Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch OLED model today, with a larger 7-inch 720p OLED display. While rumors were speculating an Nvidia GPU upgrade, the OLED model is mostly a screen upgrade. According to the company, the device can only support 1080p via TV mode.
Nintendo Switch OLED
Apart from the screen upgrade, the upgraded model of the Nintendo Switch OLED gets an adjustable stand for tabletop play, rather than the fixed single angle stand. It also has an increased 64GB (up from 32GB) built-in storage, a new dock with a wired Ethernet port built in, as well as improved audio for handheld or tabletop play. Again as mentioned by Nintendo, it only supports up to 1080p through HDMI in TV mode, so the rumored 4K support is not part of the OLED switch.
As confirmed by Nintendo, the internal hardware have no changes when compared to the standard Nintendo Switch. The CPU and RAM configurations all remain the same as the previous Nintendo Switch models. However, the company did mention that the battery life will be up to 9 hours, which is the same as the current Switch, even if it uses an OLED display.
Current Joy-cons and all games will work with the new Nintendo Switch OLED. The device will be available in black and white variants, and the new dock will work with older Switch and the new ones too. The device was revealed right after the company’s E3 show, which was focused primarily on the new exclusive Switch games.
Pricing and Availability
The new Nintendo Switch OLED will be available from the 8th of October 2021, and it will retail for $350 (approx. RM1,450). No word yet on availability in Malaysia, but if history repeats itself, it most likely won’t be available here officially, and can only be purchased via parallel importers/game shops.
