Microsoft’s New Patent Hints at Transforming your Smartphone into a Portable Xbox

In an evident bid to take on the prominent Nintendo gaming Switch, Microsoft’s new Patent has uncovered its designs and plans for controllers that would transform your smartphones into portable Xboxes. Although there are no particular references of the smartphone controller device itself in the Patent Application or other documents, the details, images, and a couple of drawings of a charging system for removable input modules do look like an Xbox controller. According to Digital Trends, a website that publishes news and updates about technology products, the patent application, and documents don’t explicitly refer to the Xbox system, but the controller consists of many features associated with Microsoft’s gaming technology.

From being expected to be available in a wide range of colors, the controller will come in two halves clipped onto each side of your horizontal smartphone. Few possible features for the controllers include a headphone jack, wireless headphones support, and built-in speakers, which aren’t too dissimilar from the Nintendo Switch. However, unlike the hybrid system of Nintendo, it seems that Microsoft’s controller would be used to play the games streamed via Project xCloud, which is the company’s upcoming streaming service.

Sarang Sheth, a designer from Yanko Designs, has mocked up 3D concepts of the design with the help of the patent application filed last month. In a blog post, Sheth stated that while being designed for immersive landscape gaming, the controllers have two flippers holding your smartphone gently and securely from two sides, along with the memory-foam pads ensuring that they don’t press any buttons. He further added that the side flippers are well-suited for smartphones with no bezel as this ensures the controllers don’t overlap the screen from either side. He also mentioned that both halves of the controllers connect to the smartphone through Wi-Fi for delivering a smooth gaming experience.

In today’s global innovation economy, Microsoft isn’t the only hardware developing company filing applications for interesting patents. A brand new PS5 patent application sheds light on how its loading time will distinctly be shorter than that of PS4.