New Nintendo Switch Pro rumours emerge
For the non-gamers looking to buy a Nintendo Switch, it can be a bit of a minefield. Despite still only being three years old, we’ve now had three versions of the Switch. Most confusingly is the main model, which was been quietly upgraded late last year to offer better battery life, but retained the same name and was virtually identical; the only real way of telling the consoles apart was the box. Then there’s the Switch Lite, which has a self-explanatory name – but still needs an explainer around the fact that it can’t actually ‘Switch’ between handheld, table top and TV docked mode.
So imagine our delight this week when a new round of Switch Pro rumours surfaced. Pretty much ever since the Switch launched, there has been consistent rumours about a more powerful version, owing to the fact that the Switch’s specs lag behind those of the Xbox One and PS4 somewhat. Many players prioritise performance over the option to play handheld, so there has been vocal support for a docked-only model that can afford to push the Switch’s hardware a bit further.
Last year saw a whole bunch of strong rumours that Nintendo would be launching a Pro model of the Switch alongside the Lite. As it transpired, these rumours were likely confusing the Switch Pro with the improved battery version of the console that did arrive. However, Nintendo’s history of tweaking their hardware mid-generation means that there’s been no let up in the amount of speculation around a new Switch.
In the past few days, version 10.0 of the Switch’s firmware has been released. Some users immediately dived in to see whether any clues about a Switch Pro might be hidden among the code.
Firmware 10.0.0 adds preliminary support for a new hardware model: “nx-abcd”.
3 of the 5 new DRAM profiles are for this new hardware type and there’s evidence of a secondary display of sorts being added exclusively on this model.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)— Mike Heskin (@hexkyz) April 14, 2020
Per Mike Heskin on Twitter, there appears to be a new model type of the Switch that is catered for in the new firmware. Even more intriguingly, it appears to reference a second screen. This is fascinating; while most have hoped the Switch Pro would instead place an emphasis on features such as HDR and improved memory, could Nintendo actually be looking backwards and be planning to release a version of the Switch the bears a resemblance to the dual screened DS family? It certainly would be a move from left field – no current Switch games support or require a dual screen, so how this would work remains to be seen. Keep with Consoles.com to stay up to date on all the latest Nintendo Switch news!
