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Nintendo’s rumored next-gen console is said to have a mini-LED display complimenting a 48 hour battery, 4K graphics, and much more.
Garrett H.
Nintendo’s rumored next generation console, the Switch Pro, isn’t expected until next year, whether early or late, but when if it does arrive, it might also arrive with a mini-LED display. According to a report by the Economic Daily News, this mini-LED screen would be supplied by Innolux, a Taiwanese panel manufacturer.
Mini-LED compared to normal LED displays sort of act like OLEDs, with brighter colors, higher contrasts, and much darker darks. It’s a new technology, appearing in last year’s TCL TVs, providing cheaper higher quality displays.
This follows some other rumors for the Pro, including a 48-hour battery life and 4K upscaling, which if true, would make the Switch competitive next generation.
Currently, none of the Switch Pro is confirmed, other than it is coming this century, and will come after 2020.
While the Xbox Series X and the PS5 are not only arriving this year, they’re expected to heavily outpower the Switch Pro, this rumors of mini-LEDs and 4K could possibly make the next year Switch a heavy competitor.
The Switch has only been around since 2017, but has already received two types of upgrades: the longer battery life, second gen Switch, and the Switch Lite, a smaller version.
The upgraded model arrived about one or two years ago, with the Switch Lite having arrived last fall.
While Nintendo home consoles haven’t received many upgrades, excluding the Wii’s assorted upgrades and changes, handhelds are another story entirely.
The DS became the DS Lite, then the DS XL, then the 3DS, then the 3DS XL, then the 2DS, then the New Nintendo 3DS, then the New Nintendo 3DS XL, then the New Nintendo 2DS XL. That’s a lot of upgrades, with models arriving around 1 year apart from each other.
With Nintendo’s history of rapid upgrades for handhelds, and their decent history with home consoles, as well as with the 3 year gap since the Switch arrived, we can look for a more powerful, decent sized upgrade to the Switch.
Small upgrades like size with the DSs, 3D with the 3Ds, and other things, we can even look forward to some small changes like:
Even with many small upgrades possible, there’s a few big ones that I want for the next-gen Switch too.
A faster processor
While the Switch’s Nvidia Tegra isn’t exactly terrible, it’s also a 3 year old console with a chip that was outdated when it was released. If the Switch could use a new Intel chip with Xe graphics, that could be really good, or even some small dedicated cards. There could even be overclocking if Nintendo added some better cooling.
Bluetooth
So the Switch technically has Bluetooth, but you can’t use audio or connect other devices. I have a Bluetooth headset that I carry around, as well as AirPods Pro, but I can’t use either on the Switch. That’s annoying.
Upgraded screen
The screen on the Switch isn’t terrible. It’s technically HD and can run things well, but for media or high-def content, it’s really not that helpful. The mini-LED would improve the contrast, and possibly bring the screen up to 4K, but I’d really like a 4K or even 1440p screen guaranteed. A larger screen size could be useful as well, since the Switch is just too big for a pocket, but still small in a backpack, so that could be really useful.
A better dock
The current Switch dock isn’t bad, with a USB port, USB-C, HDMI, etc, but docking is an issue sometimes, with struggles not scratching the screen, and some more ports could be useful. A foldable dock could be pretty cool too.
Better Joy-Cons
Joy-Con drift. Hand pains. D-ish pads. Yeah
Better build quality
The Switch is pretty nice, but some stainless steel, stronger glass, and a better kickstand would all be so useful. I’d like to be able to drop my Switch and it be totally fine. That or be able to kickstand it up.
Wireless charging?
That would be useful when docking and etc, but it wouldn’t be completely useful, since what’s the use of wireless charging on the go? I’d say it would be good for a portable dock that also charges, and wirelessly connects. That way, wireless charging could be useful and practical.
Overall, there’s no guarantee for a next-gen console, at least unless you count promising a console before the end of the century as a good guarantee.
It’s been 3 years so far, with two small upgrades to the console, so there’s a big change that a powerful model will show up, but Nintendo might wait until the next revolution of mobile processors arrives. All in all, there’s so much that could happen between now and the next console.
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