By the time the Nintendo Switch 2 is officially unveiled at the upcoming Nintendo Direct on April 2, the original Switch console will be eight years and one month old.
That’s a long time between console generations, and the Switch wasn’t particularly powerful in the first place, so can fans look forward to a giant leap forward in terms of specifications?
Here’s what we’ve heard about the Nintendo Switch 2’s specs.
Nintendo Switch 2 core specs
The first Switch used an Nvidia Tegra X1 chip, and it looks like Nintendo is sticking with what it knows, despite AMD reportedly sniffing around a year ago.
The Nintendo Switch 2’s motherboard popped up on Reddit, and the first thing you can see from the pictures is the Nvidia SoC. The name has been scrubbed out, but you can see it was built on Samsung Foundry’s 8nm system.
That’s the same as the Nvidia Ampere, and combined with the long-standing rumor that the Switch 2 will use the Nvidia Tegra T239 chip, we’re likely looking at a PS4/Xbox One level of graphics.
That said, with Nvidia chips on board, there’s a good chance that we’ll see some form of DLSS for upscaled graphics and faster performance — a luxury that the PS4 and Xbox One did not have access to.
On top of that, one of the significant bottlenecks of the original Switch is the meager 4GB of RAM, which will be addressed in this generation. The motherboard appears to have two 6GB LPDDR5 RAM modules soldered to it, giving the Switch 2 a total of 12GB RAM — 2GB more than the Xbox Series S.
Nintendo Switch 2 screen
We know that the Nintendo Switch 2 will have a larger screen because the teaser trailer showed it physically growing in size and losing much of its thick bezel. We don’t know exactly how big it will be, but rumors suggest between 7.5 and 8.4 inches across the diagonal — a significant increase on the original Switch’s 6.2-inch panel.
According to the Nintendo leaker Secret Boy, it will have three other significant upgrades over its predecessor. It will have a refresh rate of 120Hz, output in High Dynamic Range (HDR) and support Variable Refresh Rate (VRR).
Interestingly, it’s still unclear whether the panel will be LCD or OLED. While Secret Boy says the Switch 2 will choose the inferior LCD tech, previous rumors have started that Nintendo’s move to OLED with the most recent Switch hardware will be permanent. We’ll have to wait and see.
Other specs
While not directly responsible for game performance, these other tidbits are worth flagging, as they point to other ways Nintendo is improving the hardware.
Firstly, the console will support WiFi 6 for better wireless performance than the original, which used WiFi 5.
Secondly, the Switch 2 will apparently require a 60W charger, as opposed to the 18W one that the original needed. The same leak points to a cooling fan in the new-look dock, which hints at a performance boost when outputting to the big screen.
Finally, the motherboard leak mentioned earlier points at two USB-C ports, one at the top and one at the bottom. Both are reportedly for charging, which means you’ll be able to play while charging more easily.
Nintendo Switch 2 outlook
While many of these specifications are still up in the air, one thing seems certain: this will be a big improvement on the original Switch. Back in 2023, multiple sources said Nintendo demoed the early Switch hardware not only running a Zelda Breath of the Wild in 4K at 60fps, but the intensive Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo too.
With over eight years between the consoles, that may not be surprising, but it’s exciting to speculate about what Nintendo will be able to do for its unique gaming worlds with that extra power. Hopefully we should get some gameplay demos to show what that looks like on April 2.
