Thanks to Microsoft’s “Designed for Xbox” initiative, we’ve seen a slew of new mobile gaming accessories and phone controllers over the last year. There was the Best of CES winning Razer Kishi, the PowerA XP5-X Plus controller and phone clip, the 8BitDo controller with phone clip… and now, the OtterBox Mobile Gaming Clip.
This gaming clip hooks up to Xbox One and Series controllers and features the same dual-axis adjustable positioning you’ll find on the 8BitDo and PowerA variants. But at $30, it’s also twice the price of its competitors. But it also does a little more. The OtterBox clip can completely detach from your controller and double as a phone stand.
OtterBox Mobile Gaming Clip – Design and Performance
The OtterBox clip looks very much like an OtterBox product. It comes in one color, black, and is undeniably clunky, thanks to an ungodly number of knobs, sliders, and clips. And while these adjusters don’t make the clip very sleek, they do add a ton of smart functionality.
One notch allows you to adjust the clamp’s depth across the top of your controller, to make it fit on any Xbox One, Elite, or Series controller. Another locks the height angle in place, and another disconnects a piece of the phone clip to use as a phone stand. On paper, this should make OtterBox’s clip twice as functional (hence, twice the price). In practice, I didn’t find it all that valuable.
My desk is already cluttered with things I can prop my phone up with, and all the handy articulation and repositioning is absent. That means you’ll have to sit pretty close to your phone to see what’s going on. If that’s the case, why not just use it clipped to your controller?
Still, the engineering is admirable. The OtterBox clip features clever cutouts on the face, ensuring the jewel and option buttons are accessible. A similarly smart cutout on the top makes it possible to charge and sync your controller while the clip is connected. This is impressive when you consider just how different the tops of the Xbox One and Series controllers are.
While the clip will fit just about every phone on earth, a phone with an exceptionally rugged case (even some OtterBoxes come to mind) or a phone with a PopSocket will stretch its depth too far. And while it might fit just about every phone on earth, it will only work with Xbox One & Series controllers.
When it comes to actual gaming with the thing, I was downright impressed. Even the heaviest phones are held firmly in place, and there’s minimal wobble at any angle. Repositioning the connected phone was incredibly easy. I found the best angle for my playstyle was pretty flat across the top of the controller. I often found my thumb brushing against the plastic when I meant to hit the X button, but for the most part, the clip stays entirely out of the way.
On the other hand, the two-prong clasp that holds the top of the phone often depressed the phone’s side button, which could activate Siri or Google Assistant at very inopportune times. This was only a problem on a phone-by-phone basis, but on one device I tested, the only solution was to un-center the phone in the clamp, which was an eyesore.
While $30 seems reasonable for what you’re getting, other similar clips are half the price, like the PowerA MOGA Mobile Gaming Clip. You’ll lose the ability to use the clip as a phone stand, but while clipped, the functionality looks identical and only costs $15.