Nintendo reveals new Switch model with enhanced battery life
Nintendo reveals new Switch model with enhanced battery life
So what has changed? Rumour has it that this new console features the same battery and basic specifications as Nintendo’s original Switch. The only major change with thei revised console is in the SOC that used to power it, which has seemingly been shrunk to a newer manufacturing node, reducing the chip’s power draw and heat output.
Nintendo has likely shrunk Nvidia’s Tegra X1 chip, which powers the console, from 20nm to 16nm, creating a smaller overall chip which consumes significantly less power than before. This is why Nintendo’s new Switch will be able to run for 4.5-9 hours without charging, which is almost 2x longer than the original Switch’s 2.5-5.5 hour battery life.
It has been confirmed that this new long battery version of Nintendo’s Switch console will release in August in Japan and in September in the UK, but availability will vary between individual retailers.
This new model is set to be a “silent upgrade” for Nintendo’s console lineup, a new hardware revision which was not intended to gain much press coverage or consumer attention. Both old and new Switch models will likely be sold side-by-side for a time, leaving consumers in a strange position.
The main question today is whether or not this new Switch console variant will ship with more or less performance than Nintendo’s original console, as the Switch’s SOC die shrink could be used to enable more performance within games. That said, this release is targetting a longer battery life for end-users, which means that this console is likely to be running at the same clock speeds as Nintendo’s standard Switch models.
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