Nintendo updates the processor and memory of the original switch. Nintendo files a document with the FCC to approve a new version of the original switch with the successor of Nvidia Tegra X1. Yesterday, Nintendo unveiled the new Switch Lite, a cheaper version of its console that is now exclusively portable. Now the Japanese plans are emerging to update the simplest console with new components that would go through a renewed processor and expanded internal capacity.
The information comes from the files of the FCC, the U.S. regulatory agency where Nintendo applied for approval of a new model. The following text can be read in it:
“We have changed the following points from the original model. Modification of the SoC type. Changing the NAND storage type. The CPU board has been replaced due to the aforementioned components”.
The word SoC is usually used by manufacturers to describe the piece of silicon in which a large number of chips are embedded that are manufactured in a single process. The system on chip therefore usually has both the CPU, the GPU or other modules – audio, I/O, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and so on.
Nintendo Switch improved?
So it seems that the original Nintendo Switch will be updated after about two and a half years on the market with possibly more powerful or more efficient components. But the truth is that it’s not clear yet, and they could simply be cheaper for Nintendo itself.
The original switch processor is an Nvidia Tegra X1, originally intended for mobile phones while the company was still dedicated to this segment, which today almost exclusively runs Qualcomm. Since then, Nvidia has not renewed the chip, which is already four and a half years old, which would be good for this opportunity. Or Nintendo could turn to another supplier.
Switch more efficient and powerful processor
Regardless of whether Nvidia’s or not, Nintendo today has access to much more efficient and powerful processors that could reduce the power consumption of the original switch while at the same time giving it a certain amount of performance degradation. The same could happen with storage: It can be larger, faster, or simply more up-to-date and economical with the same performance.
The switch is one of Nintendo’s greatest successes, having sold more units of this console than it once did with the legendary Nintendo 64, and even in Japan, it recently outperformed PlayStation 4 sales.