Joysticks: Probably Still Drifty
Joy-Con joysticks use a potentiometer to read the voltage at a wiper that slides across a strip of resistive material. That material wears down over time, or plastic and dust can dirty the sensors.
Stick drift is a huge problem with other Switch models. One survey found that 40% of Switch owners had problems with their Joy-Cons drifting, and things didn’t get any better with the Lite or OLED editions. After a bunch of lawsuits, Nintendo’s president even admitted it and apologized, setting up a free repair program for customers in some parts of the world.
I wil say that the gen 1 slides were clumsy and early units could be broken by forcing them in backwards. It always felt like the part which was the least well designed. I like the new magnetic interface but I agree it’s kind of an odd thing to have a minor quality of life update be the top line.