Nintendo May Launch Switch With Improved Display in 2019

The Nintendo Switch has sold faster than any previous Nintendo console — it even broke the US sales record previously held by Nintendo Wii, selling 4.8 million units in 10 months to the Wii’s 4 million. Nintendo isn’t resting on its laurels, though. A new report claims the company will roll out an improved version of the Switch in 2019.

You probably should not count on a higher-resolution display. The Switch runs on Nvidia’s Tegra X1 ARM system-on-a-chip (SoC). The chip has previously appeared in tablets and the Nvidia Shield Android TV. It’s powerful compared with other ARM chips, but not the processors in other current-gen game consoles. The X1 can push up to 1080p when docked (though some games top out at 900p) because the X1 can run at full speed. In handheld mode, the SoC lowers CPU and GPU clocks to save battery. Even if you had a 1080p display on the console, it probably wouldn’t be worth the battery hit to render games at that resolution.

Between the launch in late 2017 and June of this year, Nintendo says it sold almost 20 million Switch consoles. Refreshing the console could keep sales high as the system becomes more mature. Some Switch fans would surely upgrade, and older stock could sell for a discounted price.

You don’t need to be hesitant to pick up a Switch this holiday season, though. The report indicates Nintendo is targeting the second half of 2019 for the new hardware.

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