Nintendo Switch 3 tipped to use GPU manufactured by Intel as Lunar Lake prices cut to challenge AMD

Nintendo has not even started shipping the Switch 2 yet. Likewise, probable follow-ups to the Switch Lite and Switch OLED (curr. $346.99 on Amazon) are probably a few years away at the earliest. Nonetheless, analysts have already started speculating on the state of third-generation models.

Specifically, John Vinh of KeyBanc is confident that Intel has secured a contract with Nintendo for the node underpinning its next console. The analyst adds that Intel will turn to its 18A manufacturing process, which it will begin mass producing in the second half of this year.

Moreover, Vinh asserts that Intel has cut the cost of its Lunar Lake processors by up to 40% to help drive market share at the expense of profits. Typically, price reductions would take a while to trickle down to customers. However, laptops powered by processors across the Lunar Lake family are already significantly cheaper than they were at launch, such as the Asus Zenbook S 14 sold with Core Ultra 5 226V through Core Ultra 9 288V options.

It is worth stressing that the above does not mean that the so-called Switch 3 will eventually launch with an Intel-derived GPU, let alone one that leverages the Xe² architecture. Instead, Vinh believes that Intel Foundry will manufacture Switch 3 chipsets, which could hail from AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm or even Intel itself.