New Nintendo Switch hardware versions?

[BRiT]

Shrink the electronics and boost the battery size to use up the newly free room.

 

[AlNom]

That's asking too much already. CynicAl is simply hoping they just keep the same battery size with a lower power APU.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

That's asking too much already. CynicAl is simply hoping they just keep the same battery size with a lower power APU.

Oh my, CynicAI is quite the optimist.

Regards,
SB

 

[AlNom]

I try.

 

[Pressure]

I'm still playing Breath of the Wild on the Wii U like some cave man ... waiting for a new revision.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

surprise :V

edit:

Changing the size of the chassis and screen has implications to the UI and controller design. I don't think that's economically in line with cost reductions and compatibility. It'd just be far simpler to roll with a new fab node, and maybe even just suck up the cost of doing a 7nm complete revision of the chip to make it much smaller, taking advantage of both density and the fact that they don't need a bunch of other blocks on-die e.g. the unused A53s.

12nm would be relatively straight-forward too along with newer LPDDR4 bins (lower voltage).

Improving the hand held portion of the Switch definitely makes sense. Portability could use some improvement and hopefully they can do something to ergonomics as well... Personally I would prefer XL with bigger screen though... I wonder if the less in demand 10nm process at TSMC could be better fit to a possible new Switch SOC than the more high demand 7nm process? I'd imagine those wafers to be cheaper and still more than suitable for this task.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Personally I find the ergonomics pretty decent. Keep in mind it has to fit child hands as well as being portable so there is only so much they can do I guess. Bigger screen in the same form factor would be welcome though.

To be honest I don't think there is that much Nintendo can do at the moment. Especially if they stick to the dock/joycon concept which I hope they will as I believe that is by far the biggest reason Switch is selling well. That and I doubt there is must in terms of cost savings by removing the joycons and dock. Really shoulnd't be very expensive to produce.

Nintendo themselves said they aren't planning any revisions at the moment so.

 

[wco81]

WSJ article says there will be two different SKUs, both a more powerful version of the current Switch and a less-powerful, lower-cost version to try to bolster sales in the same price band as the 3DS.

Could be shown at E3 and shipping later this year:

Nintendo has plans to release two new models of the Nintendo Switch "as early as this summer," according to a Wall Street Journal report citing "parts suppliers and software developers for Nintendo."

One model would be a higher-end system with enhanced hardware akin to the Xbox One X or PS4 Pro, though not as powerful as either, according to the report. The other would be a "cheaper option" intended to replace the aging Nintendo 3DS, whose sales have finally started to collapse.

This cheaper Switch would reportedly cut costs by losing features such as controller vibration. That's a move which would render portions of games such as 1-2-Switch and Super Mario Partyunplayable, but Nintendo "judged the new Switch models won't need the vibration feature because there wouldn't be many games released using the full benefit of it," according to a quoted supplier.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/report-nintendo-planning-two-new-switch-models/

 

[Entropy]

WSJ article says there will be two different SKUs, both a more powerful version of the current Switch and a less-powerful, lower-cost version to try to bolster sales in the same price band as the 3DS.

Actually, the original rumour source doesn't state that there will be a "more powerful" model. it says "One version will have enhanced features targeted at avid videogamers".
What those enhanced features would be are guesses stacked on top of the original rumour.

 

[wco81]

Well more powerful would be the way to go. 1080p60 on the handheld and possibly 4K in docked mode.

That Tegra is so old they could easily drop in a more recent iteration.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What mobile processor is going to drive 4K docked? More like 1080p30 handheld, 1080p60 docked.

 

[Pressure]

Why not always just 1080p60

 

[cheapchips]

The cheapo handheld only version feels overdue. Although, guess it doesn't really need to be handheld only. They could reduce the upfront cost a good amount by making 'dumb' joycons that only work when attached. They could sell a 'dock' pack with proper joycons.

 

[lefantome]

cheap handheld and powerful home console make sense.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

What mobile processor is going to drive 4K docked? More like 1080p30 handheld, 1080p60 docked.

Or just 720p/60 as we have now. On such a small screen you don't really need 1080p for gaming. Certainly not if it means going from 60 to 30fps.

 

[wco81]

Better quality screen, maybe a slimmer design and you might get a lot of current owners to re-buy it.

 

[orangpelupa]

hopefully it will use those beautiful SHARP IGZO screens. Currently switch screen is pretty bad compared to mobile phones... dark gray = black, LCD is not glued to the outer plastic (make it easier to self-service tho), scanlines in certain angle and movements...

 

[Deleted member 13524]

New What mobile processor is going to drive 4K docked? More like 1080p30 handheld, 1080p60 docked.

1080p handheld, 1440p + upscale docked. Framerate would be at the discretion of developers, as always.
But they'd need a custom SoC from nvidia to achieve that. Parker doesn't seem powerful enough to do that and Xavier would be too big, expensive and power hungry.

It's also most probably not going to happen because custom hardware costs money and Nintendo is allergic to that.


Best case scenario would be Parker at Max-Q configuration for handheld (disabled Denver cores, A57 @ 1.2GHz, GPU @ 854MHz), and something below Max-P for docked, to achieve somewhat higher framerates in some cases.
With the Switch, Nintendo introduced a console using a SoC that was 2 years old. Switch Pro would again introduce a console with the now 2-year-old Parker.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I think 1080p in handheld mode would be a giant waste. The native 720p titles look great on the screen. Even the ones with no AA. Would be cool if a new Switch could lock that number down (as well as 1080p in docked mode which scales up nicely on 4K displays). If there's some extra hardware grunt left after that, maybe use it to push out some lods or things like that. Way more noticeable than resolution (and way more distracting imo) I'd love a bigger focus on efficiency. I consider the battery life in handheld mode to be barely acceptable at this point. If the engineers could eke out an extra hour it would be a fantastic improvement.

 

[Sigfried1977]

The cheapo handheld only version feels overdue. Although, guess it doesn't really need to be handheld only. They could reduce the upfront cost a good amount by making 'dumb' joycons that only work when attached. They could sell a 'dock' pack with proper joycons.

So unless you're willing to spend extra, docked play is a no-go? Don't think that's going to happen. I think a lot of things can happen, but nothing that will affect the USP of the Switch. The Switch concept of having a portable that doubles as a console is the huge, easy-to-understand selling point the WiiU was sorely missing, and Nintendo isn't going to tinker with it.