iFixit Says Switch 2 Is Probably Still Drift Prone

The long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 finally dropped this week, and while it makes a number of big improvements on its predecessor—things like a better screen, beefier internal specs, and more accessible controls—there is one thing it's worse at. According to the repairability advocates and gleeful disassemblers at iFixit, it's even harder to fix than the original Switch.

Perhaps most worrying for new owners is that, despite a new “from the ground up” redesign for the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers, the root cause of stick drift—something that many owners of the original have long complained of—doesn't seem to have been truly addressed in the Switch 2.

Stick drift is something that can happen to joysticks, usually over time or under heavy usage, where movement is registered without user input. iFixit points out that less-drifty joystick tech that relies on magnets instead of potentiometers, like Hall effect or tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors, can help prevent this, but it found neither of those present in the Switch 2.

“From what we can tell, the redesign didn’t include a revision to the core tech that causes joystick drift,” iFixit writes in its blog post. “Unless Nintendo is using some miracle new material on those resistive tracks, or the change in size magically solves it, the best fix is going to come from third-party replacements again.”

Even worse, iFixit found that replacing the Joy-Con controllers is actually more difficult this time round. “Whatever tech they use … joysticks are a high-wear component. They can still break in a drop, even if they never suffer from drift. Being able to replace these things is a high priority for game console repairability.”

Overall, iFixit has given the Switch 2 a repairability score of 3 out of 10. That’s one point lower than the 4 out of 10 it recently retroactively gave the first Switch, and lags behind the likes of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, both of which got 7 out of 10.

In its teardown video of the new console, iFixit's lead teardown technician, Shahram Mokhtari, showcases all the bits and pieces of a powerful device that’s bound to perform about as well as the people buying it expect it to. However, he also highlights all the things that would make putting the thing back together, should you need to repair it, an ordeal.

First off, there are no repair parts or repair documentation available for consumers. Next, the device's primary storage is soldered into place, as is the previously replaceable game card reader, and the charge ports. The battery and display are both glued into place as well, making all these parts hard to remove if you need to replace them, and even harder to put it all back together afterwards.

Throw in a ton of Nintendo's signature tri-point screws, three different types of thermal paste and what iFixit tells us is “TOO MANY DAMN STICKERS” to highlight any “tampering,” and the 3 out of 10 score isn't hard to understand.

“After all this time, is this really the best Nintendo could do?” Mohktari asks. Here's hoping the console fares better in our full review next week.