Introduction

I bought my very first PC controller, the wired Xbox 360 controller, over a decade ago. It has moved with me across continents multiple times and still works fine for when I need to pull it out. It has not happened in a while, however, with there being many quality of life improvements that have come along since with the Xbox One controller and premium Xbox Elite Series 2 controller we recently saw. I had mentioned then that the Xbox Elite Series 2 needed a price cut to be competitive in a world where the baseline has improved since, especially with the advent of the Xbox Series X|S consoles in Nov 2020 with a new controller alongside. Thanks to Microsoft for sending TechPowerUp a review sample as we aim to find out just how well this new controller performs.


If you thought the naming scheme of the new consoles was confusing, allow me to present you the Xbox Wireless Controller. Based on name alone, this could be any of a range of first-party controllers released in 2016 or 2020, with the only way to know for sure the colors. You may have noticed from the thumbnail above that I have the Shock Blue version, not to be confused with the Xbox Wireless Controller- Blue which is an older-generation Xbox One controller. The color on the newer one is clearly darker, but the button layout is also different, and the back is white. Either way, this is my way of telling you that the controllers need a better name, which is why I am referring to this as the Series X|S controller. There are five stock color options, and a few custom options too, so I went with something other than the usual black. Without further ado, let's begin the review with a look at the specifications in the table below.

Specifications