XPPen enters photo editing hardware with Pilot Pro console
XPPen’s Pilot Pro puts a joystick, three dials and 16 buttons into a $209.99 console built to test whether tactile editing can beat keyboard shortcuts.
XPPen has moved past pen displays and tablets with the Pilot Pro, its first professional editing console, and the pitch is blunt: can purpose-built hardware make photo and video work faster than a mouse, a keyboard and a screen full of shortcuts? The U.S. price landed at $209.99 on May 18, 2026, putting the console squarely in the range where photographers will compare it against the control surfaces and macro pads already sitting on their desks.
The Pilot Pro is built around one-handed operation. XPPen packed in an all-way joystick, a rotary control, three dials and 16 customizable buttons, then added a linear motor for haptic feedback so users can feel the console responding without looking away from the image. The company says it can execute hundreds of commands, supports up to seven customizable themes, and lets users upload personal profiles or download presets from industry experts. For long Lightroom or Capture One sessions, that mix is designed to shave seconds off repetitive moves and reduce the hand travel that adds up across hundreds or thousands of frames.
XPPen also pushed the ergonomics hard. The company says the Pilot Pro was engineered for natural left-hand use and includes hypothenar support to reduce strain during long editing sessions. It also won a GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2025, a signal that XPPen wants the device taken seriously as a workflow tool rather than as a desk toy. Brian Huang, XPPen’s marketing director, has framed the console as part of a broader creative-tool ecosystem, while the company continues to build out that lineup in other directions.
That broader stack already includes the Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2), which XPPen launched on March 20, 2026 and described as completing its Artist Pro series from 14 to 27 inches. The Pilot Pro fits that strategy by targeting the in-between space where many editors live, moving constantly between image culling, local adjustments and timeline work. Independent coverage has pointed to Adobe Premiere Pro and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve as key targets, while product listings also cite Photoshop, Lightroom, OBS and Blender.
The real test is not whether the Pilot Pro looks clever. It is whether a console like this can beat the editing habits photographers have already built around keyboard shortcuts and pointer movements, and whether the gains are big enough to matter when the same hand is already reaching for a wheel or a dial on the desk.
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