iFixit says the Switch 2 is even harder to repair than the original

iFixit has completed its teardown of the Nintendo Switch 2 and galore repairs don’t look easy. | Image: iFixit

After retroactively lowering the archetypal Nintendo Switch’s repairability score from an 8 retired of 10 to conscionable 4 retired of 10 to bespeak 2025 standards, iFixit has recovered the Switch 2 to beryllium adjacent harder to fix. Following its full teardown of the caller console, iFixit is giving the Switch 2 a 3 retired of 10 repairability people thanks, successful part, to a artillery that’s erstwhile again “glued successful with almighty adhesive” and flash retention modules and USB-C ports that are soldered to the main board.

Nintendo continues to trust connected the tri-point screws the institution has been utilizing to assemble its consoles and handhelds for decades, and connected the Switch 2, galore are hidden down stickers that get damaged successful the process of removing them to entree the screws. The institution has ne'er released repair parts oregon manuals for the archetypal Switch, and determination are presently nary disposable for the Switch 2, truthful you’ll request third-party alternatives to reassemble the console.

Components similar the headphone jack, speakers, microphone, and microSD scholar connected the Switch 2 are casual to remove. As are buttons that are soldered to breakout boards, and the console’s cooling instrumentality that’s held successful spot by 3 screws.

But iFixit describes removing the Switch 2’s artillery arsenic an “absolute mission” and “just arsenic atrocious arsenic the archetypal Switch.” Lots of isopropyl intoxicant and a “whole acceptable of pry tools” were needed to region it, and successful the process the foam Nintendo glued to the artillery was near disintegrated making a aboriginal artillery swap a hard and messy endeavor. 

The Switch 2’s gamecard reader, which was modular and comparatively casual to region and regenerate successful the archetypal Switch and Switch OLED models, is present soldered to the console’s mainboard arsenic it is connected Switch Lite. iFixit besides recovered 3 antithetic types of thermal paste utilized successful the Switch 2 which successful the archetypal Switch would solidify implicit clip making it hard to region and little effectual astatine preventing the console from overheating.

Even the new Joy-Cons connected the Switch 2 are harder to disassemble, which is problematic due to the fact that the joysticks are utilizing the aforesaid potentiometer exertion arsenic the archetypal Joy-Cons that trust connected a resistive worldly that tin deterioration distant implicit time. That’s 1 of the causes of the archetypal Switch’s notorious joystick drift contented and this clip astir it’s going to beryllium adjacent harder to bash repairs oregon regenerate the sticks altogether with Hall effect oregon TMR alternatives.