iQOO launches new gaming controller with Hall effect sticks and triggers

iQOO has launched the G1, a dual-sided telescopic gaming controller for smartphones and compact tablets, in China. It is priced at ¥499 (about $74) and goes on sale on November 4 at 10:00 local time. Customers who buy it together with an iQOO phone or tablet receive ¥100 off, which brings the price down to ¥399 (about $59).

The controller’s clamp stretches to 211mm, wide enough for large phones and 8.8-inch tablets. Its modular build includes two sets of magnetic grips: a compact pair for carrying around and a longer pair for a fuller, console-style hold. Silicone pads keep the device steady during play, and the unit weighs 176.5g with the larger grips fitted.

Hall effect sensors drive both the joysticks and the linear triggers. Because the sensors read magnet position instead of relying on physical contacts, they resist the wear that causes stick drift, and iQOO rates the sticks for 5 million cycles. The triggers register 256 levels of input. Microswitches sit under the ABXY buttons, the D-pad offers tactile feedback, and two mini shoulder buttons labelled L4 and R4 can be assigned to single actions or combinations. Swappable joystick caps come in the box to suit different grip styles.

A USB-C connection links the G1 directly to the host device, so there is no Bluetooth pairing or wireless lag to manage. The controller carries no battery of its own and draws power from the phone or tablet. The controller's USB-C port accepts a charger and supports 15W pass-through charging, keeping the device powered through long sessions.

Button mapping, joystick dead-zone tuning, and rapid-fire settings run through iQOO’s Game Space and Game Magic Box software. Those features officially cover four devices at launch: the iQOO 16, iQOO Neo 12, iQOO Pad Ultra and the 8.8-inch iQOO Pad Pro, each running OriginOS 7 or later. The G1 ships in a single Cool Black color.

The Neo 12 smartphone and the Pad Pro tablet launched alongside the G1. Both pair Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with iQOO’s in-house Q3 gaming chip and include built-in cooling fans.

iQOO first revealed the controller in September during the run-up to the iQOO Pad Ultra launch, when teaser material put its dimensions at 209.67 × 107.76 × 60.4mm. The company also pairs the G1 with the PC game emulator on the iQOO 16, presenting the phone and controller together as a handheld setup for PC titles.

Lenovo’s Legion GamePad G3, a comparable telescopic controller, sells for about $25 in China and also offers Hall effect joysticks and pass-through charging. Xiaomi’s Redmi GamePad and RedMagic’s Shadow Blade 3 controller are among the other first-party mobile controllers released by Chinese device makers. iQOO has not announced plans to sell the G1 outside China.