Latest news with #iFixit
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Switch 2 teardown shows that Nintendo hasn't learned a single lesson from the OG Switch when it comes to repairing it
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Time changes many things, not least expectations and what is and isn't acceptable. This is especially true of Nintendo's original Switch handheld console, which teardown specialists iFixit gave an 80% repairability score in 2017, but then halved the rating last week to reflect the standards of 2025. Now it's torn open the new Switch 2, and after struggling with mountains of glue and soldered items, given a repair score of just 30%. Ouch. There are multiple reasons for the Switch 2's low score and the readjusted rating for the OG Switch, but essentially, it all comes down to the fact that a significant number of parts are strongly glued in place and for the parts that are modular (i.e. mounted on their own circuit board), Nintendo officially provides no replacements. There isn't even a parts listing for the first Switch, despite being around for eight years. Glue is certainly cheaper to use instead of mounting brackets and metal screws, but the Switch 2 is hardly a budget-priced offering. And as the Steam Deck amply demonstrates, it's perfectly possible to go with a modular design for the components that are most likely to wear and fail in time, and still hit a desired price point. Nintendo hasn't fitted the Switch 2 with Hall effect thumbsticks, so they will wear and eventually drift, but as iFixit notes in its teardown video, the new Joy-Cons are harder to disassemble. Even if they're more resilient and take much longer to fail than the original ones, the fact that it's going to be harder to repair them is disappointing. It's not all bad news, though: The cooling fan is easy to pop out (at least once you've actually gotten inside the handheld) and if you're nifty enough with a soldering iron, replacing some of the ports and the game card reader shouldn't be too difficult. However, the main battery is glued so heavily to the chassis that there's a good chance you'll break something if you try to replace it yourself. Obviously, what Nintendo is expecting you to do is send it back to them for repairs, or just buy a new one. The cynical part of my brain suspects that the various parts will last just long enough for an OLED version of the Switch 2 to appear on the market, at which point Nintendo will just push gamers to buy that instead. Repairability is more than just about scores and garnering good grace with reviewers. It's about reducing waste and sustainability—something that the electronics industry struggles with a lot. It's also about longevity, as a device that can be easily repaired can be sold many times, allowing for many more people to access the hardware. For me, though, a highly repairable device is a sign that the manufacturer actually cares. Be it the consumer or the environment, putting repair into the heart of one's design shows that you're aware of the concerns of people and the impact your product has on the world. And as Valve has shown with the Steam Deck, you can do all of this and still make the device profitable. But for as long as the billions of dollars keep rolling in, Nintendo is never going to change its stance. Best handheld gaming PC: What's the best travel buddy?Steam Deck OLED review: Our verdict on Valve's Steam Deck accessories: Get decked out.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Switch 2 teardown shows that Nintendo hasn't learned a single lesson from the OG Switch when it comes to repairing it
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Time changes many things, not least expectations and what is and isn't acceptable. This is especially true of Nintendo's original Switch handheld console, which teardown specialists iFixit gave an 80% repairability score in 2017, but then halved the rating last week to reflect the standards of 2025. Now it's torn open the new Switch 2, and after struggling with mountains of glue and soldered items, given a repair score of just 30%. Ouch. There are multiple reasons for the Switch 2's low score and the readjusted rating for the OG Switch, but essentially, it all comes down to the fact that a significant number of parts are strongly glued in place and for the parts that are modular (i.e. mounted on their own circuit board), Nintendo officially provides no replacements. There isn't even a parts listing for the first Switch, despite being around for eight years. Glue is certainly cheaper to use instead of mounting brackets and metal screws, but the Switch 2 is hardly a budget-priced offering. And as the Steam Deck amply demonstrates, it's perfectly possible to go with a modular design for the components that are most likely to wear and fail in time, and still hit a desired price point. Nintendo hasn't fitted the Switch 2 with Hall effect thumbsticks, so they will wear and eventually drift, but as iFixit notes in its teardown video, the new Joy-Cons are harder to disassemble. Even if they're more resilient and take much longer to fail than the original ones, the fact that it's going to be harder to repair them is disappointing. It's not all bad news, though: The cooling fan is easy to pop out (at least once you've actually gotten inside the handheld) and if you're nifty enough with a soldering iron, replacing some of the ports and the game card reader shouldn't be too difficult. However, the main battery is glued so heavily to the chassis that there's a good chance you'll break something if you try to replace it yourself. Obviously, what Nintendo is expecting you to do is send it back to them for repairs, or just buy a new one. The cynical part of my brain suspects that the various parts will last just long enough for an OLED version of the Switch 2 to appear on the market, at which point Nintendo will just push gamers to buy that instead. Repairability is more than just about scores and garnering good grace with reviewers. It's about reducing waste and sustainability—something that the electronics industry struggles with a lot. It's also about longevity, as a device that can be easily repaired can be sold many times, allowing for many more people to access the hardware. For me, though, a highly repairable device is a sign that the manufacturer actually cares. Be it the consumer or the environment, putting repair into the heart of one's design shows that you're aware of the concerns of people and the impact your product has on the world. And as Valve has shown with the Steam Deck, you can do all of this and still make the device profitable. But for as long as the billions of dollars keep rolling in, Nintendo is never going to change its stance. Best handheld gaming PC: What's the best travel buddy?Steam Deck OLED review: Our verdict on Valve's Steam Deck accessories: Get decked out.
WIRED
5 days ago
- WIRED
iFixit Says Switch 2 Is Probably Still Drift Prone
A teardown of Nintendo's latest console has found the core tech that causes joystick drift is still there. Plus it's even harder to repair than the original. 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 blogpost. '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 available 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 back together. 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.
The Verge
5 days ago
- The Verge
iFixit says the Switch 2 is even harder to repair than the original
After retroactively lowering the original Nintendo Switch's repairability score from an 8 out of 10 to just 4 out of 10 to reflect 2025 standards, iFixit has found the Switch 2 to be even harder to fix. Following its full teardown of the new console, iFixit is giving the Switch 2 a 3 out of 10 repairability score thanks, in part, to a battery that's once again 'glued in with powerful adhesive' and flash storage modules and USB-C ports that are soldered to the main board. Nintendo continues to rely on the tri-point screws the company has been using to assemble its consoles and handhelds for decades, and on the Switch 2, many are hidden behind stickers that get damaged in the process of removing them to access the screws. The company has never released repair parts or manuals for the original Switch, and there are currently none available for the Switch 2, so you'll need third-party alternatives to reassemble the console. Components like the headphone jack, speakers, microphone, and microSD reader on the Switch 2 are easy to remove. As are buttons that are soldered to breakout boards, and the console's cooling fan that's held in place by three screws. But iFixit describes removing the Switch 2's battery as an 'absolute mission' and 'just as bad as the original Switch.' Lots of isopropyl alcohol and a 'whole set of pry tools' were needed to remove it, and in the process the foam Nintendo glued to the battery was left disintegrated making a future battery swap a difficult and messy endeavor. The Switch 2's gamecard reader, which was modular and relatively easy to remove and replace in the original Switch and Switch OLED models, is now soldered to the console's mainboard as it is on Switch Lite. iFixit also found three different types of thermal paste used in the Switch 2 which in the original Switch would solidify over time making it hard to remove and less effective at preventing the console from overheating. Even the new Joy-Cons on the Switch 2 are harder to disassemble, which is problematic because the joysticks are using the same potentiometer technology as the original Joy-Cons that rely on a resistive material that can wear away over time. That's one of the causes of the original Switch's notorious joystick drift issue and this time around it's going to be even harder to do repairs or replace the sticks altogether with Hall effect or TMR alternatives.
Engadget
5 days ago
- Engadget
You probably won't be fixing your own Nintendo Switch 2
The techs over at iFixit have completed their teardown of the Nintendo Switch 2, which launched this week . After completing a thorough analysis of the newest Nintendo console, it appears this generation of Switch is even harder to repair than its predecessor. iFixit has assigned the Switch 2 a repairability score of three out of 10. This represents an even lower score than the retroactive four out of 10 they awarded to the original model. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. A substantial consideration in iFixit's scoring system is the availability of repair parts from the manufacturer for the device in question. While there was some hope that Nintendo would have to comply with Right to Repair laws, sufficiently stringent versions of these regulations have yet to materialize , and OEM parts are almost impossible to come by. Further complicating the repairability is that the charge ports, main storage and a game card reader that are all soldered to the board. The USB-C charge ports are a particular pain point here, as disconnecting and reconnecting the charging cable wears on the charge port over time. A bad yank on the charging cable or a fall while it's connected could damage the charge port, which would require re-soldering a new one. iFixit found that the battery was also frustratingly difficult to remove — another major detractor to repairability, as batteries by their nature degrade over time. Beyond being difficult to access without the proper tools, it's held down with strong adhesive that requires a lot of effort (and isopropyl alcohol) to remove. So if you happen to get your hands on a Switch 2, buy a case and baby that battery, because if it needs any repairs you'll likely be shipping it to Nintendo and paying a pretty penny .
