OpenGL ES 1.1 or 2.0 on iPhone

Question

I understand that an upgrade to the iPhone OS upgraded the OpenGL ES version support from 1.1 to 2.0. What I haven't been able to find is whether effort should be made to use 1.1 for backwards compatibility with older devices.

Xcode seems to suggest I using 2.0, since it only seems to include that version.

Should I use 2.0 and not look back? Are there devices which can only use 1.1?

Thanks.

Answer 1

OpenGL ES 2.0 requires hardware support (via an enhanced graphics processor). The first GPU to offer OpenGL ES 2.0 support was the PowerVR SGX535, which was introduced in the third generation of iOS devices in mid-2009.

The first two generations of the iPhone (and iPod touch) contain the PowerVR MBX GPU which supports only OpenGL ES 1.1. As this is hardware limitation, an OS upgrade will likely never add OpenGL ES 2.0 support.

List of iOS devices details the GPU used in each device and when it was released.