Nintendo Switch left Joy-Con might get recalled for connectivity issues

Poor wireless signal from the left Joy-Con is just one of the hardware issues that has been popping up around the internet. Image: iFixit

While Nintendo Switch sales have been very generous, more and more owners are starting to find issues with their respective consoles. One such issue might even necessitate a hardware recall.

Switch owners are discovering that the left Joy-Con controller is having trouble maintaining a stable wireless connection, reports PCMag.

A report from Arstechnica highlighted that the issue stems from the difference in construction between the two Joy-Con controllers. The left Joy-Con is missing a dedicated Bluetooth antenna.

Apparently, because of the added tech inside the right Joy-Con such as the IR sensor and NFC chip, Nintendo’s hardware team deemed it necessary to include a Bluetooth antenna to help stabilize the signal.

This tear down image from iFixit shows the difference in construction between the left and right Joy-Con. The left Joy-Con (blue) is visibly lacking the grey wire that serves as a dedicated Bluetooth antenna. Image: iFixit

The left Joy-Con has none of these extra sensors so the Bluetooth antenna was integrated into the circuit board.

YouTuber Spawn Wave decided to fix his left Joy-Con himself by adding a dedicated Bluetooth antenna. This ends up making the left Joy-Con more stable in maintaining a wireless connection even at 40 feet away from the Switch.

For such a high-profile console from Nintendo, players are finding it rather disappointing that such an issue went past quality control, especially since a simple copper wire is all that’s needed to solve it. If Switch owners send in enough complaints, maybe Nintendo will cook up some sort of exchange program for these faulty left Joy-Con controllers. Alfred Bayle/JB

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