Razer Understands Your Desire for a Mobile Game Controller for iPad

Everybody who’s ever held a phone controller secretly, in their heart of hearts, wanted to know what it would be like if one could stretch so large you could attach it to your favorite tablet instead of your phone. The previous Razer Kishi Ultra was already big enough that it could fit the 8.3-inch screen of an iPad mini. For the next rendition, Razer said, “screw it” and created a mobile controller that can extend so large it could fit your 13-inch iPad Air, becoming the most excessive way you could game on the comfort of your couch.

The $200 Razer Kishi V3 Pro XL, just like its name implies, is a ginormous version of the company’s phone controller. It’s the big boy version of the newly revealed $100 Kishi V3 and $150 Kishi V3 Pro, though the only real difference between the Pro and Pro XL is the length they extend. The Pro controllers include back buttons and tunneling magnetoresistance or TMR thumbsticks. This type of joystick uses small magnets that, like Hall effect sticks, are far more resistant to stick drift. Normal Hall effect can be hindered by magnets, but TMR sticks use less power and promise better accuracy. Other than that, the mobile controllers include Razer’s Sensa haptics to offer a precise rumble effect in games, at least on the latest version of Android and iPadOS.

The Kishi V3 Pro XL supports both Android tablets and iPads with USB-C up to 13 inches. It’s hard to describe how large a screen experience this will be when you actually have it in hand. The most recent iPad Pro with M4 is one of the lightest tablets of its class, but it still weighs in at 1.28 pounds. The 11-inch version clocks in at just under 0.98 pounds. The extra-large mobile controller itself is just under 0.7 pounds, so the end result will still be significantly heavier than a Steam Deck or even heavier handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go or MSI Claw 8 AI+.

Speaking of excess, the $200 price point makes it one of the most expensive mobile controllers available today. For that price, you could find a host of high-end PC controllers. The Kishi Pro and Pro XL include wired and remote play on PC. Backbone recently released the $170 Backbone Pro mobile controller that could support wireless connectivity with multiple devices. That controller felt great in hand, and its innovative wireless connectivity made it easy to pair with PCs and other mobile devices, but I was left disappointed it couldn’t extend large enough to fit an iPad mini—especially considering its price.

But if you have beefy forearms, the Kishi V3 Pro XL is one of the few ways you’ll be able to handle a big tablet without propping it up on a table. The youngins who want to play Fortnite on the biggest iPad possible, now that it’s back on Apple devices, should start lifting dumbbells now. The Kishi V3 Pro XL also grants buyers a 6-month pass to Apple Arcade, while the smaller versions offer only three months. This being Razer, the device will likely push users toward Razer Cortex software for streaming from a PC to the tablet. The end result would be as if the PlayStation Portal came with a screen the size of a MacBook Air.