High-end Android Phones Now Capable of Emulating Cyberpunk 2077 at Playable Frame Rates

The idea of running Cyberpunk 2077 on a smartphone would have been ludicrous when the game first came out in 2020. Fast forward six years, and now that idea has become a reality. Handheld and SFF specialist ETA Prime on YouTube has made it happen with gaming phone running the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 at 30 to 40 FPS in emulation.

ETA Prime chose the Red Magic 11 Pro, one of the most powerful Android smartphones on the market, in combination with GameSir's GameHub platform to emulate the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 on Android. The Red Magic 11 Pro is unique in that it comes with an internal liquid cooler and active cooling fan to keep its Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset at high clock speeds under prolonged use.

At low settings using 720P resolution with FSR 2.1 set to Balanced mode, ETA Prime found that the Red Magic 11 Pro was able to pump out an impressive 30 FPS in most scenarios. In worst-case scenarios, the phone dipped into the high 20s, but never dipped into the teens. The YouTuber also reported that performance was smooth across the board, or at least as smooth as those frame rates can be.

To help kick up the frame rate, ETA Prime also ran the same settings with FSR frame generation enabled, boosting Cyberpunk 2077's frame rate significantly, with highs of up to 50 FPS and dips into the low 40s. tried the Steam Deck preset, which brings some settings up to high, and surprisingly, the Android phone was able to keep up. With frame generation disabled the phone was able to achieve around 27 FPS, but with frame generation on the phone was able to hit 40-50 FPS.

According to an internal OSD, the phone had displayed CPU usage in the 60-80% range while GPU usage hovered in the 50-60% range. Despite the Red Magic 11 Pro's integrated liquid cooler, temps were sky high, reaching up to 100 °C (heat problems are something that Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 phones are notorious for). RAM usage was also high, hovering around the high 80% range. The phone comes with 16GB of LPDDR5T RAM.

ETA Prime's demonstration of Cyberpunk 2077 running on Android shows how impressive PC emulation has become in the smartphone world. If you were to try running Cyberpunk 2077 through emulation in the same way a few years ago, it would likely be impossible or at best unplayable. Undoubtedly, Valve's contributions to PC emulation in the Android space have helped make PC emulation for AAA games viable, as the company has done in the Linux space. Valve actively sponsors some PC emulators for Android, and GameHub uses Valve's Proton compatibility layer as part of its PC emulation.

Smartphone chips continue to get faster and faster as well, which has helped accelerate AAA PC gaming through emulation, beyond just code optimization. If this progression keeps up, we could very well see smartphones just a few years down the road play Cyberpunk 2077 closer to 60 FPS comfortably—at least if the AI demand for silicon ever lets up.

This achievement represents a significant milestone in mobile computing. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, while facing thermal challenges, demonstrates that flagship smartphone SoCs have reached a point where they can handle demanding PC workloads through emulation. The combination of hardware acceleration, software optimization through Proton, and frame generation technologies has created a pathway for AAA gaming on mobile devices that was previously thought impossible.

The thermal limitations observed during testing highlight an ongoing challenge in mobile silicon design. While the Red Magic 11 Pro's liquid cooling system helps maintain performance, the 100°C temperature readings indicate that current mobile architectures still struggle with sustained high-performance workloads. This thermal ceiling may become a limiting factor as developers push for higher frame rates and more demanding settings on mobile platforms.

Looking ahead, the trajectory of mobile hardware suggests that 60 FPS gameplay on smartphones for demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 is likely within reach. However, this will require continued advancements in both silicon efficiency and thermal management solutions. The competition for silicon between AI applications and gaming workloads may also influence how quickly these capabilities become mainstream, as AI processing increasingly demands cutting-edge hardware resources.