RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from TechRadar — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sources
The SteelSeries Stratus+ is a wireless Bluetooth controller built primarily for Android mobile gaming, with wired USB-C support for Windows PCs.
It launched back in 2022 at $59.99 / £64.99, but has since tumbled to sale prices around $25 / £25. It’s a welcome price drop because it’s about the only thing that keeps it in with a shot of being worth picking up, and on the periphery of the best mobile controller conversation — but only just.
SteelSeries positions the Stratus+ as delivering a console-quality mobile experience, and in theory, it has most of the ingredients to do that. A traditional shape that blends Xbox and PlayStation design elements with a removable phone mount, Hall Effect triggers, and a claimed 90-hour battery life via Bluetooth LE. In practice, however, the phone mount that should be the controller's defining feature ends up being its biggest weakness. It’s tricky to install, and once it’s in, it wobbles, spoils the balance, and worst of all, it has a habit of turning your phone off altogether.
Once you have found the sweet spot to mount your phone, game compatibility is then a mixed bag. Fortnite on mobile is often kind on controller compatibility and worked well here, but more finicky titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Need for Speed didn't work at all. Xbox Cloud Gaming fared better, performing well enough with Forza Horizon 6 , though compounding Bluetooth latency with remote gaming meant noticeable enough input lag that it forced me into pre-empting inputs rather than driving naturally.
For a mobile controller, the Stratus+ actually performs best as a wired PC controller . Plug it in via USB-C, and it's instantly recognized as an XInput device, fully mapped in Steam, and perfectly functional as a basic controller. The problem is that it's a particularly competitive market, and it does very little to stand out. You could pick up an actual Xbox Wireless Controller for not much more and get a better, more comfortable pad that still pairs to your Android phone.
(Image credit: Future/Alex Berry)
SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Price and availability
List price: $59.99 / £64.99 / AU$159.99
Now often found as low as $25 / £25 from third parties
Available from SteelSeries and retailers
The SteelSeries Stratus+ has been around a little while now, first launching in May 2022 at $59.99, though fast-forward to 2026 and that list price isn’t holding up. It’s now often available much cheaper from retailers, and I saw it selling for less than half its list price while pulling together this review.
At full price, the Stratus+ is stuck trying to compete with options like the first-party Xbox Wireless Controller and sits uncomfortably close to the excellent GameSir G8 Galileo mobile grip or the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth controller , all of which offer better experiences in their own way.
At its current discounted price, however, it’s cheap enough to be worth a look as a budget PC gamepad.
SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Specs
SteelSeries Stratus+
Price
$59.99 / £64.99 / AU$159.99
Dimensions
5.9 x 4.3 x 2.5in / 150 x 110 x 63.2 mm
Weight
8.6oz / 244g
Connection
Bluetooth LE, USB-C (Windows only)
Compatibility
Android, Chromebook, PC
Software
None
SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Design and features
Blends elements from Xbox and PlayStation controllers into a familiar shape
Included phone mount isn’t really fit for purpose
Solid D-pad and Hall Effect triggers are the highlight
Before you start messing around with the phone mount, the SteelSeries Stratus+ looks like a perfectly generic controller. The sort of thing you’d see in a film to avoid giving brand recognition to either side of the console war. It borrows PlayStation’s symmetrical thumbstick layout and pairs it with Xbox-style ABXY buttons and a black shell. It's inoffensive, generic, and unexciting.
Holding it, though, something feels off. Despite being almost identical in width to an Xbox Series X controller and actually a touch taller, the Stratus+ somehow feels cramped. Part of that is down to the symmetrical stick placement, I’m sure, as it naturally sits lower on the body and makes the whole controller feel shorter than it physically is. I have reasonably large hands and am very used to an offset stick layout, so it never quite settled. Some of this is obviously personal preference, and if you’re coming from a DualSense Wireless Controller , I’m sure you’ll adapt quicker, though I doubt you’ll escape that sense of being on top of yourself.
The phone mount is where things stray from the norm and, unfortunately, not particularly successfully. SteelSeries includes a detachable clip that slots into the top of the Stratus+ via two metal bars to turn this from a controller into a mobile controller. It doesn’t work well, though, and almost feels like a third-party modkit for a controller, rather than a first-party USP. It’s fiddly to install, and even with the bars fully inserted, there's noticeable wobble before you've even added a phone.
(Image credit: Future/Alex Berry)
Once you do seat a device, the controller becomes top-heavy and unbalanced, constantly wanting to tip backward when placed on a surface and feeling like it’s trying to spill forward out of your hands. The mount clamps your phone from the sides rather than end-to-end, which helps with universality, but means it's also constantly trying to press your phone's power and volume buttons. During testing with a POCO X5 Pro, I had to significantly offset the phone to the right of the cradle to avoid it turning my phone off.
The D-pad is probably the highlight of the entire controller, not something I’ve often said, so it’s nice to see it get its moment to shine. It's firm with a satisfyingly soft press and rock solid with zero wiggle. The ABXY face buttons are generic but functional, and the bumpers are quiet, soft, and responsive.
There are Hall Effect sensors in the triggers with a mid-length travel and linear mapping, though there’s no hai...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.