Credit: Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A new open-source Vulkan driver for Galaxy devices with Exynos chips has surfaced online.
- Users online have reported significant improvements when playing PC games and Switch titles on their Galaxy devices.
- We’ve seen mixed results in our own testing, although Tears of the Kingdom saw huge gains.
Snapdragon-powered devices are often considered the best for emulation, and that’s largely due to the rise of open-source Turnip drivers. These unofficial GPU drivers can deliver significantly better performance and compatibility in many emulators. Samsung phones and tablets with Exynos chips have mostly been left in the lurch as a result, resulting in inferior emulation. However, a new custom driver has delivered a major boost.
Developer JimVulkan released radv-xclipse on GitHub last month for Samsung phones with Exynos chips. This is a port of the open-source RADV Vulkan driver for AMD GPUs. Of course, it’s worth noting that recent Exynos processors have Xclipse GPUs based on AMD graphics technology.