New Nintendo Switch Model Coming in Summer 2019: Report

The Nintendo Switch may be getting an updated version due for release in Summer 2019. A new Nintendo Switch model or Nintendo Switch Pro has been rumoured in the past and now a report from The Wall Street Journal claims Nintendo is deciding what hardware and software features to add and is considering the cost of these additions. Although the new Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch Pro won't forsake its LCD screen for an OLED panel similar to the iPhone X with the report citing "suppliers and others with direct knowledge of the plan", display improvements are being considered too. The upgraded Nintendo Switch would share many features with the current version and be compatible with existing Switch game software.

In addition to this, game makers are looking at the release of a Nintendo Switch Pro to see what Nintendo has to say about its plans for the Nintendo 3DS, particularly since heavy hitters like Pokemon have moved onto the Switch with one software maker stating he was waiting for a "clear message" from Nintendo about the 3DS' future when the new Nintendo Switch is out.

Previously noted Japanese technology writer Zenji Nishikawa (and translated by The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki), the Nintendo Switch could "keep evolving with advance of Tegra itself".

What this means, is we could see an iteration of the Nintendo Switch just like the PS4 has the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One with the Xbox One X. Furthermore, Nishikawa states that the Nintendo Switch is using Nvidia’s Pascal architecture, not Volta as some have assumed or even Maxwell architecture as per a leak of its developer kit.

Nishikawa has a solid track record, being one of the first to say that Sony would launch a beefier variant of the PS4 a few years ago. Though Nintendo is no stranger to iterative variants of its portable consoles, doing so for one that doubles up as a home console would be a first. For example: the Nintendo 3DS was followed up by an XL variant a year after release with a larger screen. This was followed by the New Nintendo 3DS in 2014 with a more powerful CPU, a second analogue stick, and an improved camera along with additional buttons.

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