Although an NoA SVP stated that Joy-Con 2 doesn’t feature a Hall effect stick, reliability and usability improvements most likely have been made. Case in point, Alps Alpine (stick supplier) patent WO2020174902 seeks to:
- reduce abrasion on carbon track (less debris)
- ensure consistent contact (debris resistant)
Alps Alpine also holds patent JP2021131945 that describes an advantageous stick design:
- adding a resin layer to protect PCB edge (less debris)
- leaving multiple “grooves” for debris to escape
From the Switch 2 preview events, there are reports indicating that the stick movement is smoother than before. Nintendo patent US20240176382 could be one of the reasons:
- bottom of slide (1st image below, #14 & 24) is concave; slide base (31 & 32) is convex → smoother pivot motion
- due to the aforementioned curve, the center of pivot motion is deeper than the actual stick → wider range of motion (2nd image)
[Originally posted on 2025-05-30 Pacific Time]
