Analyst says a 4K-capable Nintendo Switch Pro will arrive this year

[midian182]

Through the looking glass: The Nintendo Switch has been a resounding success for the Japanese firm since its launch in 2017, but with the next-gen consoles arriving this holiday season, the hybrid machine’s hardware limitations are becoming more glaring. That could change, however, thanks to a 4K-capable Switch Pro, which one analyst is convinced will launch this year.

In its roundup of analysts’ predictions for 2020, Gameindustry.biz spoke to Dr. Serkan Toto from Kantan Games. He says “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Nintendo will launch a "Switch Pro" in 2020, my guess is at $399.”

Toto believes that a Switch Pro will support 4K resolutions, come with bigger cartridges, and feature more powerful components. He also thinks it will launch just after the summer holidays, thereby beating the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X to market. Additionally, we’ll see a “first-party, system-seller game” arrive alongside the Pro.

Toto had predicted that both the Nintendo Switch Lite and Switch Pro would arrive in 2019, so he was half right. The analyst adds that the relationship between Microsoft and Nintendo will continue, with more of the Windows-maker’s games arriving on the latter’s consoles. He also thinks that Nintendo will release a massive hit game on the mobile platform that comes from another of the company’s franchises, such as Zelda.

No other analysts mentioned a Switch Pro, and Nintendo has been quiet about any new version of its console, so 2020 might not be the year we see a more powerful machine—though Toto seems convinced.

If you or someone you know is buying a Switch, make sure to avoid the Nanica Smitch, a terrible rip-off designed to look like Nintendo’s device.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83389-analyst-4k-capable-nintendo-switch-pro-arrive-year.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'm really surprised Nintendo is still using cartridges.

They should be using M.2 SSD.

If they made a pro-model with M.2 and made it possible to download the games, they'd save lots of manufacturing money, cause the M.2 market to pump out more 1TB and 2TB SSD and make way more profit.

 

[neeyik]

They should be using M.2 SSD.

M.2 only supports SATA, PCI Express, and USB for the interface. Unfortunately the Tegra X1 and X2 chips only have eMMC controllers, and even the latest Xavier SoC only has MIPI-HSI and eMMC, so no chance of fast SSDs on M.2

 

[SirDigby]

I'd love a pro version, get a lot of stuttering and other performance issues on the vanilla switch, had hoped to save part of my bonus for a next gen console like PS5 so may have to shell out for a switch pro, at least I could probably cover most of the costs by reselling my current switch.

 

[ckm88]

I would buy the new model only if it's exploitable!

 

[kirby]

Nintendo needs something like Gamepass for PC.

 

[Shadowboxer]

I’d have bought a switch if the games weren’t so dam expensive. Skyrim still sells for more today on the switch than I paid for it in like 2013 in the steam sale.

 

[Eflow]

The regular switch has trouble playing most games at 60 fps on 1080p. It would only be able to play 4k on the least demanding titles, and even some of those might be locked at 30fps.

I hope they aren't trying to use 4k on the Switch display itself. The form factor is too small to benefit from increase in pixel density, and all Nintendo will achieve is poorer battery life.

 

[amstech]

I'd have no desire for that, we got a Switch recently and I play it on my 75" Q60R, only game we have is Mario Odyssey but it looks amazing!

 

[neeyik]

Even if there isn't going to be a Switch Pro this year, it does make you wonder what Nintendo will go with as a successor. I suspect that they have a multi-platform agreement with Nvidia for the SoCs, so a switch (pardon the pun) to the Xavier SoC would be most welcome!

 

[pcnthuziast]

Nah, that's just not a Nintendo thing to do. 4k + Nintendo is like an oxymoron.

 

[yRaz]

I'd love a 4k switch. In fast moving games like Mario Cart it doesn't really matter, but in games like BOTW, the art style is so beautiful that the lack of AA and AF is really distracting. On top of that, the frame rate is noticable especially coming from a PC. Luckily, my Samsung smart TV has some trickery that makes it less bad

 

[Lounds]

I love my shield TV which has the X1 SoC as the Switch, the problem the chip has is the CPU cores are really dated compared to modern smartphones with the Snapdragon 855, the only saving grace of the Chip is the GPU cores were really powerful when it came out, the switch realistically has 2 years life left before it becomes very dated and has lack of third party games being made to it. Currently many PS4 and xb1 games can be ported and lowered to run on the switch, come the PS5 and next Xbox then 2021 regular monthly games will become less frequent for the switch.

 

[Rayneofpayne]

M.2 only supports SATA, PCI Express, and USB for the interface. Unfortunately the Tegra X1 and X2 chips only have eMMC controllers, and even the latest Xavier SoC only has MIPI-HSI and eMMC, so no chance of fast SSDs on M.2

So is this going to be a 7nm UVL part from Samsung then? There have been some unsubstantiated leaks from NVidia saying that Architectural tune ups, on top of the die shrink and UVL lithography will yield a 3060 class product being nearly as powerful as a 2080ti meaning a 50% bump in performance. Then again there is the claim with half the wattage so that basically makes me a bit skeptical about this, while possible I just don't see it probable.

 

[Tams80]

Ughh, analysts.
Do they not know about the hardware involved? Nvidia have all but given up on their mobile chips.

Add in that while there have been significant advancements in mobile graphics, such as 1080p being relatively easy to run, at higher resolutions, it is still not great (compared to pretty much pointless before). The thermal constraints haven't just suddenly evaporated.

 

[newstark2042]

Why need 4k when tiny screen?

 

[Lounds]

Why need 4k when tiny screen?

To compete with Sony and Microsoft in the living room.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

Ughh, analysts.
Do they not know about the hardware involved?

Take with a grain of salt. Analysts also said iPads would be the end of gaming consoles.

 

[Randolph]

I can see 4k support in docked mode, but 1080p @ 60fps a more reasonable use of the hardware. Maybe an oled screen upgrade from 720 to 1080 but that is more a wish than an explanation.

 

[Paul Dougherty]

So is this going to be a 7nm UVL part from Samsung then? There have been some unsubstantiated leaks from NVidia saying that Architectural tune ups, on top of the die shrink and UVL lithography will yield a 3060 class product being nearly as powerful as a 2080ti meaning a 50% bump in performance. Then again there is the claim with half the wattage so that basically makes me a bit skeptical about this, while possible I just don't see it probable.

There were supposed to be a bunch of things providing 30% boosts on certain workloads on Turing. None have shown up in any games a year later. I'd say the current rumor is 100% BS. If it's not, then maybe one or the other, but not both. If it sounds too good to be true...

 

[Rayneofpayne]

There were supposed to be a bunch of things providing 30% boosts on certain workloads on Turing. None have shown up in any games a year later. I'd say the current rumor is 100% BS. If it's not, then maybe one or the other, but not both. If it sounds too good to be true...

Accept Turing is 12nm double/triple patterned with only a slight arch improvement and RTX tacked on.

So in Reality a nearly half node die shrink and UVL might very well ring true, AMD on the real shitty Vega arch seen 25-30% improvement across the board just off a die shrink and from the horses mouth Lisa Sue, UVL will add about 10%, like it or not NVidia has a much better arch, and have gained better improvements generationally from tweaks.

The wattage part is what gets me, but then again after further reading I think JH misquoted and he is basically saying a 3060 is slightly more powerful than a 2080 at half the wattage which makes perfect sense when you take Maxwell to Pascal generational leap in performance within context.

 

[SirDigby]

The regular switch has trouble playing most games at 60 fps on 1080p. It would only be able to play 4k on the least demanding titles, and even some of those might be locked at 30fps.

I don't think it even achieves 1080p60! Think at most it's 900p30 - pretty sure I read somewhere that it's often just upscaled 720p or even 900p, and there's often stuttering there. Would have to be a real powerful SoC to run 4K, we're talking at least 5 times as powerful for 2180p60!

 

[redhat]

I wonder why they dont go with AMD APU too. would not that be easier to port games from PS/Xbox to switch platform, in addition right now AMD GPUs seems more power efficient than Nvidia

 

[neeyik]

I wonder why they dont go with AMD APU too. would not that be easier to port games from PS/Xbox to switch platform, in addition right now AMD GPUs seems more power efficient than Nvidia

It's down to a combination of size, power, and cost. The Tegra chip in the Switch is 118 square millimetres in size, uses 15W maximum, and it's made on TSMC's old 20nm node.

While AMD has APUs that compete on power, the Switch doesn't use all of the Tegra's CPU cores, so it'll be using less than 15W, even under load. AMD does have APUs around that power target, but they're around twice the size and space is a premium on the Switch's mainboard.

AMD's APUs are also made on GloFlo's newer 12nm node - the cost might not be much different, but it's unlikely to be cheaper, given that TSMC's order books are full on N7 and its variants and far less full on their others.

The Tegra is also a DX12.1, Vulkan 1.1, and OpenGL 4.6 compliant chip so ports, as far as coding is concerned, isn't a big problem - it's the paulty performance of the GPU that's the challenge to overcome. A Ryzen APU would definitely help in this respect, of course.