We have a new rumor of particular interest about the Switch 2, from an older and visible source, the YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead.
In his latest video, he shares new insights from his source about the console. Now, he does not comment on whether he knows that the latest factory leak is real or fake. He does point out that everything revealed in the leak corroborates what he has also shared from his source.
It’s important to make this distinction, because if this latest leak was faked, it would have been really easy for the fakers to make it. They saw several sources repeating the same information about the T239 CPU and other components. They simply had to repeat that information and make it look like it came from a credible source.
If their fakery was pulled off perfectly, they may be able to pull of the leak as legitimate with no one ever knowing that it was a hoax. But we’ll now get to the newest information from Moore’s Law is Dead.
He says that in the same way that AMD and Intel bid the contract for the PlayStation 6, AMD tried to take the Nintendo Switch 2 contract from Nvidia. While Nvidia can credibly be said to have saved Nintendo’s bacon in this console generation, Nintendo does have a longer relationship with AMD.
So Moore’s Law is Dead claims that AMD almost won out, but ultimately failed. This is because AMD’s chip failed to match Nvidia’s chip in the performance specs that Nintendo required from their supplier.
To be specific, Nintendo wanted the Switch 2 to have an SOC efficient enough to run on handheld mode, AKA on battery, at 5 watts, or at least the 4 to 6 watt window. AMD failed to match or exceed Nvidia in reaching this performance spec.
Now, we have to point out how wild it is that Nintendo was aiming for wattage this low. The Switch consumes as little as 7.1 watts undocked on minimum brightness, and 8.9 watts on max brightness. Most entertainment devices, like TVs and DVD players, easily go past the 10 watts mark, up to 20 to 30 watts. The only devices that can run that low are set top TV devices like the Chromecast and Apple TV, or Amazon Echoes.
Moore’s Law is Dead then explains that Nintendo has planned the device so that when it is docked, the system is then allowed to raise clocks and wattage to as high as it is capable of. These incredibly strict requirements for handheld mode are meant to make it run with longer battery than devices like the Steam Deck, while being physically lighter.
He also shares that fellow YouTuber Gary Colomb pointed something else out on Twitter. The factory leaks show that the Switch 2 would have a physically smaller battery than the Steam Deck. That means that Nintendo has prioritized weight and usability of the Switch 2, over sheer power, which translated to weight. He finally explains that the console’s other specs, such as the 12 GB cumulative RAM, will still enable developers to bring newer games to the console.
We suppose it should not be a surprise that Nintendo would try to make some engineering miracle on the Switch 2. In some ways, the Steam Deck and Windows based PC handhelds can’t match the original Switch. While those devices have more powerful hardware to run newer, more demanding games, their users have gotten used to playing them with very short battery times.
Most PC handheld users are in fact used to playing them at home. And when they do bring them on the go, they have to worry and compensate about these battery time issues, either by planning out their use in between charging the devices, or reducing their playtime.
Now, Nintendo is bringing the weight of their investment in engineering and development to exceed what PC handhelds are capable of, and that’s probably what we should have expected. The Steam Decks 3 to 5 may outperform the Switch 2 when they are released in time, but the Switch 2 will be cheaper, easier to use, and receive more marketing, on top of having Nintendo’s exclusive franchises.
But of course, none of this could be true about the Switch 2 after all. These are all, in the end, still unconfirmed rumors. While we know the set deadline for Nintendo to reveal the Switch 2, the longer we wait, the more detailed, and wilder, these rumors are going to get.
You can watch our video source for this story below.
