8BitDo’s new wireless Xbox controller has swappable ABXY button switches

8BitDo’s 2nd officially licensed wireless Xbox controller is besides its astir costly gamepad to date. The 8BitDo Ultimate 3E Controller for Xbox follows past August’s Ultimate 3-mode Controller for Xbox — Rare 40th Anniversary Edition pinch immoderate fantabulous upgrades, little branding, and a large value hike. It’s sewage tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) joysticks, Hall effect triggers pinch adjustable stops for improved guidance times, and swappable ABXY buttons. It was announced astatine CES 2026 but isn’t expected to motorboat until sometime successful Q2 of 2026 for $149.99, putting it successful title pinch much premium console controllers for illustration the recently announced ASUS ROG Raikiri II.

The Ultimate 3E Controller is besides 1 of 8BitDo’s astir customizable controllers. It comes preinstalled pinch 2 modular joysticks that tin beryllium replaced pinch 2 gangly joysticks, a “thick-neck” joystick, aliases a dome-capped stick. The modular metallic D-pad tin beryllium swapped retired to 1 pinch a information design, but it’s the controller’s ABXY buttons that guidelines out. Unlike the 8BitDo Pro 3, which only lets you switch retired the fastener caps, the Ultimate 3E includes 2 interchangeable fastener modules: 1 pinch squishy silicone membrane buttons, and 1 pinch clicky micro switches that are accessible by removing the controller’s faceplate.

In summation to the Hall effect triggers, the Ultimate 3E has 2 pairs of enarthrosis buttons, a brace of remappable bumpers connected the back, and six-axis mobility controls that are constricted to PC gaming. The bases of some joysticks are surrounded pinch RGB rings that ray up and respond to movements, but artillery life is still rated astatine a decent 18 hours of playtime betwixt charges connected an included dock.

The Ultimate 3E doesn’t link to the Xbox utilizing Microsoft’s autochthonal wireless protocol and alternatively relies connected a bundled 2.4GHz USB dongle. But Bluetooth is included for connecting to Apple and Android devices, aliases you tin tether to consoles and PCs utilizing a USB cablegram to minimize lag. The controller is besides compatible pinch 8BitDo’s Ultimate Software X (a version of its Ultimate Software V2 for its Xbox controllers) truthful you tin customize its capacity and remap controls to make civilization profiles that are swappable utilizing a fastener connected the Ultimate 3E.