Is Mercury retrograde over Brazil? Because the sources there are giving Xbox a hard time today. Brazilian regulator Anatel appears to have accidentally leaked images of the Xbox Elite Controller 3 which were then distributed by a local tech site. Tech Blog and in turn taken over by The edge.
According to the specs circulating, this controller has some notable new features. There are two scroll wheels at the bottom that can be controlled by your thumbs. A new pairing button on the front appears to switch the device between local and cloud modes. The D-pad has also been redesigned and the gamepad finally appears to be switching to a removable, rechargeable battery.
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If this story sounds familiar, it is. Tecnoblog also posted leaked images of another Xbox device earlier today. This story showed a pint-sized gamepad that was presumed to be an unreleased Xbox Cloud Gaming controller.
It’s been a while since Xbox released an Elite controller refresh. The second generation of hardware debuted in 2019 and became customizable in the Design Lab in 2022. And with at least one national regulator currently reviewing the device, it seems likely that the product is close to hitting store shelves. Xbox’s big summer showcase is only a few weeks away, but after today’s leak fest, Microsoft might be inclined to make the official announcement sooner rather than later.