Seven years after the release of its Switch, is Nintendo about to present its new home console?
It's a funny thing about news that it can sometimes overlap with a certain timeliness. So, in the wake of information concerning the PlayStation 6 and the supplier of its main chip (AMD), several rumors confirm the work currently being done by Nintendo around the Switch 2. Launched in Japan in 2017, the Switch has been a huge success for the Japanese company, but however successful it may be, the console can't completely overlook its age and technological deficit when it's based on a simple modified Tegra X1 chip.
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For several months now, rumors have been circulating about a release window and the chip Nintendo has chosen. Most recently, photos of supposed Switch 2 prototypes have been released. Of course, Nintendo has made no comment whatsoever, but this publication is an opportunity to take stock. First of all, let's get the question of timing out of the way: most observers agree that the Switch 2 will be released next year, with some leaning more towards the second quarter of 2025. It would also appear that Nintendo is heading for a presentation of the machine as early as next month. We'll see when the time comes.
VideoCardz
Relayed by VideoCardz, the most recent rumors indicate that Nintendo is once again placing its trust in NVIDIA for the design of the chip at the heart of the machine. We're talking about a Tegra 239 backed by 12 GB of LPDDR5X-7500. In both cases, the increase in power compared with the Switch's predecessor would be quite staggering: with a maximum of 1,536 CUDA cores, compared with 256 on the Switch's predecessor, for example. Storage would still be entrusted to a flash unit, but faster and with greater capacity (256 GB vs. 64 GB on the Switch), and there's also talk of a larger screen (8″ vs. 7″), although we don't know if the panel technology will be different.
VideoCardz
It's obviously this last point that we can observe with greater precision in the photos of the supposed Switch 2 prototype: the screen takes up more space, obviously, but by limiting the borders, Nintendo wouldn't have to increase the size of the console itself too much. What's more, photos of the supposed prototype give a closer look at the joy-cons, the Switch's emblematic controllers: those of version 2 would therefore be very similar, albeit with a slightly more ergonomic design and the presence of an additional button on the right joy-con. Nintendo clearly doesn't want to shake up a machine that has been a huge success - and understandably so - but, with small touches, the Japanese company seems to be meeting fans' expectations.
