Nintendo Switch with upgraded 7-inch OLED display, 4K support coming later this year

The Nintendo Switch was launched back in 2017 and is starting to show its age a little, particularly with the arrival of latest consoles from Sony and Microsoft. The console currently supports gaming in handheld mode in 720p resolution on its 6.2-inch LCD screen and up to 1080p resolution when connected to a TV via its docking station. Of course, it has been a smash hit for Nintendo with unit sales approaching 80 million.

To keep the sales momentum going, Nintendo is prepping an upgraded Switch due later this year, according to Bloomberg. The new model will include an upgraded 7-inch OLED panel (made by Samsung Display) which will be a welcome upgrade that should bring brighter colors and improved contrast and brightness. To offset the battery drain concerns with such an upgrade, it is said Nintendo plans to keep the resolution at 720p in handheld mode. Higher frame rates can also be expected so the overall visual performance should be much improved.

The upgraded Switch will support higher resolutions, up to 4K in fact, but only when docked. The current Switch is powered by a custom Nvidia Tegra ARM-based SoC and produces around 1 teraflop of performance. While the Switch will need more performance to power native 4K gaming, we don’t expect it’s next-gen SoC will be anywhere near the PS5 or Xbox Series X in terms of power – those consoles deliver 10 and 12 teraflops respectively. Somewhere around 3-4 teraflops, however, seems more likely given that most Switch games aren't particularly graphically demanding.

Buy the Nintendo Switch from Amazon.