Apple has been granted a patent for a gaming controller for iPhone by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent details a controller that would include a D-pad and control buttons.
The patent is entitled as “Accessory for playing games with a portable electronic device,” details a number of clip-on accessories that would add physical buttons to iPhone. An external thumb keyboard device is also mentioned for games that used a portrait display, or just for general typing and texting considerations. Apple reasoned that its on-screen keyboard took up a lot of screen room and users might appreciate a peripheral that helped free it up.
The patent describes directional pads, joysticks, action buttons and various other game controller interfaces which could help improve gaming on your iPhone. The controllers could even contain other features like additional cameras, speakers, microphones and even extra multitouch displays. Supporting both local and online multiplayer gaming, Apple says that the first mobile device can communicate wirelessly over Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth with the second unit for head-to-head gaming. The device may be capable of streaming gameplay onto an external monitor