Teardown shows the Playdate won’t suffer from controller drift like the Switch

While Panic’s pint-sized Playdate handheld won’t reach early adopters until the end of the year, iFixit got a chance to look inside the device earlier. “Unfortunately there was no clearance, so a teardown was about all it was good for,” iFixit said, for those who might be jealous that the company got a unit before them.

When taking the handheld apart, iFixit found a console with mostly modest internal components. The Playdate has a 180 MHz processor supported by 16MB of memory and 4GB of flash storage. Everything is powered by a 2.74 Wh battery with around 25% of the capacity of the power cell you’ll find inside the iPhone 12.

But what you want to know is Playdate’s signature fold-out crank. According to iFixit, Panic and Teenage Engineering integrated a cylindrical magnet into the component shaft. This magnet works in conjunction with a Hull effect sensor to trigger a crank input. It’s a simple yet effective design that should last. “One thing this crank won’t do? Drift. There’s no wiper, spring, or sensor surface to wear out,” the company says, referring to the well-known problem with the throttle lever. Nintendo Switch.

While not a Framework laptop, it’s clear that Panic and Teenage Engineering designed the Playdate with at least an eye on repairability. A charming iFixit sticker found when opening the device said “break”, not remove, the components would void the warranty. Most of the internal components most likely to fail first, including the battery and headphone jack, were either modular or easily accessible. Components like the display and USB-C port will be more difficult to replace, but the Playdate seems DIY-friendly enough to be able to enjoy a modding scene like the Game Boy Advance.