Xbox Series X Controller: What We Know So Far

When a new console arrives, a new controller is part and parcel of the package. That’s certainly the case with the Xbox Series X.

It looks very similar to the controller of the Xbox One, Microsoft didn’t redo everything from the ground up like Sony seems to have done with the DualSense Controller for the PS5. It would seem though that the new Xbox Series X controller is designed to fit smaller hands better, according to Pocket-lint.com.

Throughout the design, buttons have been changed to matte finishes, while the triggers have gained tactile dots to help you grip them. All this, according to the Xbox team, will help make the controller easier to use for more people.

If there’s one change that is easy to notice in the Xbox Series X controller, however, it’s the D-pad. This seems like a hybrid between the Xbox One controller’s four-directional pad and a rounded diagonal pad. The dish-shape should hold your finger or thumb comfortably. Its designers also say that you'll need hardly any leverage at all to get a button pressed, making for responsive play.

Although most players will likely be completely fine with this change to the hybrid D-pad, it remains to be seen how expert platform gamers and fighting game enthusiasts will take to it. Those individuals tend to favor clearer directional delineation.

On the technical side, the controller will work with existing Xbox One systems just as Xbox One controllers will work with the Xbox Series X console.

Microsoft is using what they are calling Xbox Wireless Radio as a standard to ensure that the new controller will also work with iOS and Android phones, as well as with PCs. It will also apparently use Bluetooth Low Energy to do so more reliably and quickly.

To answer something that has been missing in Xbox controllers until now, there will be a USB-C port to let you charge and play at the same time. That suggests that the controller will have a built-in battery that you can charge up, rather than the AA batteries that have previously been required for its controllers.

Finally, the new controller also has a system called Dynamic Latency Input which matches your button-presses to frames on-screen to minimize any possible lag, making for input so fast that you should never notice any delay.

One more addition that will bring the Xbox in direct line with the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch is the addition of a share button, right in the middle of the unit, below the white Xbox button. Pocket-lint.com says that this means you can now take screenshots with just one button and you can share screenshots and recordings with friends on social media.

Despite all this information though, there is still no current release date for the Xbox Series X controller. There is no suggested retail price for it either. Although we are expecting a “Holiday 2020” release, it is probably safe to assume that the price of the controller won’t stray too far from the Xbox One controller’s price, or perhaps in the range of the Xbox Elite Controller 2.