Tegra time —
Bloomberg report locks down details about new OLED panel supply chain.
Sam Machkovech
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Nintendo’s next Switch hardware revision has long been rumored, but details on what to expect from a possible “Switch Pro” finally began firming up on Wednesday, thanks to an apparent leak from its screen supplier.
Bloomberg Japan has the scoop, and it points to Samsung as the source of Switch’s next panel type: a 7-inch OLED panel, currently estimated at 720p resolution. That Samsung OLED production line will begin cranking in June, according to Bloomberg’s unnamed sources familiar with “internal matters.” Meanwhile, other Nintendo hardware assemblers will begin receiving the panels “around July.”
For sizing comparisons, the current standard Nintendo Switch uses a 6.2-inch 720p LED panel, while 2019’s Nintendo Switch Lite shrank its LED panel to 5.5 inches (but is also 720p in resolution).
How might “Pro” get to 4K?
Such a timetable would put Nintendo in a position to unveil the hardware “this year” and “prop up [Switch] demand in time for the holidays,” Bloomberg reports. Whether this means a new, larger Nintendo Switch would land on store shelves by year’s end, however, was not entirely confirmed by the report.
The report also didn’t clarify exactly how the system’s internals might be improved, but it did allege one key feature: a bump to “4K graphics when paired with TVs.” This appears to confirm that a new Switch model will continue to employ its hybrid “home-and-portable” gimmick.
How might a “Switch Pro” jump to 4K resolution, especially if the handheld version remains locked at 720p? Bloomberg’s report doesn’t speculate. In the meantime, we’re wondering whether its TV dock might be updated to include extra processing chips (and thereby leverage a “split motherboard” proposition, much like Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5), and/or whether Switch SoC manufacturer Nvidia has any DLSS-like tricks it can add to neatly upscale standard Switch games to 4K resolution.
Either way, Nintendo has limited history with mid-generation console refreshes that add boosts to older software. Portable systems like Game Boy Color, DSi, and “New” Nintendo 3DS were all capable of applying processing boosts to software, but this required specific compatibility in each game—as opposed to, say, a blanket boost to 4K resolution for any Switch game imaginable.
The report also doesn’t clarify whether a larger Switch will remain compatible with existing, detachable Joy-Con controllers or whether Nintendo might roll out a larger pair to match the newly larger Switch’s base hardware. (The large hands among Ars Technica’s staff would appreciate the latter.)
As recently as February, Nintendo told its shareholders that Switch was in the “middle” of its life cycle, suggesting another four or five years of support, while the company offered a vague assurance about new Switch versions not being announced “any time soon.” Previous rumors about a “Switch Pro” emerged as recently as early 2019, but these fizzled, with only Switch Lite eventually emerging from that pool of rumored hardware refreshes.