There are nearly 3 billion gamers who play on their phones or tablets, and the market has been projected to surpass $200 billion by 2023. These days, many phone games are as fully developed as their console and PC counterparts.
Then why are phones often still considered a lesser way to play games? Perhaps it's the hardware. Even great software depends heavily on the device it's played on, and though phones have many advantages thanks to their portability, touchscreens, and gyroscopic abilities, they do sometimes force gamers to deal with wonky touch controls, lag, and lack of support for things like video capturing and social features. The Backbone One MFi is a controller built for phones, and it has changed everything for me.
Mobile gaming is real gaming, and always has been, but now I'm doing it a lot more than any other kind of playing.
Updated June 2025: The Backbone One now works with USB-C devices. We've amended our review to reflect this
Dude, Where's My Phone?
Photograph: BackboneThe Backbone One adds console-style controls to your iPhone. You fit the built-in Lightning connector to your iPhone's charging port and stretch the sides of the device to clamp. The gadget works with most phones. It fits snugly around the phone, and attaching it is fairly foolproof.
