A new console challenger has appeared, and it goes by the name Nintendo Switch 2. The company’s latest iteration of the home console portable hybrid initially showed promise by featuring a large 1080p display, though very little official footage of the handheld existed prior to the device’s global release last week. However, thanks to a teardown video from [TronicsFix], we’ve got a little more insight into the hardware.
The technical specifications of this new console have been speculated on for the last handful of years. We now know NVIDIA is again providing the main silicon in the form of a custom 8x ARM Cortex A78C processor. Keeping the system powered is a 5220 mAh lithium ion battery that according to [TronicsFix] is held in with some seriously strong adhesive.
On the plus side for repairability, the onboard microphone and headphone jack are each attached by their own ribbon cable to the motherboard. The magnetic controller interfaces are also modular in design as they may one day prove to be a point of failure from repeated detachment. Speaking of which, [TronicsFix] also took apart the new version of the Joy-Con controller that ships with the system.
Arguably the biggest pain point for owners of the original Nintendo Switch was the reliability of the analog sticks on the diminutive controllers. There were widespread reports of “stick drift” that caused players to lose control as onscreen avatars would lazily move in one direction without player input. For the Switch 2, the Joy-Con controllers feature roughly the same number of dome switch buttons as well as haptic feedback motors. The analog sticks are larger in size on the outside, but feature the same general wiper/resistor design of the original. Many will cry foul of the continued use of conventional analog stick design in favor of hall effect sensors, but only time will tell if the Nintendo Switch 2 will repeat history.
Anyone know if there are nice, high-res boardshots anywhere out there?
Youtube videos are too compressed to make out anything.
Some of the various teardown videos on YT identify the different chip part numbers. Unfortunately, I’ve not seen one yet that is comprehensive.
I’m so disappointed that the USB ports are still soldered to the same board as the storage. My brother kills USB ports and I was hoping for a sub-module this time like many phones. I struggle re-soldering this components and getting every single pin connected.
“Use the Flux, Luke!” Or just watch several YouTube videos of experienced people doing these repairs to see what the key factors are.
I moved my entire family to magnet connectors. Which worked until the manufacturer discontinue the magnet cords I use. I rather replace the cords than resolder cell phones. But sadly they don’t have Video output or USB host magnet cords yet 😥
Technically there are USB-C magnetic connectors on the market that do support video etc. I’ve been testing them with my Steamdeck though and rather as expected really they just are not stable enough to really rely on for data, but they do work well enough (at least while so new) to almost convince you they are good – fine for charging so far though. Though in fairness USB-C is often kinda flaky anyway, so I’ve found the magnetic connectors problematic enough to stop using ’em.
oh yeah! Those are great – I started with Genki brand until they discontinued. Then I found the clones (the source?) of “24 pin magnetic USB-C” from China which are fully compatible.
I did find and order some magnetic HDMI, haven’t tried yet.
Thanks a million for this walkthrough. Very disapointed to realize its not reusing the map of the Switch 1, and that Nintendo didn’t make better choices for the game cartrdige slot or USB ports.
I was at a social event at Nvidia about a year ago and I was talking to someone about hacking Nintendo consoles. I told the story about Team Twiizers, how the Switch was so easily hacked because it was only slightly modified from the Tegra SoC in the Shield tablets, and how the DSi had recently had its boot ROM dumped using a targeted EMP.
One of the guys I was talking to was growing more and more anxious as I went on, and eventually he commented that people like me are thew stuff of his nightmares. He explained that he was the lead of security architecture and validation on the SoC going into the Switch 2, and that his predecessor was fired over the vulnerability of the original Switch and the compensation Nvidia had to pay Nintendo as a result.
I am not at Nvidia anymore, so I wonder how that gentleman is doing now that the Switch 2 was compromised in less than a day.
I still have not seen any details regarding the Switch 2 hack. Was it anything more than a Switch 1 game hack run on the Switch 2?
Looks like it’s not much of a hack.. just a software side userland vulnerability. Nvidia probably had nothing to do with it.
https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/handheld-gaming/hackers-discover-nintendo-switch-2-exploit-one-day-after-launch-minor-hack-allows-running-custom-code-on-top-of-os