The Nintendo Switch is popular, but the processing power can’t keep up with the competition in the form of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Now there is new evidence that Nintendo is currently working on an improved version of the hybrid console.
The Nintendo Switch Pro might come after all
Rumors have been circulating for years that the Nintendo Switch will have a more powerful successor: a Nintendo Switch Pro. An Nvidia employee is now revealing more clues to this secret project. Specifically, in a commit in the Linux kernel, he confirmed the existence of an ARM chip called “Tegra T239” (source: reddit user followmeinblue).
In and of itself, that doesn’t mean much for the Nintendo Switch Pro. However, the SoC is not otherwise known. The name also coincides with an earlier report of the leaker kopite7kimi, who is known for his good industry contacts. As early as June 2021, he revealed that Nintendo will use exactly this chip (source: kopite7kimi on Twitter).
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Leak reveals how powerful the Switch Pro could be
According to the leak, it should be a CPU with 8 cores. The Tegra X1, which is used in the current switch, only has 4 cores. More details emerge from the leak and other leaked information. It is supposed to be the much more energy-efficient and powerful Cortex-A78C/A78 cores, and an Nvidia Ampere GPU could be used as the graphics unit, which already contains some features from Nvidia’s recently introduced Ada Lovelace chip generation. Theoretically so should even ray tracing possible be – whether the computing power is sufficient for this remains to be seen.
The support of Nvidia’s machine-learning-supported upscaling technology DLSS in version 2.2 is more realistic. This allows an image calculated in a lower resolution, for example 1080p upscaled to higher resolutions like 4K – on PCs with Nvidia graphics, the results with DLSS 2.x are often surprisingly close to natively calculated 4K. The feature therefore seems made for a possible Switch successor: Even in the dock, the Switch can currently only output a maximum of 1080p. If the successor is compatible with old switch games, it would be conceivable that the games could optionally be upscaled to 4K and thus look much prettier.
The report about the new Nvidia chip does not confirm the existence of a Nintendo Switch Pro, but it does a whole lot more likely. However, fans should not expect the new version of the console to be launched anytime soon. However, the technical data gives hope that stuttering games will no longer be an all too common problem. 3rd party manufacturers in particular are still having major problems adapting their games to the severely limited performance potential of the current switch – reduced details, frame rates limited to 30 FPS and low resolutions are the norm.
Based on the leaked data, fans on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit assume that the new Switch slightly more powerful than the PS4 and even when the Steam Deck might fail. Even then, however, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X would still be far superior to her.
Of course, this information is just rumours. Nintendo has never officially confirmed that work is being done on a Switch Pro. More than a year ago, the imminent unveiling of a better switch version was suspected. In the end, however, it was “just” the normal Switch with a slightly larger OLED screen (check it out on Amazon). Nothing changed in terms of performance – the biggest problem with the Switch remained.
