Razer Kishi V3 Pro review – the ultimate mobile controller

I’ve spent years testing and reviewing mobile controllers, to the point it’s become a bit of a routine. New GameSir? I’ll give it a go, then comes a new Razer. Oh, there’s a new 8BitDo one. While many are excellent and well worth the price, none are perfect, but in all honesty, the new Razer Kishi V3 Pro might just be the phone controller I’ve been waiting for, and I’m hard-pressed to find anything just as good.

Of course, I didn’t come to the conclusion that this might be the best mobile controller simply by testing it every now and again. No, I actually went on a 12-hour round trip on a bunch of trains and had the chance to push this controller to the test on my gaming phone. After spending plenty of time using the Razer Kishi V3 Pro to its fullest extent, here are my final thoughts.

Straightaway, the unboxing experience is, unsurprisingly, very premium. Akin to opening up a new smartphone or a brand-new handheld console, unwrapping the Razer Kishi V3 Pro from its cardboard shell is like opening a present on your birthday. Protected by a foam surrounding, you’re given the option of various borders to choose between, whether you have an iPhone, one of the best Android phones, or a mini tablet up to eight inches. You also have one for if you have a case on your phone, which is the one I chose.

Using the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra that I absolutely love, I was pleasantly surprised that it not only fit the phone like a glove but also with its sturdy case on. I’ve used a huge number of controllers, but I’ve always had to remove the case, so this felt like a personal favorite almost instantaneously. The extendable back that opens up to fit your phone feels like it has a decent amount of resistance, but not as much as some GameSir controllers that require some force to pry open.

Before going into detail on the performance and why I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing the best mobile games with the Razer Kishi V3 Pro, it’s good to get an idea of what the controller itself features. Firstly, it has an impressive four additional remappable buttons – two on the back and two on the top for those who like to play using a claw grip. Admittedly, the back buttons feel a little cheap, but not so badly that they feel prone to breaking. You can also swap out the sticks for some different options, as well as a handy USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack slot.

Even before booting up my favorite selection of Android games, I was impressed. The design feels comfortable to hold, unlike my experiences with the Backbone One, and while that does mean it’s less portable, it still fits into my bag packed with my Switch 2 and my laptop without clogging it up. The buttons all have a nice response to them, as well as feeling tactile and nice to press on, and much like other Razer controllers, I could spend hours just pressing them without any games, for the sheer fun of it.

Whether I was playing Dead Cells, the best action game I’ve played on mobile, or enjoying the adrenaline-pumping firefights of Bright Memory Infinite, the Razer Kishi V3 Pro felt like a breeze to use. It was supremely responsive, as if I were playing on my PC or my PS5, and even in FPS games, where quick feedback is essential, the latest iteration of the Kishi didn’t hold back.

Even those pesky games that require you to use the touchscreen are vulnerable to the Kishi V3 Pro’s well-rounded performance. Thanks to the handy Razer Nexus app, which is always a button press away, I quickly set up virtual controls for Delta Force within minutes and was dominating each match I joined. It almost felt unfair, like I was cheating, but the app makes it so simple to do so; how could I not?

Admittedly, all of this comes at a price, and a hefty one at that. It’ll set you back a whopping $149.99 / £149.99, which is quite high for a phone controller. The cheaper Backbone One may only set you back $100, but after a year, the Backbone App becomes worse unless you opt for the annual membership, which is $50 a year on its own. So, if you use the Razer Kishi V3 Pro for more than a year (which I assume you would), you’re basically paying the same price as a Backbone One.

After spending over 12 hours with the new Razer Kishi V3 Pro, it’s become an essential part of my gaming collection, almost eclipsing the best earbuds in my repertoire. Almost. If you can stomach a higher price tag, and you don’t mind back buttons that feel a little cheap compared to the other assortment of buttons, I have no doubt this will become a quintessential accessory for your smartphone, because it is one of mine now.