Anyone at Sony checked out a crimson controller and typed “Flare Orange” into the press launch. I’ve stared on the lineup picture on my MacBook Air and once more on my iPhone, and crimson is the one phrase my mind will settle for. Graphite Grey has the identical downside in navy.

At the very least Emerald Inexperienced doesn’t want a proof. The clear DualSense controllers communicate for themselves. Matching plates are launching as properly, with preorders beginning November 10, 2026, and full launch on February 4, 2027.

Flip it over first

Flip the controller and you discover the most effective a part of the design. Satoshi Aoyagi, from the workforce that picks Sony’s colours and finishes, says the clear gloss runs throughout the again too, providing you with “a take a look at the expertise that powers the DualSense controller.” A tinted entrance over an opaque again would’ve felt like a dressing up. Sony went the entire approach.

The metallic strip down the center earns extra credit score than Sony’s copy offers it. Take it away and also you’re holding a hunk of tinted Jell-O. Aoyagi talks about it pulling “contrasting surfaces collectively.” In plain phrases, it’s the half that stops the shell from trying like a store-brand pad from 1998, a concern a few commenters raised immediately.

Aoyagi’s line about “a deep hunter inexperienced that positive aspects depth by means of its transparency” is the one bit of promoting I’d signal my identify below, and inexperienced is my choose by a mile. The Reddit threads below the reveal principally agree, although they hold drifting again to Atomic Purple, a shade Sony skipped whilst Leo Cardoso pitched the entire line as a return of “the enduring see-through development of the late ’90s.” I’ve hardly ever seen a press quote beg louder for a purple controller.

The $74.99 query

At $84.99 a controller, I’ll grumble and pay. The covers are the place I balk. Two slabs of coloured plastic for $74.99, with no new {hardware} beneath, makes the AliExpress crowd within the feedback sound fairly sensible. I’d wish to see them on a shelf, below retailer lighting, earlier than paying that.

Aoyagi says the orange “subtly takes on a rosy hue the place the clear materials overlaps.” Rosy is beneficiant. Folks pre-order off footage, and the image says crimson.

Then there’s the whole lot the submit skips. New thumbsticks get no point out (stick drift jokes ate a giant chunk of the feedback), PS5 Professional covers and a DualSense Edge model are nowhere, and homeowners of Sony’s older shiny pads are already grumbling about fingerprints, a fear I can’t test from a render.

Direct cowl transport is locked to 11 nations, leaving my hometown, Armenia, out. At the very least the controllers are releasing worldwide.

Slim homeowners, this one’s yours

Manufacturing unit-white Slim homeowners are the apparent goal, because the covers in Sony’s hero picture comply with the Slim’s cut up panels. The duvet worth stings much less when it’s the a method your console stops trying like a 2020 fridge. Nostalgia patrons will really feel the pull too. Anybody on a Professional, a launch mannequin, or an Edge ought to dangle again till Sony says one thing about their {hardware}.

My take for now

I’m tempted by the inexperienced controller, though the matching covers aren’t doing a lot for me. The Prism Assortment brings again a glance I’ve missed for six years. Sony nonetheless has extra essential {hardware} points to deal with, significantly stick longevity and Professional help. And no, Flare Orange hasn’t satisfied me from the present images.

Grigor Baklajyan is a copywriter overlaying expertise at Gadget Move. His contributions embody product opinions, shopping for guides, how-to articles, and extra.