RPCS3 ARM64 update could help Snapdragon X and Apple Silicon systems
RPCS3 is an open-source PlayStation 3 emulator for PC-class systems. It supports Windows, Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD, and its compatibility database currently lists 2,525 games as Playable out of 3,615 tested titles.
The new update focuses on ARM64, the CPU architecture used by Apple Silicon Macs and Windows on ARM devices such as Snapdragon X laptops. RPCS3 says it added new Armv8 SDOT and UDOT instruction optimizations to speed up part of PS3 CPU emulation on ARM hardware.
New CPU emulation optimisations for arm devices!
This takes advantage of armv8 SDOT/UDOT instructions to optimise the SUMB SPU instruction – a similar optimisation that we already have in place on x64 using VNNI instruction.
GB/GBH/GBB were also optimised with UDOT. pic.twitter.com/R3wC9tcuz0
— RPCS3 (@rpcs3) March 22, 2026
Keep in mind this is not Android emulation, and it is not an Android port announcement. RPCS3 emulates PlayStation 3 hardware, and the project has previously said it does not plan to support Android or iOS.
RPCS3 is continuing to improve native ARM support for desktop-class devices. The team has not shared benchmark results for this specific change yet, but it shows ARM64 is becoming a more serious target for PS3 emulation, especially on Apple Silicon and Windows on ARM systems. From what I can see, ARM optimizations are still ongoing and will likely take a lot of time before they reach the x86 architecture level.
Source: RPCS3
