Leaked Image Of iOS 7 Controller
A few days ago, in a WWDC related news we informed you that Apple introduced game controller APIs in the next iteration of iOS. While Apple was not ready to offer additional information just yet, it is confirmation that we will at least get native controller support (though Steve Jobs will surely disagree, as he doesn’t think controllers match iOS devices’ aesthetics) for iOS, later this year when iOS 7 will be released.
Logitech will be in charge of producing some of these controllers. The leaked image, that you can see below, shows a “Made For iPhone” controller. It is made by Logitech, as we already mentioned, and it looks very close to the guidance images that Apple showed when it unveiled the iOS 7 controller API. The controller seems to have a D-pad (though it is circular, unlike most D-pads you are used to), four buttons in the right and a pause button. The guidance images that Apple released at WWDC also showed two or four shoulder buttons included in the controller, however in this leaked (and quite blurry) image it is pretty hard to see whether these shoulder buttons are present or not.
We cannot verify the image’s authenticity and the source is being kept secret, but it seems to be the real deal. It is also worth mentioning that the controllers seems large enough to fir an iPhone 5.
This “Made For iPhone” controller developed by Logitech will be part of many similar controllers that will probably be released together when iOS 7 will be launched. Third party controllers for iOS have existed for a long period of time, however there were always limitations, the biggest of all being the (quite small) number of games that supported them.
Things will change once iOS 7 will be launched. You can be sure that many manufacturers will update their controllers in order to support the iOS 7 controller API, and in hopes of getting certified by Apple. One such manufacturer is iFrogz, which already announced the Caliber Advantage controller in January 2013. iFrogz recently confirmed that the Caliber Advantage controller will be updated to support the iOS 7 controller API. You can expect more manufacturers to follow the same path.
Of course this may or may not be big because it also depends on game developers to update their games in order to support a controller. As you probably know, the vast majority of iOS games are entirely touch screen-centric or they simply do not support a controller. If developers won’t integrate controller support in their existing and upcoming iOS games, Apple’s initiative may not have quite a big effect, or at least not big enough to actually threaten handheld consoles like Sony’s Playstation Portable and Playstation Vita, or Nintendo’s Dual Screen and 3DS.
