS), and you want to know something almost nobody ever knew? iOS is Cisco's trademark, so Apple obviously needs permission to use it for their line of mobile devices, or they could risk a lawsuit.
Apple makes (and depends) on the iPhone to keep going. Some of the components in there, they get it from Qualcomm, a company that makes modems, CPUs, and a whole lot of other stuff. The components they make go to companies making Android devices. Samsung and TSMC make CPUs for Apple, and we know Samsung for their solid state drives, household appliances, and their Android phones. iOS devices, in reality, actually had their internals built by Android companies and then assembled by employees working at Foxconn, which is in China.
iOS devices aren't faster than Android devices in a bunch of cases, and vice versa. Apple's mobile devices, like the iPad, iPhone, or iPod, have Android components inside them so they work. Maybe the iPhone 7 Plus is faster than the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, but that's not true everywhere. There are places where the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is faster than the iPhone 7. Maybe Android doesn't have fancy libraries, but it has OpenGL, which is what all devices have these days, including iOS devices.
Also, how can Metal improve graphics performance for an emulator? Apple says it's faster than OpenGL, but we have to do LOTS of changes to the emulator so the graphics show up correctly. It's not something you can do easily.

[iOS4all]

@tangalbert919 that's really helpful information.
Anyway it's about comparing which devices is powerful to run emulation? It depends on the creator if he available and has a free time to work on it regularly. It should be matter of time to be ready in suitable speed even it could be for multi platforms.

Thanks for your thumbs down.

[tangalbert919]

Sorry about that. I am looking forward to GC4iOS using Metal (just like how Dolphin can use Vulkan instead of OpenGL) but that's for another day.

[iOS4all]

Welcome. It's ok. Did you mean you'll gonna help @WilliamLCobb to get metal rendering support?
If yes it'll be very nice indeed. We all including Wiliam will appreciate your work if you could implement metal rendering because it'll help to increase the performance.

[tangalbert919]

I have no idea how the Metal API works. I only know that it's for graphics.
I would devote more time into development, but I also have school and the SAT is coming soon for me.