Joy-Con drift has been a major talking point throughout the Switch’s lifecycle and if you’re worried about it making an unwanted return next-generation, there might be some good news on the horizon.
The tech experts at iFixit recently did a teardown of Nintendo’s sound clock ‘Alarmo’ and it appears to be using the “more reliable” Hall effect sensors. The teardown reveals a “magnet and Hall effect sensor” located inside the rotary dial button at the top of the device.
As The Verge explains, this should well and truly extend the clock’s reliability in the long term:
“That tech, which is already in use in many third-party controllers, should not only improve accuracy while using the dial to navigate the alarm clock’s menus, but it will also help ensure that in five years’ time Alarmo’s dial can still work as reliably as it does today.”
Considering the confirmation of Hall effect sensors in this relatively new Nintendo product, it’s led to speculation about the Switch successor using the same tech in its next-generation controller (potentially making stick drift a thing of the past).
While there’s not much information about the new Joy-Con controllers just yet, Nintendo has revealed they attach to the main system via a magnetic connection. They also appear to feature mouse-like capabilities including an optical sensor.
This latest discovery follows a free Super Mario Bros. theme update for Nintendo Alarmo on Mario Day earlier this week.
