I Took Apart The Switch OLED And...

The Nintendo Switch OLED Model released last week and today I wanted to take a look inside the system to see what Nintendo changed from the older model.
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#Nintendo #NintendoSwitch #NintendoSwitchOLED

[@IntoxicusFreeman]

This is refreshing to have a teardown that doesn't take the term too literally. You can tell Spawnwave actually has skill and experience. He explains how things work instead of making excuses for breaking it.

[@paintfatpurple7394]

There’s all types of people in the world. Even Nintendo Prime types. Witch is a good thing. Joy to all.

[@IntoxicusFreeman]

@@paintfatpurple7394 I'm a towel

[@Bee_Mavrick]

@@paintfatpurple7394 nintendo prime broke his switch right. That was cool. A switch oled. Dude broke a switch oled. Great stuff.

[@vgnvideogameninja2930]

Most people have skill (perhaps not experience though) and know how things work. I also tore down my Switch OLED (one of them anyway) and put it back together again just fine, quickly and easily. What Spawn Wave does here is nothing special and just about anyone else can do it too.

[@delano6572]

cough cough "austin evans"

[@zadiequest341]

People've been saying it was assembled to be difficult, but you've handled the 3ds so you're ready for anything.

[@ledidier15042000]

Having replaced a top 3D screen on a New 3DS XL I can tell you that’s exactly true mate ! 🤣

[@YaBoyNoob]

having worked on DS lites and 3ds'es, yeah, the switch is a piece of cake.

[@RiderLeangle2]

DS Lite... DSi and XL... 3DS and XL... yeah Switch is nothing compared to any of those. (Omitting the original DS since it's very friendly to work on lol)

[@Matanumi]

@@ledidier15042000 that's the only thing I refuse to do myself. Everything else I've done no problem. Just replaced parts on a faulty vita

[@mrbisshie]

Taking apart the Joycon is harder than taking apart the Switch, imo. And yea, I worked on a lot of O3DSes.

[@The-Vitruvian-Man]

I'd like to see RGT do one of these teardowns, and then reconstruct it all. That would be quite amusing.

[@sunny1992s]

"i gave up halfway and ordered a pizza."

[@callmedru]

Hah! Good one

[@adrianwiles1]

Let's go Brandon! Like seriously

[@terrencecoccoli524]

Yeah, that would indeed be the start of a new era for him. I think a huge black monolith would need to be delivered to him to kickstart things for him…

[@MedalionDS9]

Dude couldn't handle labo cardboard haha

[@YaBoyNoob]

1:48 I'm fairly certain the kickstand is actually metal, not plastic, it's cool to the touch and sounds metallic when rubbed.

[@reahslademhA]

Jon is very structured in the way he talks. I don’t think it’s rehearsed and it seems very natural. He’s really good at this.

[@cbgg1585]

Lmao, public speaking really isn't rocket science. As a law student, my talking skills have developed the more I participate in moots. Anyone can be a confident speaker if they put the work in.

[@robardian3697]

@@cbgg1585 not everyone is definitely made for it though. John is concise in his mannerisms and speech and stays focused in the podcasts as well.

[@petercollins1982]

@@cbgg1585 being a confident public speaker doesn’t make one just as good at it as someone else. Jon IS quite good at explaining things, and being the most knowledgeable doesn’t always translate into being the best at explaining something

[@kirin1230]

@@cbgg1585 ...good job? Do you want a cookie? We're just complementing his speaking skills.

[@fuccyahhat1229]

Thanks!

[@daskampffredchen9242]

Makes sense to improve the stand for this model. If you buy a Switch with an improved screen you mostly likely use it in Portable mode most of the time

[@plastikman7788]

Besides screws, this is a very simple system to take apart. Considering my knowledge with building and repairing PC's of old and repairing my kiddos along with all her friends joycons and liquid cooling laptops on the regular, I find the build of this system really nice. Everything has a place and the management of all the cables, components is very well thought out.

[@shanez1215]

Yeah, this is a cakewalk compared to any DS model (besides the 2DS XL).

[@nifnat]

The game card/sd card board looks like it's actually held in by 4 screws and a small locating pin, the other three screws go through both the board and the EMI shield. I'd say the rubber/foam piece on the board is purely for keeping pressure on the connector on the other side of the board, given it's location.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

Its. NOT it's. (Last sentence.)

[@jcluttrell]

Thank you, it was irritating me when he kept saying the SD card board was held in place with only one screw.

[@speedwaynutt]

I miss when Spawnwave would pull out his trusty hammer during Tear Downs.

[@Joemikolai]

That's what got me to start watching him. I stayed for the news.

[@omarhasan03]

Facts.

[@jeffp7368]

I hope he takes a trip to Walmart to buy a 4K Switch dev kit.

[@avx10tech53]

Wait what? Link please

[@snoopii2507]

“We’re well beyond the need for warranty stickers at this point” - Spawnwave, 2021

[@MatthewGarbett]

In the United States it's actually illegal to void your warranty for taking apart or using third party parts to repair your own electronics. They can only void it if they can prove you doing do caused the problem you're having them to repair to begin with. Even if there's an unrelated problem they must honor the warranty for anything that would be covered normally. For example say you cracked part of the plastic in a joycon while fixing it but the screen randomly went out from a manufacturer defect they can't deny the warranty claim to fix that issue because of the other unrelated issue that you caused because the problem they are fixing is a defect they are required to fix it as long as it's still within the time of the warranty. Spread the word and tell your friends that yes they do have the right to repair their own devices in the United States and maybe other places depending on the local laws.

[@SilimSavertin]

@@MatthewGarbett Not just in the US, I'm pretty sure in all of the EU the same applies. You cannot deny someone their warranty unless they broke their device via negligence, so taking it apart and putting it back together is always fine so long as you don't break it while doing so.

[@MrZuga89]

@@SilimSavertin in my country (Croatia) they try to deny your warranty for the smallest of things and we are in the EU. You have to fight them mostly and threaten them by contacting the manufacturer, consulting a lawyer or contacting an organization that specializes in sure rights before they do anything. It's getting better, but really slowly -.-

[@rameee2589]

“A part that’s easy to replace” yes because these companies are the most understanding when it comes to repairing one’s own console.

[@axelkusanagi4139]

Here's hoping right-to-repair legislation takes off...

[@BrySkye]

Well I mean, that also applies to being easier for their own engineers and enabling quicker turn arounds. What it tells you is that a lot of companies think it’s worth making things much harder, and more expensive, for their own techs to work on, just for the sake of discouraging 3rd party or home repair.

[@Matanumi]

@@axelkusanagi4139 seems unlikely.... But we should be preserving good tech and shaming the throw away models companies use

[@goonerOZZ]

My experience with the Switch is that, the parts are easy to find... And looking at this OLED model, yeah looks like the parts are not going to be hard to replace and hence we will have parts coming for them

[@shanez1215]

@@goonerOZZ Wonder if it would be possible to install an OLED screen into an old switch model.

[@MedalionDS9]

Already seen a couple of other teardowns for Switch OLED, but always interested what Spawn makes of things

[@WickedGamerCollector]

Love your teardowns ! 🤗

[@littlelittleman86]

Only tear down I’ll watch

[@13onethree]

Why don't you marry his tear downs if you love them so much.

[@ordinariness4661]

🤗

[@LennyQUMFIF]

There's a freakin WhatsApp bot WTH

[@joranasher550]

Hell yeah he just tears that shit down like it’s nothing, when he took apart the Panasonic q that shjt was crazy

[@aaronburrell3729]

Found them stocked at walmart. The lady was like “what’s this” lol.

[@RarerCandy]

Not only was your video educational-it was fun. You bring clarity and energy to this technical breakdown. Thank you for your help today-and for sharing such talent!

[@killerkevin27]

I love your console videos so much because you get down to the nitty-gritty. I'm more of a PC guy but love to see what's going on in all the consoles. I do love my 2017 Switches.

[@ValricP]

I kinda miss how in the older videos, he would play his site theme music and speed up the video as he reassembled the device.

[@paradisealivegames2403]

Same, now it's clickbait titles and long winded explainations

[@budthecyborg4575]

It makes perfect sense to put all of the user accessible plugs on one board, servicing will be dramatically simplified when basically all of your most common problems are the same component. Manufacturing and storage costs for one big board is probably cheaper than manufacturing and storage on three little boards. Even if the one part contains everything the three separate parts had, logistics costs outweighs the spare component costs.

[@alergu9478]

May I just say I am very thankful to see you actually take down the stand and hinge to give a "full" teardown. I am seeing small wobblieness in my stand and I have been looking for a teardown for two days. Thanks!

[@gamecubeguy01]

Very interesting to see the inside of the Switch OLED!

[@djj1]

Why...to see how crap it is lol

[@kylehalpern6695]

@@djj1 says the guy commenting on a switch oled tear down video 😂😂

[@70smebbin]

its only crap cuz u cant afford it. gotta fund em all! brokemon!

[@Matanumi]

It is different enough. The major fail is the same tegra X1 in 2021.... hopefully next Gen will keep this chip as a secondary for backwards compatibility

[@djj1]

@@70smebbin my ssd in PS5 cost more than this crap lol

[@matthew6427]

OOH, been waiting for this 😄 We all knew it was coming but still!

[@firepoet6926]

Sounds like another impressive breakdown, some good changes in the new system, at the cost of complications to repairs. The trade off always goes somewhere. I do like spawn wave reflects on how it affects the one doing the repairs.

[@urafishhead]

this is like the mirror opposite of when Wood takes anything apart

[@redsyn]

I felt the battery unplugging was aimed specifically at him.

[@urafishhead]

@@redsyn "this is pretty much the first thing you should do (Wood)"

[@hadlee73]

Poor Wood... that "just died inside" look on his face was priceless :)

[@An2nyLake1]

Could have watched other teardowns these last few weeks, but I'm glad I waited for Jon to do it💪🏽

[@ReformedJerry]

Whoever buys a switch for full price is getting scammed. It’s almost 2022 how are they going to put a slightly better screen and sell it for $350 when a ps5 digital comparable to a high tier pc is only $400.

[@thephantomboy9073]

Great video spawnwave love your teardown videos, it's so cool to learn how things work inside of the switch oled and other consoles.keep up the great work have a good day. 😊

[@Dante_Delvalle]

Took it to the next level and replaced joycon shells while watching this. Always love your teardowns.

[@horrido666]

That sticker could be a QC sticker, as opposed to a warranty sticker. A QC (or quality control) sticker is used to guarantee that a certain critical component is installed. In the case of a screw it would be placed by a separate person/robot to show that the presence of a screw was checked, and is in fact there.

[@Balthazar2242]

Servicing my own Nintendo products has always been the easiest. I never have to solder anything. I wish Microsoft made their stuff modular.

[@slimv3.162]

I had an og switch from day one launch and the fan quit on it months ago and I could only play it docked for 20 min before it would overheat and shut down. It would never overheat while in handheld mode though. I traded it in for $200 towards an oled model lol.

[@TheTyisawesome]

What a slap In the face. Not any notable upgrades besides the screen and some hinges, when all we really needed was a hardware refresh...

[@alfo2804]

The fact that they've abandoned so much of the modular design shows - to me, at least - that this is it. They're committing to the OLED being the last iteration of the Switch. They're sealing everything up before the successor comes along, and if we go by the release schedule of the Switch's revisions, it'll be around August/September 2023.

[@fattiger6957]

I agree. The only revision I can possibly see before the next gen hybrid successor is a upgrade to the Switch Lite. That version has a lot of compromises that I think can be improved on just like how the New 2DS fixed everything wrong with the base 2DS.

[@alfo2804]

@@fattiger6957 The new 2DS XL came out after the Switch. They could easily do the same, especially given that they claim that they'll keep the Switch on life support until 2024. I hope they release the successor sooner than mid-2023, honestly. I'm already getting frustrated at the Switch's lack of power, and the Steam Deck looks very tempting.

[@VAULT-TEC_INC.]

“You need to go quite a few screws deep…” Been there, man.

[@oceanism-]

Virgin.

[@adrianmvp1]

no lube lmao

[@MoldyMcdonut]

Very cool also I've been a subscriber sense 6k subs loved your videos for a few years

[@ddot4516]

I have adhd but the way he explains everything it so great i can follow along so easy without getting distracted at all. You sir get a like and a favorite

[@bretthake7713]

Me: knows absolutely nothing about circuit boards/ electronics/ etc Also me: FINALLY I've wanted to see this for SO LONG

[@hadlee73]

That black padding thing might be a perfect type of thing Nintendo could put inside their joy cons to alleviate one of the known causes of drift. Beats cardboard, anyway.

[@ViddyOJames]

wasn't there a previous video by someone that showed exactly that?

[@hadlee73]

@@ViddyOJames Was there? I'll have to look for it. I remember the cardboard workaround video but haven't seen the inside of a joy con since the improvements Nintendo apparently made to them.

[@ViddyOJames]

@@hadlee73 I seem to remember a video, either by this guy or someone else, where a teardown was done of either a repaired joycon or a newer one, and some of that padding was put in where there wasn't any before. I doubt it'll do much, though. Seems everyone's got cheap analog sticks these days.

[@alexjohnson1869]

was LITERALLY watching a oled tear down vid when I saw the notif

[@darkshadowrift7652]

Metroid Dread 1 13:34 Was that a shot at me? XD I hope so.

[@tseyksuli4541]

Back side is actually aluminum plate. Since jerryrigseverything did a test on OLED and the back plate was not plastic. Idk if frames are plastic or not. He made markings on back plate and saw it was aluminum since it didn't give softness to scraping and silver colour showed up from black layer. 7:32 board is held down with 3 screws. One from inside and 2 screws from outside through backplate. Since it has 3 holes not 1.

[@robotech3894]

Always amazes me on how Nintendo keeps paving the way for Handheld Consoles are being built.

[@Matanumi]

Most modular which is actually nice. Some things though man....

[@xxnike0629xx]

It's surprising to see how well Nintendo engineers things to require very few actual parts.

[@CoolVids19]

This man opens up everything bruh

[@cybunny25]

Hope he makes a teardown video of my coffin when the time comes ⚰️

[@MrDonut0123]

I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS. I didn’t watch any other tear down yet because I love yours the most. You’re always so in depth and it’s appreciated because it’s given me confidence to open my consoles! 🙏🏼

[@brandonwells936]

Next model Nintendo will put 2 plastic hinges just because spawn praised it

[@drgonzo123]

I’m not a person who has built PC’s but I’m amazed and a little confused how Nintendo gets games like Witcher 3 running natively on the system (not cloud based) since the two other big boys were made to handle it and a much larger file size too. I know switch runs at max 1080p on tv but still how do they keep up with such smaller and cheaper hardware?

[@WhispyMoon]

Interesting to see how they had to compress a lot of the modular pieces of the board, which showed me how Nintendo's design was shifting towards the better But hey, I get why they had to do it, so I won't lose sleep over it

[@skins4thewin]

Funny part is that board w the SD card slot appears to have spots for two more screws, so it is a bit odd that they wouldn't utilize even one more of those vs installing that bit of padding. Odd choice, and makes you wonder which costs them more, one single screw or a piece of padding.

[@harrysmbdgs]

Those holes are populated with screws which go through the shield and also hold the board in place as a sandwich, not sure why he didn’t pick up on that to be honest. The padding is purely to ensure a good contact on the push connector, in addition to the screws.

[@skins4thewin]

@@harrysmbdgs Ahh I see, thanks for pointing that out.

[@harrysmbdgs]

@@skins4thewin Only a year late! 😂

[@skins4thewin]

@@harrysmbdgs lol better late than never.

[@kukunaokalabegay5586]

I've been staring to develop a liking to this stuff. Got a soldering kit just recently and wanting to advance in this hobby

[@jonathansoko1085]

What hobby? Just taking down consoles just to do it? Thats not really a hobby and its actually pretty pointless for the most part. Yall are so easily influenced, watch one youtube video and youre envious, its weird.

[@ridley_boi8272]

Same, after watching a few of his teardowns, I find myself more and more curious about the internal workings of systems in general. I honestly could see myself eventually taking that up as a hobby, but for now, I sadly don't have the time to invest in learning what I'd need to be able to genuinely understand and appreciate what I'd be dealing with.

[@iitzluiiz]

@@jonathansoko1085 there’s more to it, modifying, replacing broken parts or just learning about different components. It’s just like looking at a car but at a smaller scale

[@HondoJarrus]

@@jonathansoko1085 It can be useful; on my Xbox One X I replaced the thermal paste and pads and I also checked the internals from older consoles before sending them out to buyers.

[@ChrisParlamas]

@@jonathansoko1085 this is a really weirdly aggressive comment

[@jacobbrozenick8366]

Sounded like that kick stand is metal when he set it down. Nintendo really went far with that upgrade.

[@jlmpc8733]

The small board has 3 screws holding it in, it just shares screws with the back cover. Just normal for small devices

[@issalambson5544]

two people going straight to new tech hell: spawnwave and jerryrigseverything

[@xxblackgeishaxx]

Can’t wait for the replacement shells to drop for this model.

[@brandbusters183]

Well my man finally got his hand on an OLED System.

[@johnodaz1273]

Cool TechWave video Jon(SW). Nice Teardown of the OLED Switch Model, afew interesting different things inside but nothing too major overall tho.

[@roguespartan2854]

It's FINALLY here!!!

[@gabest4]

The hinges will never need to be replaced, they look sturdy enough. The plastic around it will break.

[@yoitsmegabe]

Hmmm different rails. The OG switch has 5 screws on the rails.

[@Einlanzer83]

avoided all the other tear down videos to see yours.

[@derickk]

Incredible how i’m still waiting for my pre-order of a console no one apparently wanted.

[@Kaiser499TV]

I'm waiting for the dock teardown.

[@JSmith-nu4bl]

6:30 water detector n00b

[@Detox023]

That kick stand sounded like metal when he put it down, that’s good cause I thought it was hard plastic

[@jessemedsker2579]

They had too consolidate too accommodate the big hinges for the kickstand

[@Naho_3609]

You lift the back so easily. Damn it I lost my mind

[@NinSonyFan]

Truly a piece of hardware worth every dollar.

[@juanbermudez964]

Man that was about damn time

[@alistairblaire6001]

I really really hope Nintendo sells replacement hinge parts on their store instead of hiding the inventory behind their contract repair centers.

[@MercedbyCisco]

I hope we get replacement kickstands for the OLED model

[@TheRealGhost509]

Always love it when you tear things apart.

[@snoopii2507]

Oh yes, it’s Sunday and Jon is taking apart the Oled model. I like it.

[@Meoiswa]

Given its placement really close to the biggest hole, that sticker is probably a water ingress detection sticker, it'll become permanently colored (sometimes with a pattern) when exposed to water. There are what look like two more stickers like that right beside the joycon rails, presumably to detect water ingress from that joint. The removable NAND, I speculate it was a design choice to be able to offer models with more internal storage easily, but along the development of much cheaper, faster, and higher capacity SD cards, it was deemed unnecessary. However at this point the tooling for the separate board might have already been secured, so it would've been more expensive to go back to a soldered design. At least until they designed this new Switch, with its revised internals. Same with the changes in cooling capacity between Original and Red Box Switches, it would've been more expensive to re-tool the production lines for smaller heatsinks than the savings from using less copper.

[@ashywastaken]

The fact that spawn:s wearing a MOTHER T-shirt…mad respect 💯

[@Noname15514]

I've heard of guys whom have ex-girlfriends that done tear downs of their favorite consoles, though they did it in a unfit rage and didn't use tools to take it a part nor they put it back together.

[@ViddyOJames]

...but it's not just one screw holding it in. you removed two other screws that were holding it down along with the piece you originally took those screws out for.

[@APEXGuerilla]

I really hope the next Switch is half as thick.

[@BobbyJuno]

Darnit, I was hoping I could swap my Animal Crossing plate onto an OLED model

[@Ray-dl5mp]

I think you’re the best teardown guy out there. Great stuff

[@BeowulfCav]

Looks a lot better made than the original overall

[@ThisHandleIsNotAvailable.]

How so?

[@jamesvanvoorhis5864]

Awe. I miss the speed rebuild during the credits.

[@Marco_Ak]

Maybe, the white sticker on the screw is one of that sensible to water, to tell technicians if there was liquid intrusion.

[@esk8jaimes]

Could you make a battery replacement tutorial, please? I'm really struggling to find one specifically for the OLED Switch...

[@TheCod3r]

Thanks for this teardown! Does this contain the same M92T36, BQ24193 and PI3USB ICs that are on the OG Switch and Switch Lite? I qsk because fixing consoles is my job but I can't get my hands on one to pull apart myself

[@RegencyYarl]

Love this channel man, keep up the good work.

[@craig-ilesbagels2950]

i think the stickers covering the screws since im sure in America company's cant void warranties if you have been inside the device and obviously want to know how far you have been in the device if at all (I think thats the reason im not american but i read somewhere that the warranties stickers are not allowed)

[@jessemedsker2579]

The rails on the oled is way better than the orignal less play and movement while playing about no movement unless you force it

[@soundwarp6127]

It looks like the new kickstand is actually made of metal

[@CaveWaverider]

Hey Spawn, would you be so kind and create a video on which original Switch accessories still work with the Switch OLED and which don't?

[@joebojanic1905]

Everyone skips the damn heatsink

[@alluringming]

We still need a switch lite oled model at some point ^^

[@shyguytwopoint0]

I wonder if you could put an OG Switch mobo into the OLED housing (for hacking sake). It would probably take a lot of modification, but it would probably be cheaper than buying a modchip and getting it installed, at least for the time being.

[@ragnarocknroll9445]

Woo hoo spawnwave time

[@trysten8471]

I don’t understand people that say “over-engineered” Whenever someone says that, I find it to be perfectly engineered. IMO, there’s no such thing as “over-engineered”. There’s either perfectly engineered or under-engineered.

[@emmanuelpineira9898]

Over engineered usually means that it's difficult to take care of or take apart due to the complexity of the design. Also sometimes a design ditches effectiveness for an innovative yet more complex design. That's not perfect engineering especially not if it creates problems for consumer and distributor.

[@derekheath5037]

The tear down videos are my favourite

[@timsmyth7942]

kickstand engineering lol

[@ThisHandleIsNotAvailable.]

It's next gen technology. Impressive engineering like this will colonize Mars.

[@Bee_Mavrick]

1:57 can you feel that tension

[@Belarius0404]

My theorie that the switch oled IS the switch that we where mean to have when the switch was anouced but because of a short time and the contract with the producer of oled screen was taking forever they had to rethink about it there is our switch ...

[@shadow_dancer25]

I did t watch any other tearing apart waiting for yours! :)

[@Notpoop906]

I always thought it was super weird that the NAND flash was modular on the original Switch model. I understand it makes it easier for repairs and refurbishment but surely nintendo would just rather you buy a brand new system? I would have thought the obvious glaring potential of exploiting the chip being PHYSICALLY easier with a modular approach would be enough to just solder them straight to the board from day 1.

[@unstoppableExodia]

A real shame that the internal memory is now soldiered to the board. Removable internal memory World be really handy to me right about now