At the beginning of this year, it was reported that Nintendo’s successor to the current Switch console would enter into mass production during the first quarter of 2020 and would know as a Switch Pro. Despite its “Pro” moniker, recent reports suggest that the next generation portable console may not support gaming at 4K resolutions.
In fact, a report by the Korean news site, Clien, suggests that the upcoming Switch Pro may simply offer “softer revision” to its capabilities, albeit with a more up-to-date custom chipset. On the subject of chipsets, it is also rumoured that the new Switch will make use of NVIDIA’s 12nm Xavier chipset. Replacing the ageing, 16nm Tegra X1+ currently in use with the revised Switch.
In hindsight, the idea of a 4K-capable Switch Pro console sounds enticing, if not a necessary move for Nintendo. As it stands, the current Switch only output at 1280 x 720 on its main display, while docking the console and playing it on a TV upscales that resolution to Full HD. Therefore, a Switch capable of outputting at 4K could put Nintendo on equal footing with the two big wigs that are Sony and Microsoft.
There’s also the question of backwards compatibility between the current and upcoming Switch consoles. Given how the power gap between the Tegra and Volta SoC. Of course, considering how video game developers had previously gushed about how easy it was to develop games for the Switch, it’s very likely that this isn’t going to be an issue.
Of course, it goes without saying that these reports of the Switch Pro are still largely unsubstantiated and as of yet, there are no specific details about the next-generation console’s hardware or performance. So, take this news with a large grain of salt.
(Source: TweakTown via Clien, Notebookcheck)
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