You Can Turn Your Smartphone Into A Switch 2 Camera, For Really Cheap

A fan has made a fun little discovery about the Switch 2.

As shared by YouTuber Will it Work?, it’s really easy to turn your smartphone into a Switch 2 camera. What you’ll need are video capture cables, but we’ll explain this in more detail below.

This YouTuber had an iPhone, and he used two cables; one that converts USB-C to HDMI, and one HDMI capture cable that converts the video signal back to USB-C. So, straightforwardly enough, he connected the two cables to each other, connected the USB-C to HDMI cable to the iPhone, and the HDMI capture cable to the Switch 2.

As he noted, most about any kind of these cables will be able to do this job, so you shouldn’t worry about finding any branded cables. You may want to find a setup that gives the ability to keep powering your iPhone, such as finding another adapter that has power delivery and then the corresponding cables.

As he also demonstrated on the video, the Switch 2 will not take advantage of the iPhone camera’s maximum settings. The lag you see in GameChat is not a performance issue, but intentional. Nintendo explained that they prioritized the player seeing best performance for the game that they’re playing, but we suspect there may also be related issues to privacy or other legal issues that prompted these choices as well.

This should theoretically also be possible on any Android phone or tablet, but there’s one certain caveat. Because Android is an open system, not all Android phones and tablet support video output via USB-C. We’ll go a step further and posit that it’s possible Windows tablets and laptops, and maybe even Chromebooks, could also allow their cameras to be used on the Switch 2. But that’s definitely not true of all of them, and you’ll have to check your particular device to figure out if it’s possible.

Of course, if you already have a camera, like a webcam, you can test it too. To quote Nintendo themselves:

You may be able to use a USB-C® camera accessory you already own. However, not all cameras may work as intended. You can easily check compatibility using the Test USB Camera feature located in the Nintendo Switch 2 system settings.

So, it seems Nintendo left USB-C compatibility open for this sort of function, and they’ll just leave it to each manufacturer if their device will just work plug and play. It certainly makes us wonder if it could also use other USB-C devices and have simply not announced it yet.

Well, we’re fairly certain Nintendo doesn’t have external GPU support hiding in the Switch 2, but maybe that’s something they could consider for the Switch 2 Pro? For now, you at least have somethings you can look forward to trying out with your Switch 2.

You can watch Will it Work?’s video below.