With this week’s impromptu reveal of the Switch Lite, Nintendo’s strategy for refreshing its hybrid console hardware is finally coming into focus. Initially discussed back in a March 2019 story by The Wall Street Journal, the launch Switch model was allegedly set to be replaced by new machines. The WSJ talked about a cheaper model – now realised in the form of Switch Lite – but what about the so-called Switch Pro, with “enhanced features targeted at avid video gamers”?
If a Switch Pro – or Power Switch as I prefer to call it – is en route, it’s likely a long way off. Improbably named Nintendo chief Doug Bowser has ruled out further hardware launches this year, but it may well be the case that a revised version of the original machine appear – it just won’t be especially visible to the typical customer and certainly won’t have any specific marketing push behind it: a more simple refresh as opposed to an all-singing, all-dancing console launch.
What makes the concept of both Lite and Power models possible is a new revision of the Switch’s Tegra X1 processor, codenamed ‘Mariko’ – a smaller, cooler, more power-efficient rendition of the original ‘Logan’ chip. First launched way back in 2015, Tegra X1 was a 121mm2 chip using TSMC’s barely used, now obsolete 20nm fabrication process. Mariko is likely to be a 16nm FinFET ‘shrink’ of the older chip – the same kind of silicon revision that made Xbox One S and the PS4 Slim possible.
Thanks to the same chip’s inclusion in an upcoming revision of Nvidia’s Shield Android TV microconsole, we know all about Mariko, as Nvidia has published Linux and Android code compatible with the new chip. Yes, it uses lower voltages and sips power clock for clock, but its GPU core can also run around 25 per cent faster than the original Logan’s. And so, right there we have the basis for both Lite and Power Switch hardware – but Nintendo’s plans for the hardware may be quite different.
Phase one is now public. Switch Lite uses the lower power requirements of Mariko as part of a cost-cutting effort in bringing a cheaper, smaller console to market. The new chip is clearly a lot more power-efficient, meaning that the cooling assembly can be smaller – but it also means that Nintendo can scale back on the capacity of the battery. The original Switch shipped with a 4310mAh battery – reverse-engineering of the latest Nintendo firmware suggests that the Lite’s battery is more in the region of 3300mAh or thereabouts.