Yeah, Hall effect was exactly what I was thinking of (and couldn't remember the name of lol). That would be awesome to see integrated into the Switch 2, but then again I guess Nintendo isn't usually at the forefront of tech and plus Hall effect sticks would probably too expensive to easily put on a Switch 2 controller lol
Really I think the actual answer as to why they won't switch to hall effect sticks has to do with patents.
Not anything to do with a patent regarding hall effect sticks, but a patent regarding a controller technology that Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all use on their controllers: being able to click the analog sticks in as a button
The modules used in the analog sticks for
all three console manufacturers are made by the company Alps Alpine
Alps has the patent on clickable analog sticks and they only make potentiometer sticks. You want clickable analog sticks? You have to use their modules.
(Yes, I am aware that there are things like those retro emulation handhelds or third-party controllers from companies like 8BitDo and even replacement sticks for the Joy-Cons that are hall effect and can click but those are all way too small operations to go after + the companies who make these things are based in China or Hong Kong where they're protected by the lax regulatory environments in their home countries. If a manufacturer was producing controllers with these types of sticks on the level of Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony do with their official controllers? You bet your damn ass that they'd go after them in that case)
Money can also be part of it, I will admit though,. Even if it only costs like 10 cents extra to have hall effect sticks in the Joy-Cons over potentiometers, that still adds up and will cost Nintendo millions of dollars over time. Millions of dollars to fix a problem that, despite how loud people are about it online, most customers genuinely do not give a damn enough about it to affect their bottom line. Most people with drifting Joy-Cons probably just...go out and buy new ones when it started happening.