- Apple is reportedly working on Beats-branded game controllers for iPhones
- Mark Gurman says Apple has been working on them for almost a year
- Gurman suggests the Beats team is leading on both ‘product engineering and conception’
Apple seemingly continues to show its devotion to gaming with something that’s in the pipeline for iOS gamers.
As reported by PC Mag, macOS 26.7 code references two unreleased iPhone game controllers, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests Apple has been working on them for almost a year. More importantly, though, Gurman says these controllers could launch under the Beats brand.
The controllers are codenamed T6502 and T1057 according to MacRumors (which discovered the references), with different haptic designs alongside a standard game controller’s features. Beats, which was acquired by Apple in 2014, is a brand often used for its own popular audio products (of course), but also for USB-C cables and some iPhone cases.
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Now, it appears as though Beats may well represent gaming accessories for Apple going forward, and Gurman claims these controllers are being led by Beats executives in both “product engineering and conception”.
It’s a potential move that comes at a convenient time for iPhone owners intrigued by gaming, as the RAM crisis continues to impact the PC hardware and games console market. Gurman observes that Apple sees gaming accessories such as those for phones as a “growing market and wants in”.
Game controller and speaker hybrid?
If this does indeed happen, it seems somewhat bizarre to have Beats producing game controllers, as it’s quite a switch from the traditional audio products. Fortunately though, it opens the door to some surprising designs, and I’m thinking specifically of the audio side of the equation when connecting the purported controllers to an iPhone.
Maybe Beats could look to do something similar to Asus and its ROG Phone AeroActive Coolers, which feature shoulder buttons for gaming alongside a built-in subwoofer for a significant boost in bass and audio quality. No, these ROG peripherals aren’t full game controllers, but they effectively illustrate what could be realized with a hybrid speaker and controller combo.
Based on the brief design description from the references found in macOS, alongside Gurman’s report, it’s hard to say that the rumored peripherals will be anything other than simple controllers. But there are presumably opportunities for clever design twists, particularly given the Beats branding.
If this Beats rumor turns out to be true, it’s clear that Apple is looking to serve a market that is growing amid the RAM crisis, and hoping to leverage the accessibility that comes with iPhones for gaming.
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