If you’ve been eyeing up any of the latest best gaming keyboards or the best PC controllers hitting the market over the last few years, then you’ve no doubt come across the terms ‘Hall Effect’ and ‘TMR’. Magnets are at the heart of the user experience for both peripherals, and are becoming widely adopted by all major manufacturers as standard.
But what exactly is Hall Effect or TMR? More importantly, how do the two technologies compare and contrast? While it may seem like a marketing gimmick or the latest new buzzword, there’s actually plenty to be excited about. In this article, I’ll be going through how both technologies work in detail and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.
What is Hall Effect and how does it work?
Put simply, the Hall Effect is the difference in voltage across an electrical conductor from an electronic conductor, which was named after the scientist who discovered it, Edwin Hall, in 1879. It’s the effect that pushes charges to one side, directing electrons in a current flow through a straight line. Specifically, this charge separation is what’s known as Hall Voltage.
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In the most straightforward sense of the concept, the Hall effect is simply a semiconductor and a magnet, with the magnetic field generating a voltage as the semiconductor moves. In the gaming or modern tech scene, it’s defined by how magnetic sensors detect movement rather than the previous method of mechanical components. It means greater precision, enhanced durability, and fewer points of failure.
When it comes to points of failure, stick drift has been affecting even top gaming controllers, and remains a constant fear, as a DualSense or Xbox Wireless Controller could (eventually) see its analog sticks drifting (so the game thinks you’re moving the analogue stick on a gamepad, when you’re not), or the dead zones no longer trigger as intended. This happens due to wear and tear on the potentiometers, which feature small metal contacts over a resistive track that can wear away with many years of use.
Things are similar with the Hall Effect keyboards when compared to regular mechanical or optical decks. With a standard mechanical gaming keyboard, two metal pieces come together to close an electrical circuit. With Hall Effect, however, it’s simply a magnet in the switch itself that moves closer to the board, without metal ever actually touching.
In real-world terms, this is what allows Hall Effect gaming keyboards to have fully adjustable actuation points (usually 0.1mm to 4.0mm) instead of the fixed depth of older, mechanical models. Because Hall Effect lacks any physical connections, switches using that technology will (theoretically) last far longer, too.
What is TMR and how does it work?
TMR (or Tunnel Magnetoresistance) is the far newer technology of the two, being discovered in 1975 by Michel Jullière. In its simplest explanation, tunnelling magnetoresistance is a quantum mechanical effect that occurs in a magnetic tunnel junction, based upon changes in an external magnetic field. It’s the changes in resistance between two ferromagnetic layers, with one being fixed and the other free to react, with an insulating barrier between them.
Tunnelling magnetoresistance is used in gaming for contactless magnetic sensor technology, promising precise inputs, no stick drift, and low overall power consumption. Because it works by detecting even the slightest and smallest difference in magnetic fields, it allows for incredibly exact actuation when used in gaming keyboards and PC gaming controllers. It’s signal actuation down to a granular scale. Because TMR measures resistance and not voltage, it needs less signal amplification, resulting in a low overall power draw.
|
Feature |
Hall Effect |
TMR |
|
Operating method |
Detects changes in voltages across a conductor |
Measures resistance changes caused by quantum mechanical tunnelling through an insulating barrier |
|
Power consumption |
Higher (usually around 1-10 mA) |
Incredibly low (Microamps to the sub-milliamp range) |
|
Sensitivity |
Moderate sensitivity as it requires a stronger magnetic field |
Incredibly high sensitivity |
|
Polling rates |
1,000Hz to 8,000Hz |
1,000Hz to 8,000Hz |
|
Physical wear |
Massively improved over potentiometers with a non-contact design |
Non-contact with a high resolution design for less of a deadzone reliance |
|
Primary uses |
Magnetic switches, magnetic joysticks |
Ultra-precision keyboards, high-end wireless gamepads, automotive sensors |
|
Manufacturing maturity |
High (low component costs) |
Maturing as prices are beginning to drop |
Is TMR better than Hall Effect? Yes, but there’s a catch…
Now that I’ve outlined the key differences and similarities, it’s time to talk about exactly why TMR is the superior magnetic sensor technology for today’s tech. We can start by reiterating TMR’s key advantages over Hall Effect: a massive resistance delta, extremely low noise floor, low power consumption, smaller micro magnets with low-strength flux fields, and ultra-high positional precision when weighed up against the older Hall Effect tech.
With that being said, why isn’t TMR the more recognizable and more popular standard across the industry? Well, there are a few key reasons why Hall Effect remains the more familiar of the two magnetic methods.
Fundamentally, it comes down to the high costs of TMR components, combined with the fact that peripheral makers often need to make major changes to their production lines if they switch to using TMR.
Hall Effect components have been in use considerably longer than TMR in game controllers and gaming keyboards, with manufacturers already having SMT assembly pipelines, key suppliers, and proven benchmarks for what Hall Effect quality control looks like.
We also need to consider the key use cases for TMR for gamers. Its incredibly high sensitivity potential requires adept calibration. Because a magnetic sensor is only as good as the firmware that interprets the signal, we just haven’t seen the level of maturity of firmware and engineering understanding with TMR, compared to the older and more reliable Hall Effect standard.
I also need to talk about diminishing returns with the (seemingly) boundless potential of how TMR could be implemented in our tech. It comes down to the limitations of the human body, particularly when considering just how granular a movement we really need to make when using our thumbs on an analog stick.
TMR is technically capable of far smaller deviations than Hall Effect; however, a human thumb, even from the best gamers in the world, just isn’t really going to be able to take advantage of the sub-millimeter differences in micro-adjustments here.
Specifically sticking with the example of using a game controller, we also need to consider dead zones, which are baked into most modern games at 3-5%, allowing for player error. A controller’s dead zone is designed to ignore small movements to stop your in-game character model (or the camera) from moving, while keeping your aim fast, and (theoretically) removing any shakiness. This feature is found in even top esports games such as Fortnite, Rocket League, and Apex Legends.
In gaming keyboard terms, both Hall Effect and TMR greatly innovate over standard mechanical decks through rapid trigger, which dynamically resets a key at the exact moment it’s pressed and turns off the instant it is released with no fixed rebound. Because there’s no need for metal-on-metal contact, there’s no spring-back time, and it’s instantaneous; it allows for superior counter-strafing in Counter-Strike and gives you a far better chance to land that Vandal five-stack in VALORANT, provided you actually let go of the key before micro-adjusting with your mouse.
The direct comparison of whether rapid trigger is actually any better with TMR than with Hall Effect again comes down to an infinitesimal difference for a human finger. If you’re able to measure both magnetic technologies with 0.1mm precision and an 8,000Hz polling rate, effectively eliminating latency, then the higher raw signal resolution of TMR just isn’t going to make any tangible impact here, because (unless you’re in the top 0.01% of gamers) you will be the bottleneck.
What are the best Hall Effect and TMR controllers and keyboards right now?
There’s no shortage of high-quality Hall Effect controllers and keyboards dominating the gaming market, particularly from the major players in the peripherals scene. The Boomslang brand aside, you only need to look as far as the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, the Asus ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3, Wooting 80HE, or the Pulsar Gaming Gears eS HE 70 to see how gamers have welcomed magnetic sensor tech.
By comparison, there are relatively few gaming keyboard manufacturers turning their attention to TMR in 2026, with the most prominent examples of these boards being the Cherry K5 Pro TMR Compact or the Cherry MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless, as well as the latest decks made by Keychron. Again, TMR keyboards face the hurdle of being far more expensive to produce, with supply chain issues and dubious consumer knowledge and understanding, despite being the superior way to play (at least on paper).
TMR controllers are far more commonplace than gaming keyboards that have adopted the tech, thankfully. You only need to look as far as the Steam Controller (2026), the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K, and the Asus ROG Raikiri 2 for proof of this. It’s not just the pricier name-brands getting in on this action, either. That’s because there is a wealth of budget TMR gamepads worth considering, such as the GameSir G7 Pro 8K and the Gulikit ES Pro, too.
What does the future hold for TMR and Hall Effect tech?
Neither Hall Effect nor TMR will disappear anytime soon. In fact, considering that TMR technology is becoming cheaper to produce and is starting to become more widespread in keyboards and controllers, it’s highly likely that more manufacturers will see the advantages of magnetic resistance when weighed against magnetic voltage.
Prices will come down, particularly when the larger manufacturers start to mass produce items which will (inevitably) be revised and innovated upon in the next handful of years.
HE and TMR may sound like buzzwords added to the names of peripherals at the moment, but eventually, they will be the standard, and a lack of magnetic tech could be seen as a dealbreaker.
True, breaking into the mainstream will depend on how the 10th console generation goes; if Sony and Microsoft adopt TMR tech for their new controllers, then that will signal the changing tide. Considering the eye-watering price next-gen consoles could command, it’s certainly possible.
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alekshamcloughlin@outlook.com (Aleksha McLoughlin)
