Razer has been making controllers for a long while at this point, starting with their original Junglecat Joy-Con styled controller, they eventually moved into their Kishi line. Steadily upgrading from a floppy, stretchable controller up to a feature rich, tablet supporting controller that could do just about anything you could ask for in a telescopic controller. And the price showed that. But as we approach the beginning of September it seems Razer is going back to their roots with their latest release: The Razer Prio.
What you’re looking at is exactly what you’re getting. An ultra compact controller that slides together and can be stowed away in your pocket for easy transportation, and hopefully easy for use as well. Razer notes in their promotional material that the Prio is about the size of a credit card when folded 107x67x23mm, though I assume they’re not talking about depth. As well as that its 101 gram weight means it should practically disappear when not in use.
For those looking to use this with their phones, you’ll be in luck as it supports devices with up to a 7″ display, but this means you’ll be a bit disappointed if you were hoping for a compact tablet controller as it doesn’t quite stretch that far.
When it comes to other specifications, there’s not a lot to add at this time. There’s no battery as it’s a USB-C powered telescopic. The dpad face buttons and triggers are all labeled as tactile, which may be a turn off for some, but others will like that. Alongside this you get support for software like Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam Link, PS Remote Play, and Razer PC Remote Play. All of this on an iPhone with iOS 18 or later, or an Android device on version 14 or later.
Coming out of the gate at $99.99 it’s not a cheap controller, but they’re hoping that with its pocketability, performance, and hopefully ease of use it’ll be worth the price of admission for some. Keep an eye out, as there will likely be coverage on the Razer Prio from the Retro Handhelds Podcast but for now, we can only guess who all will be picking this one up.
