Apple reportedly looking at an all-new product category, and could slap the Beats name on it

Apple could be about to make a more serious move into gaming, with the appearance of two gaming controllers in recent code.

Discovered in the macOS 26.7 release candidate, a user at MacRumours discovered references to two GameController hardware profiles, for devices with the numbers T6502 and T1057. This points to Apple developing its own hardware controllers.

The two controllers are said to have different haptic designs, with common features like thumb sticks, D-pads, shoulder buttons and everything else you expect from a controller.

Another difference between the two model appears to be that T1057 supports gyroscopic control and the other doesn't. It's the gyroscope that you'd use for tilt to steer or to bring a crosshair onto a target when gaming, for example.

Building on this, Mark Gurman has confirmed via his PowerOn newsletter that Apple is developing these game controllers with plans to launch them under the Beats brand.

The controllers have been in development for the past year, with Apple seeing the opportunity to break into the accessories market, with a controller for gaming across Apple devices. With the recent launch of the iPhone Duo, perhaps a controller for that larger screen would be welcomed.

However, Apple already supports controllers from a number of third-party manufacturers, including major players like Microsoft and Sony, so this isn't going to fill a gap, it's going to expand its own native offering.

Why launch this under the Beats brand?

Mark Gurman suggests that Apple is experimenting with accessories that deviate from Apple's design ethos by using Beats instead. Considering that, I can't imagine what a minimalist aluminium controller might look like and Gurman has a point: Beats allows flexibility that the Apple brand doesn't.

That probably also relates to price. Launching a cheap controller to appeal to the accessories market isn't something that matches Apple prices, especially with so much competition. Beats has a trendy image that Apple can use and no one will question a plastic Beats controller with whacky graphics on it.

It's unlikely that Apple can do anything to improve the ergonomics, but it's likely that it will offer seamless pairing with Apple devices, to game on Apple TV, iPhone and Mac. But Beats also allows wider compatibility outside the Apple ecosystem, so equally could provide a Bluetooth connection for Windows or Android.

There's no telling when these might appear, but profile support in macOS suggests it might happen soon.