Mobile Phones: OnePlus new gaming trigger buttons work on iOS and Android phones

OnePlus Gaming Triggers are clip-on accessories, but they're India-only for now.

(Image credit: OnePlus)

After launching its first smartwatch weeks ago, OnePlus just teased a replacement phone accessory: physical clip-on buttons that act as shoulder triggers for gaming, and supposedly work on all iOS and Android phones. 

The company actually teased it had been cooking up these gaming triggers during the OnePlus 9 launch event, Input acknowledged. But we hadn’t heard anything official about the OnePlus Gaming Triggers, as they’re called until they were revealed today by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau via a tweet:

We designed the OnePlus gaming triggers to be solid, responsive, pleasingly “clicky,” and, yes, beautiful. We also made sure they work with many other phones—because the best product design is one that leaves you free to make your own choices. pic.twitter.com/hJNa4Dsa5s

— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) April 21, 2021

We designed the OnePlus gaming triggers to be solid, responsive, pleasingly “clicky,” and, yes, beautiful. We also made sure they work with many other phones—because the simplest product design is one that leaves you liberal to make your own choices. pic.twitter.com/hJNa4Dsa5sApril 21, 2021

The gaming triggers look to be two separate physical accessories that clip over the front and back edges of a phone such, when it’s roasted, the triggers work like shoulder buttons found on game console controllers – or more accurately, like physical versions of the capacitive touch shoulder buttons built into the Asus ROG 5 and other top gaming phones.

The Triggers appear to be physical buttons with ‘Omron switches’ for tactile feedback that employment together with your phone through capacitive conduction (aka as stand-ins for finger presses), consistent with the device’s listing page on the OnePlus India store. In photos, the touch buttons overlap with (and presumably touch) top parts of the screen, so players likely got to remap on-screen control areas to parts of the display where the Gaming Triggers can reach. 

The OnePlus Gaming Triggers are currently on sale on the OnePlus India store for ₹1,099 (around $15 / £11 / AU$19), but it’s unclear if or when they’ll be sold in other regions. We’ve reached bent OnePlus for confirmation.

Physical triggers? On MY smartphone?

Just how well these buttons will work is another story, and rest assured, we’d like to try them out. While they wouldn’t be as easy to use as other mobile gaming peripherals that pair with phones, their non-digital nature means they might be clipped on and utilized in seconds without a lengthy setup, and supposedly work even with phones donning screen protectors and protective cases. 

This low-tech solution might be a useful alternative to the host of mobile gaming accessories and controllers on the market, just like the Backbone or Razer Kishi peripherals, which clip controller halves on either side of a phone (much just like the Nintendo Switch) but are pricey and hefty. While two shoulder buttons are not any replacement for extra joysticks and buttons, the OnePlus Gaming Triggers might be a minimum cheaper and more portable for mobile gamers who are fine with touch controls but want just a touch more utility.

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