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Imagine booting up Night City on your phone. Strange idea? Not anymore. A well-known tech YouTuber, ETA Prime, recently demonstrated that the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 can be emulated and played on a modern Android handset — and the results are as surprising as they are revealing.
The test rig was a RedMagic 11 Pro, a gaming phone built around the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, complete with active fans and liquid cooling. Using the GameHub platform and PC emulation, ETA Prime pushed the full desktop build of Cyberpunk into an Android environment. Settings were conservative: 720p resolution, low graphics, and FSR 2.1 set to Balanced. Even then, the phone maintained roughly 30 frames per second in many scenes, dipping into the low-to-mid 20s during dense encounters. Playable? Yes. Perfect? Not by a long shot.
Frame Generation changed the equation. Enabling frame interpolation lifted frame rates noticeably — peaks near 50 fps were recorded in lighter areas of the city. Turning settings toward Steam Deck–like presets also produced acceptable results, underscoring how much mobile silicon and software tuning have advanced. The takeaway is simple: modern mobile hardware can emulate a demanding PC title well enough to be experienced, if not to replace a true gaming rig.
There’s a cost. Expect extreme thermal and power demands. During the demo, CPU and GPU loads spiked and the device temperature approached 100°C. Fans spun hard. Battery drained quickly. This isn’t a casual, all-day handheld experience yet. It’s a proof of concept — a glimpse at what’s possible when raw SoC power, clever cooling, and emulation tools collide.
Beyond the spectacle, these experiments matter because they chart a likely path for mobile gaming: better silicon, smarter upscaling, and improved software compatibility. Developers and platform makers will have to think seriously about thermals, longevity, and user expectations. For players, the experiment teases a future where AAA PC titles are no longer strictly tethered to desktops and laptops.
So, will you be playing Cyberpunk on your phone tomorrow? Probably not as a daily habit. But watch this space: the line between console, PC, and mobile gaming is blurring faster than most of us expected, and the next generation of phones may well make that blur a deliberate design choice.
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