Modern iPhones and Android smartphones are seriously powerful devices, and they can be good portable gaming consoles, assuming you have the right accessories. I do not believe in mobile gaming without a physical controller (unless we are talking about basic casual time-killers). But what if paired with a well-made gamepad? Sign me up.
The GameSir X3 Pro is a good contender for that, and it has plenty of tricks and features to make mobile gaming a good experience. Here is my review.
Disclaimer: GameSir provided the controller for a review but had no editorial input. The review was published without GameSir's approval.
The controller ships in a typical box with quality print. Inside, you will find the following:
- The GameSir X3 Pro gamepad
- A carrying case
- A 6ft / 2 m braided USB-C cable
- Two pairs of extra sticks
- An extra D-pad
- Removable grips
- Some stickers and documentation
Accessories
Because we are talking about a mobile gamepad that is supposed to be carried around with you, a case is a must. In this regard, GameSir delivers well. The bundled case is of very good quality. It is made of sturdy materials that are soft and nice to the touch. Initially, I was a bit worried about stains on the white surface, but after a month of use, the case remains spotless.
Inside, the case is lined with very soft fabric (I wish I had my towels soft like that) to keep your controller scratch-free. This material feels a bit overkill, but every time I grab the gamepad, I can't help but think, "man, that is some nice material to touch."
The upper part of the gamepad has a special place to keep spare sticks and a D-pad, plus you can wrap the cable around for storage. Speaking of cable, it is a thick, long, braided USB-C cable that feels just right. It can also deliver 65W of power for pass-through charging—not the highest number, considering modern Android phones can charge at over 120W, but still plenty enough, especially if you have an iPhone that only charges at 20W.
First touches
The GameSir X3 Pro is made of okayish plastic. I cannot call it cheap or low-quality, but it is not premium by any means. The GameSir Nova, which I am also currently testing for another review, has a much more premium feel to it. Still, the X3 Pro feels good in the hands, material-wise. It gets extra points for its slight translucency, which lets you peek inside the gamepad and check out springs, boards, stick mechanisms, and more.
The back of the gamepad has a textured grip area. The grips are not very well-shaped, and with big hands, holding the X3 Pro without additional removable grips is uncomfortable.
Additional grips make the gamepad much more natural and ergonomic to use. They are easy to install and remove, plus you can store the X3 Pro with attached grips—no need to remove them every time. I only wish the grips had some texture or a bit more premium materials, not a standard, slightly coarse plastic.
I should also note that even with the additional grips, holding the X3 Pro is not 100% comfortable. However, I blame my big hands for that—with my proper gamepad hold, my thumbs land on the upper buttons, and the left stick ends up under my phalanx.
I have to hold the controller with my fingers, not my palms. It works, but then I have to use my index finger for both triggers and bumpers.
As for the weight, the X3 Pro is 323 grams or 0.71 lb. The heaviest part of the gamepad is, of course, the cooling mechanism, but it is properly distributed, so no issues here.
The X3 Pro is not rattly, and it does not squeak, but you can still flex it a little. I would not call this a con, considering the form factor. After all, it is an extendable controller with moving parts, so some wiggle is completely acceptable.
In the middle of the gamepad, you have a big rubberized pad. It secures your phone and works as a cooler—more on that later. On the back, you will find a fan for active cooling, and on the bottom side, there is a USB-C port and a 3.5 mm audio jack.
There is also a male USB-C port, which is responsible for connecting to your controller. No Bluetooth and batteries here—only direct, physical connection. The port has a lot of flex to it, allowing you to insert your phone at a variety of angles. Each side of the gamepad that holds your phone in place is also rubberized to prevent scratches. Note, however, that you need to remove your phone from its case when using it with the X3 Pro.
As for smartphone size, the X3 Pro can accommodate any iPhone with a Type-C port and Android phones of 110 mm to 180 mm in length. I tested the gamepad with my iPhone 15 Pro and the Motorola Edge 50 fusion, a pretty tall 161 mm phone. Note that the taller the phone, the harder it is to insert it into the controller—the springs and the sliding mechanism are very stiff.
The gamepad
Now, let's talk about the gamepad part. It has the classic Xbox layout with ABXY buttons. Because there is not that much space to spread elements apart, the right stick sits right below the ABXY buttons, and it always gets in the way when pressing the A button. I partially mitigated this problem by using the smallest thumbstick. Kids or people with smaller hands are probably not going to have the same problem.
Other than that, I love sticks in the X3 Pro. Besides having Hall Effect sensors (more precise and not prone to drift), they are stiff and have just the perfect tension for accurate inputs. In my Manba One review, I complained about the lack of tension in the sticks, and I am glad that this problem is not present here.
You can swap each thumbstick by pulling it up. With the X3 Pro, you get three sets: two small, flat, and smooth sticks; two bigger sticks with grooves; and two bigger concave sticks with grooves.
The D-pad is swappable, and it attaches to the gamepad with posts and a magnet. It is a nice design that holds everything together while also making it easier to swap. However, the D-pad customization is mostly about cosmetics, as I could not feel any difference between the two, except for their visuals.
ABXY buttons are also removable, but pulling them out is a bit harder (they do not stick out that much). This allows you to switch between the Xbox and Nintendo Switch layouts. There are also two additional buttons (menu and share) and a pair of GameSir buttons for customizing the gamepad's features. The only thing I do not like is the lack of proper markings. The buttons are transparent, and you have no idea which button is which when looking at them.
It is worth noting that triggers are not analog. They work as standard buttons and have either a 1 or 0 input. Consider this if you want to play racing or flying games that require gradual analog trigger inputs.
Each button on the GameSir X3 Pro has a very satisfying click to it (they are microswitches with a solid mechanical feel), which feels like a standard mouse click. There are also two vibration motors. The quality is good, nothing extraordinary, but I give GameSir extra credit for making the vibration adjustable.
Cooling, charging, and audio
Phones get hot under heavy load, and when you add charging to the mix, the result is a lot of heat and a lot of throttling. To prevent that and allow you to get sustained performance under load and charging, GameSir equipped the X3 Pro with a Peltier module (thermoelectric cooling). It works by passing electricity through a special module, which results in one side getting cool and another getting hot. The hot side is equipped with a fan, and you can switch it between two speeds.
It works very well at keeping your phone cool when charging and playing games. The pad is very cold to the touch, and it feels like a small freezer that effectively removes heat from the back of your phone. Plus, you can move it side-to-side to place it right at the hottest part of your smartphone. After just two minutes, the pad's temperature drops to 51F or 11C. Impressive.
Still, there are two things to note. First, cooling only works when connected to the charger. Sadly, you cannot power the system from the phone's battery. Second, the fan is quite loud. Even at the lower speed, it isn't quiet, so people around you are probably not going to be very happy about your gaming setup.
My Apple Watch says the average loudness from the fan is about 66 dB, but in a normal use position, is about 55 dB.
The X3 Pro can charge your phone when connected to a power supply, but you can also turn off bypass charging and use it only for cooling. When connected, the fan lights up with a nice white glow.
The controller has a maximum output of 9V 3A, which translates to 27W max charging, but some of that power goes to the cooling module, so do not expect fast charging when using the gamepad. The cooling module itself can draw up to 15W, which probably explains why it only works when connected to external power—thermoelectric cooling is quite power-hungry.
One strange quirk I noticed is that the X3 Pro can work from power banks only if you connect the gamepad first and then insert the phone with the fan already spinning. It took me some time to figure this out—it's not very intuitive.
As for audio, there is a standard 3.5 mm audio jack. It only works with Android phones in HID mode. Bad luck if you have an iPhone.
Software and quirks
You can customize the GameSir X3 Pro with a dedicated app, which is only available on Android. On iOS, all available customization happens through various button combos, so get ready to read the manual. Unfortunately, some features are not available without the app. They include dead zone adjustments, firmware updates, gyroscope customization (you can map the gyroscope to sticks and select a preferred axis for it), and more.
With iOS, you can customize charging pass-through, fan speed, and vibration intensity and calibrate sticks. The rest is only available in the app.
Despite not being the prettiest, the app itself is very useful, and it lets you make use of every available feature, but only if you are an Android user. For iPhone owners, again, bad luck.
I also noticed that the gamepad has some sort of identity crisis. It is an ABXY controller (Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch), but it detects as a PlayStation controller in iOS and Android. Therefore, it was confusing to see Minecraft suggesting pressing a triangle instead of Y to open the inventory or R2 instead of RT to mine. On Android, this can be easily mitigated by switching to HID mode (then it shows properly labeled buttons). Sadly, HID mode does not work on iOS.
Finally, for some reason, the iPhone detects a non-existing battery in the X3 Pro with some random battery levels. Ok, I guess.
Conclusion
The GameSir X3 Pro is a great, feature-rich controller for quality mobile gaming. However, I cannot recommend it to iOS users. It does not make sense to pay $79.99 just to have a big chunk of completely inaccessible features.
But if you are an Android user and your hands are more reasonably sized, the X3 Pro will serve as a great gamepad for local games, emulators, cloud gaming, you name it.
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