I’ve been dipping in and out of classic game emulation for years now, but one trend that I hadn’t really appreciated until recently was the use of “spoof” APK versions that you won’t find in the Google Play Store. In other words, developers are shipping their game emulators disguised as other apps. Why would they do that? Well, it’s all about maximizing performance.
The theory is simple: most smartphones optimize for specific use cases, often sacrificing peak performance for many apps to reduce temperatures and prolong battery life. Your web browser doesn’t need to run your chip at full tilt, after all. However, some devices game the system by unlocking maximum performance for listed applications, sometimes for specific games, and occasionally to improve their benchmark results. By “spoofing” one app to appear as another, a developer can trick the system into unlocking maximum performance that might not have been otherwise available. This is pretty handy if you’re trying to emulate something extremely demanding.
Do you play games using a spoofed emulator APK? 0 votes Yes NaN % No NaN % I had no idea it was a thing NaN %
While a few Android console emulators offer spoofed APK options, I wanted something that would really stress my ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro gaming handset. I settled on trying to play the PC classic Crysis via GameHub Lite, which offers several spoof APK implementations to adjust device performance. I figured the chances are good that the AnTuTu option would trigger something in ASUS’ X-Mode to max out the phone’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.
Can it run? Let’s find out.
Running Crysis on a smartphone
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
A little bit of housekeeping before we get into the results. Both devices are set up precisely the same, using the default emulator settings, high graphics settings, and a low resolution of just 800×600. I set the frame rate cap to 120 and kept the phone in its maximum performance mode, “X-Mode,” for both apps. After that, it was simply a matter of making my way through the game’s first level at roughly the same pace. The graph below shows the complete performance of the run for both the default and AnTuTu APKs.
Hopefully, it’s easy enough to notice that the AnTuTu spoof version performed much better than the default GameHub Lite APK. Peak frame rates actually reach 120fps in the game’s intro sequences and spend a significant portion of the game around and above 60fps, rather than far below it. Even when scene density and combat really kicked the action up a gear, the spoofed version maintained a performance of around 45fps, rather than dropping to the mid-20s. It’s undeniable; pretending to be AnTuTu results in significantly better emulation performance for GameHub Lite, at least when running on the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro.
However, you’ll have no doubt spotted that this comes with a huge compromise. GPU clocks are up, but temperatures are absolutely volcanic on the spoofed playthrough. While the default APK maintains internal temperatures at a reasonable 40°C (104°F), by the end of our 12.5-minute playthrough via the spoof APK, the ROG has allowed its internal temperatures to reach 51°C (124°F). The phone was far too hot to hold well before reaching the end of the test.
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