There’s an interesting rumor about Switch 2’s potential future.
We just reported on how Samsung stepped up to be their SOC manufacturer, replacing TSMC and in partnership with Nvidia. But our source, Bloomberg, has another interesting rumor.
Four years ago, Bloomberg reported that Samsung would be manufacturing the seven-inch screen on the Nintendo Switch OLED display. Today, they’re reporting that Samsung is pitching to Nintendo that they once again make a Switch 2 OLED a few years down the line.
Nintendo has partnerships with many of their tech industry peers around the world to help them assemble their consoles. Their supplier for the Switch 2 screen is Sharp, who also supplied the original screens for the original Switch and the Switch Lite. It would make sense for Nintendo to offer an upgraded Switch 2 down the line, but the situation may be different this time.
Since Samsung is also making their SOCs using their burgeoning foundry business, Samsung can pitch some form of convergence between their chips and screens for such a future device. Nvidia definitely worked closely with Nintendo, Sharp, and Samsung so that they can offer native VRR on the Switch 2’s built-in LED screen.
While Nvidia was an innovator on VRR, their proprietary G-Sync technology has been supplanted by AMD’s FreeSync in the market. Most consumer monitors and screens are compatible with FreeSync, and it’s harder to find G-Sync compatible screens. This may be part of the reason why Nintendo can’t promise VRR on external displays, but they made sure to get VRR working at its best on the Switch 2.
So, it’s not an exaggeration to say that you could get some games performing better on a Switch 2 than a poorly optimized PC, or even a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. If you don’t know about VRR enough to optimize for it, and you only have a FHD screen, the Switch 2 is actually in contention. And we’re only talking about how the Switch 2 is right now. With Samsung’s help, Nintendo could make a Switch 2 Pro with an OLED screen and a 5nm SOC, that could bridge the gap even further between the Switch 2 and PlayStation 5/ Xbox Series X|S.
Nintendo recently clarified and apologized that VRR is only available on the Switch 2’s native screen, but a Switch 2 with that 5nm SOC could extend that VRR to external screens in the future. All of this, of course, depends on the extent of the Switch 2’s success. But if Nintendo is planning to make multiple Switch 2 SKUs, they may already be planning for all of this now.
