8Bitdo™ Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller

Like its high-end controllers, the 8BitDo Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller features triggers and joysticks with Hall Effect sensors, which prevents stick drift and generally offers a smoother feel. It also has two customizable rear triggers, a dedicated turbo button, and it'll fit any phone between 3.93 inches (100mm) to 6.69 inches (170mm) in length. That covers the vast majority of modern phones. For reference, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple's largest phone, is 6.42 inches in length. The controller's design of this looks quite comfortable as well, as it adds a more traditional gaming profile to a phone.

It also supports 8BitDo's Ultimate Software, an easy-to-use customization suite that lets you remap inputs, adjust stick and trigger sensitivity, and more.

The main, and fairly substantial, caveat here: It's only confirmed to support Android, but other 8BitDo controllers listed with Android-only mobile support have worked on iOS just fine. GameSpot has reached out to 8BitDo to see if official support for iOS is planned and whether it will work in some capacity with iPhones at launch.

Since the controller syncs via Bluetooth, not via USB-C like the Backbone, we would be surprised if it didn't support iOS. 8BitDo's other controllers do work with Apple devices via Bluetooth, and its Ultimate Software app is available through the iOS Store.

If it works at all--and again, we are speculating here--the Ultimate Software app is the key feature that could be missing on iOS. If 8BitDo doesn't or isn't able to add the controller to the list of devices that sync with the app on iOS, iPhone users wouldn't be able to remap inputs or make other adjustments--unless they also have an Android device or the controller is capable of syncing with the PC app to make changes. Remapped inputs and other adjustments are typically saved to the controller, so if you own an Android tablet or an old Android phone with 9.0 firmware or higher, you could theoretically make those changes on that device before using it on iPhone.