by Nintendo has already confirmed that the next gaming console it will make will be part of the Switch family. Unfortunately, the company hasn’t given us much more detail regarding the Switch 2. Now, the leaks have come out in force to provide small bits of information. The latest leak suggests that Nintendo is pushing the power to the point where the console will need a second cooler and a 60W charger.
The leaker, who posted on the popular Nintendo forum Famiboards, claims to have seen shipping manifests showing the new console’s improved features. Of course, this kind of thing could be faked, but based on existing leaks regarding the Switch 2’s specs, it would make sense that the device would need additional cooling and a larger power supply.
Interestingly, the rumored additional cooler is said to be in the dock, not the handheld console itself. This has led fans to speculate that it will offer a bigger boost in graphics and performance than we saw with the original Switch, but that remains to be seen.
As for the charger, 60W would allow the device to charge faster. The current Switch can accept power adapters up to 39W, but it’s rated to charge at around 18W, which is relatively slow compared to many modern devices. If this rumor is true, the Steam Deck charges at 45W, which would put the Switch 2 ahead of the popular laptop in terms of raw charging speed.
So far, we’ve heard a leak about the Switch 2’s specs, which say it will feature an NVIDIA Tegra 239 SoC, combining Ampere GPU architecture and 12GB of RAM. The gaming cards are said to be 5th-gen Samsung V-NAND cards with read speeds of up to 1.4GB/s. It should support NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction, which should allow it to produce significantly sharper visuals than the current Switch.
In the Moore’s Law Is Dead Broken Silicon podcast, Alderon Games’ Matthew Cassells spoke about the Switch 2’s power, saying it could be on par with the Steam Deck.
One of Nintendo’s biggest advantages over the Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, or any other portable gaming device is its software: People love Nintendo games. They just aren’t available on other platforms. Despite its overall weaker visual capabilities, the Switch has been a huge success for Nintendo. If the company can close the visual gap while maintaining the other aspects of the Switch that gamers love, it could be even more successful.
