After retroactively lowering the original Nintendo Switch’s repairability score from an 8 out of 10 to only 4 out of 10 to mirror 2025 requirements, iFixit has discovered the Swap 2 to be even more durable to repair. Following its full teardown of the brand new console, iFixit is giving the Swap 2 a 3 out of 10 repairability rating thanks, partly, to a battery that’s as soon as once more “glued in with highly effective adhesive” and flash storage modules and USB-C ports which might be soldered to the primary board.
Nintendo continues to depend on the tri-point screws the corporate has been utilizing to assemble its consoles and handhelds for many years, and on the Swap 2, many are hidden behind stickers that get broken within the strategy of eradicating them to entry the screws. The corporate has by no means launched restore components or manuals for the unique Swap, and there are presently none obtainable for the Swap 2, so that you’ll want third-party alternate options to reassemble the console.
Parts just like the headphone jack, audio system, microphone, and microSD reader on the Swap 2 are straightforward to take away. As are buttons which might be soldered to breakout boards, and the console’s cooling fan that’s held in place by three screws.
However iFixit describes eradicating the Swap 2’s battery as an “absolute mission” and “simply as dangerous as the unique Swap.” Plenty of isopropyl alcohol and a “complete set of pry instruments” have been wanted to take away it, and within the course of the froth Nintendo glued to the battery was left disintegrated making a future battery swap a troublesome and messy endeavor.
The Swap 2’s gamecard reader, which was modular and comparatively straightforward to take away and exchange within the unique Swap and Swap OLED fashions, is now soldered to the console’s mainboard as it’s on Swap Lite. iFixit additionally discovered three several types of thermal paste used within the Swap 2 which within the unique Swap would solidify over time making it exhausting to take away and fewer efficient at stopping the console from overheating.
Even the new Joy-Cons on the Switch 2 are harder to disassemble, which is problematic as a result of the joysticks are utilizing the identical potentiometer know-how as the unique Pleasure-Cons that depend on a resistive materials that may put on away over time. That’s one of many causes of the unique Swap’s infamous joystick drift problem and this time round it’s going to be even more durable to do repairs or exchange the sticks altogether with Hall effect or TMR alternatives.