Today, Nintendo finally announced its long awaited “New” Switch “upgrade” portable/console hybrid. The “new” system’s OLED screen is a little larger than the Normal Switch’s LED screen, and the system has twice the amount of internal storage.
What’s New?
Nintendo did not announce precise specification numbers for the machine. We expected a real upgrade in terms of horse power, but it seems that we will have to wait for the numbers to make a proper assessment here.
The way that the system is being marketed, however, gives the impression that we are getting the same system, but with a “premium” feeling (thanks to the OLED Screen), and double the amount of internal storage.
The new screen is 7 inches, which is almost an inch larger than the system’s current screen (on the base non lite model), but it remains a 720p screen which is questionable given that we are in 2021.
Internal memory has been upgraded from 32 GB to 64 GB which is an improvement, but given the size of the increasingly affordable SD cards, the new Switch disappoints a bit in this area.
Finally we also get “Improved” speakers. We can’t really judge how major the improvement is in this area until the unit is out. I assume that the improvement will be noticeable, the original Switch doesn’t feature premium sound off its internal speakers, and portable audio tech has moved forward in the last 4 years.
These improvements come at a $50 dollar cost, as the new Switch will be priced at $349.99. The price point increase is not massive which leads me to believe that the system’s internal guts remain (to my disappointment) the same as the previous model.
The Good and The Bad
As Nintendo nears the 90 million unit sold mark for the Nintendo Switch, it is easy to see why the company does not wish to split its market just yet with a more powerful machine. The new Switch OLED model does not look to be a true follow up to the Switch but rather a new way of extending its lifetime for the next year or two before a real successor arrives.
This is good for current Switch owners who do not want to fork out money on a newer machine. For those waiting for a Switch capable of running newer games from the big consoles, the announcement has been a tad disappointing.
The Xbox Series X, and the PlayStation 5 are twelve and ten Teraflop machines each (respectively). The Switch was already a tad underpowered even when compared to the 2013 base Xbox One, at this juncture a hardware update is almost a necessity for the machine.
Release Date
Nintendo announced October 8th, as the release date for the Switch OLED, which will place it in stores just right before the 2021 Holiday shopping season begins. I expect the system to be a hot item, even if its not the true “Switch Pro” update most of us had hoped for.
Again, we will have to wait for more details on its Specs before making a deeper analysis. However, all signs point to subtle improvements driven to increase the quality of the build (and screen) of the current Switch (but not the hardware that powers it).
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