NewsUpdatedTuesday, 6th July 2021 by Mike

Nintendo announces Nintendo Switch “OLED model”, available October 8th

Meet the Nintendo Switch OLED model (hey, at least they didn’t call it the “new Nintendo Switch”)!

Nintendo’s newest offering comes in the same form factor as the current big-boi Switch – but with a 7” OLED screen instead of the existing model’s 6.2” LCD, thanks to dramatically slimmer bezels. That’s about 13% larger, if you’re keeping score – not to mention it ought to be brighter, crisper, and more contrasty. Depending on who you believe, it may even be less demanding on the battery.

More good news: the familiar form factor means we’ll be able to continue using our existing Joy-Cons and accessories with the new system. Buuuuut, it likely means they haven’t fixed the dreaded Joy-Con drift issue, either.

The new system boasts 64 GB of built-in storage, double the 32 GB in the original model; a new Microsoft Surface-style kickstand that extends across the entire width of the console and can be used at a variety of different viewing angles; “enhanced audio” (whatever that means); and a handy ethernet port on the Dock, for wired LAN gaming.

There’s no 4K output, no snazzy 120 Hz refresh rates, and no performance boost (that we know of – I wouldn’t be surprised if they use a newer Nvidia Tegra chipset, which might give us a bit of a spec bump). So this… isn’t necessarily the “Switch Pro” everyone’s been hankering for, but it certainly looks to be bringing a few welcome improvements to the table.

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Update – 7th July 2021

More tidbits are still coming out. The OLED Switch will retail for £309.99 in the UK, which is only a £30 price increase compared to the OG model. It’ll sell for $350 in the US. The new Dock will also be sold separately, for anyone who just wants to add a LAN port to their existing Switch – I don’t have a price for that yet, though.

Nintendo has also confirmed to The Verge that the new model “does not have a new CPU, or more RAM, [compared to] previous Nintendo Switch models.”