New Microsoft Xbox controller rears its head in two colours

Tecnoblog has discovered that Microsoft is developing a new style of Xbox controller. In the last decade or so, all Xbox controllers have stuck to a familiar form factor. However, Microsoft have departed from that design in the past, as with the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2018 and the Xbox Adaptive Joystick a few years later, which was presented alongside the 8BitDo Lite SE (curr. $44 on Amazon).

By the looks of things, the two controllers pictured below have not been designed with accessibility in mind. Instead, they are expected to serve as an Xbox Cloud gaming companion. To that end, the controller retains asymmetrical analog sticks and a concave d-pad. Also, it seems that Microsoft has adopted short-throw triggers to minimise the controller's size.

Technoblog claims to have seen documentation showing a Realtek RTL8730E modem and a CPU with two ARM Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.2 GHz. Unfortunately, it has not published this document yet. Nonetheless, the Realtek RTL8730E offers Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Pricing and availability remain unknown at this stage. Likewise, the leak does not reveal what Microsoft intends to call the controller. Seemingly, the company plans to launch black and white variants. Whether these receive simultaneous releases is unclear at this stage, too.