Enlarge / MetalFX Upscaling, as visually described by Apple at WWDC 2022. (credit: Apple)
CUPERTINO, Calif.—At this year’s WWDC, Apple announced a surprising new system coming to its Metal 3 gaming API that may sound familiar to PC gamers: MetalFX Upscaling.
The system will leverage Apple’s custom silicon to reconstruct video game graphics using lower-resolution source images so that games can run more efficiently at lower resolutions while looking higher-res. This “temporal reconstruction” system sounds similar to existing offerings from AMD (FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0) and Nvidia (Deep Learning Super-Sampling), along with an upcoming “XeSS” system from Intel.
Based on how the system is described, it will more closely resemble AMD’s system, since Apple has yet to announce a way for MetalFX Upscaling to leverage its custom-made “Neural Engine” system. Apple has previously spoken at length to Ars Technica about machine learning models used to drive its custom silicon, but today’s Metal 3 API news didn’t include any such mentions, leaving Nvidia’s RTX series of graphics cards in the lead in that department.
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