It is interesting to watch the evolution of new platforms. Over the past few months, we have seen the explosion of the iPhone as a platform for social games. However, lately, rumors have been circulating that the iPhone will be getting increased graphics processor performance that could help it push social gaming even further.

With SGN’s recent games (i.e. iBowl), the iPhone has taken on the guise of Nintendo’s Wii. However, while the iPhone has the potential for ingenuity like we’ve seen with the Wii and DS, it doesn’t have the same hardware capabilities.

The talk around the web has been aroung the release of a multi-core graphics processing unit from Imagination Technologies. Does the name sound familiar? It wasn’t too long ago that Apple invested $5 million in order to gain a 3.6% stake in the company. Coincidence? Furthermore, there is the 3.0 version of the iPhone’s firmware that is reportedly tailored for a quad-core.

Either way, should the rumors be true, the new processing hardware would strengthen the iPhone’s capabilities as a gaming platform in the years ahead.