There is a rumor that Apple is currently working on a game controller for easier playing in iPhone.

The rumor started when AnandTech released its review of the latest iPad. In the review, they highlighted one of the advantages of Android tablets is their unique feature to support wired and wireless game controllers. This is quickly followed by the statement that Apple is currently working in making a controller for its iOS devices for easier game playing.

AnandTech reported and the author said, "I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen. As smartphones and tablets come close to equaling the performance of current game consoles, I feel like the controller problem must be addressed."

Although most of the games work quite well using the touch screen, there are some games that work best with physical buttons that are available in game controllers.

There are third-party controllers that work with iPhone, iPod, and iPad such as iControlPad, Ion Audio's iCade game controllers, Think Geek's iCade 8-bitty controller or accessories such as Fling. These game controllers connect to iOS devices via Bluetooth. The Ion Audio iCade is the first game controller that encloses the iPhone making it looks like PSP offering physical buttons and controls. However, Apple also applied for a similar design.

These 3rd party solutions however have generally been relegated to keyboard emulation over Bluetooth rather than full-fledged dock-supporting accessories. There were previous and unconfirmed rumors that Apple had originally supported these accessory makers in their quest to make official dock-connector game controllers, but then the approval process was mysteriously halted. Some had speculated at the time that Apple was working on their own game controller solution.