Viral DIY Tinkerer’s Slim Phone Controller Hits Kickstarter
A DIY hobbyist from Guiyang, China, got fed up with flimsy mobile controllers and decided to build his own. That effort has grown into the M6 and M5 Mobile Controllers, now live on Kickstarter.
The maker, known as Jinjiang, drew more than three million views on his videos, catching the eye of abxylute’s design team. The video game hardware brand, founded in 2022, teamed up with him on the project.
From Frustrated Gamer to Kickstarter: Jinjiang’s Mobile Controller Story
Jinjiang grew frustrated with poorly designed mobile controllers and could not find one that came close to a console-quality experience on his phone. So he set out to design a better one himself.
He leaned on his family’s background in advanced engineering and taught himself electronics, product design and 3D modeling. His goal was an ultra-slim controller built around a sliding structure.
As his online journey took off, abxylute’s design team took notice. The two shared a similar product philosophy and began collaborating, which led to the Kickstarter launch of the M6 and M5.
M6 and M5 Mobile Controllers: Specs, Early Bird Pricing and Founder’s Edition
The M6 is the full-featured model, with Bluetooth 5.3 or wired USB-C, linear triggers with Hair Trigger Mode and a programmable Z Button for macros. Its capacitive thumbsticks, abxylute says, banish stick drift.
The M6 also adds 6-axis gyro control, four levels of adjustable rumble and a 500mAh battery good for up to 10 hours of play. The M5 goes slimmer, at 8.5mm in its thinnest section, with wired USB-C only and no battery to charge.
The M5 skips wireless to deliver low latency with no pairing or interference. It has low-profile thumbsticks with clickable LS and RS buttons, a z-axis linear motor and tactile switch triggers.
Both controllers offer Xinput, NS and PS modes covering Android play, Nintendo Switch-style controls and iPhone or PlayStation-style layouts. Each also ships with an optional Magnetic Grip Attachment for longer sessions.
The free abxy App for iOS and Android lets players launch games and adjust stick sensitivity, trigger travel and deadzones. With the M6, it also adds touchscreen mapping built into the firmware, and players can share their own profiles.
CEO Donald Zhang said mobile controllers have long forced players to choose between portability and a bulky, console-like footprint. “With the M6 and M5 Mobile Controllers, we wanted to challenge that compromise.”
Backers who have supported the campaign since its inception can pick up an M5 Founder’s Edition in translucent green, with a badge that can carry any two letters. The pre-launch page had almost 2,000 followers.
Early Bird pricing starts at $59 for the M5, down from an $84.99 MSRP, and $65 for the M6, down from $89.99. Regular Kickstarter prices are $65 and $69, and the campaign page is live now.
