Rumors mill churns: Nintendo Switch may be more powerful than first thought

By Gabe Gurwin December 22, 2016

Nintendo Switch — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Nintendo Switch certainly isn’t going to be the graphical powerhouse Microsoft is promising with its upcoming “Scorpio” console, but it appears that the portable/home console hybrid could contain more power than we initially thought.

In October, Eurogamer reported that the Nintendo Switch would sport a 6.2-inch, 720-pixel touchscreen in its center, providing games in a lower resolution than one would get were they playing them on a television. A second Eurogamer report published earlier this week reiterated this information, while adding that with increased GPU speed in its docked configuration, the console would be capable of displaying games in 1080p on televisions.

This information has been disputed by the Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki, who was told by a research analyst that the console would actually downscale games in wide quad high definition (WQHD) — that’s 1440p — to 1080p on the portable screen. He added that the system would not use the ever-growing USB-C technology, but would instead use DisplayPort, and that its internal bus speed is 5GB per second, which is up substantially from the company’s previous portable 3DS console.

Nintendo insider Emily Rogers, who previously predicted when the Nintendo Switch would be announced, doesn’t corroborate these claims. In a response tweet, Rogers stated that the portable system would only use a 720p resolution in order to conserve battery life, and that the console could display games in not only 1080p when in its docked configuration, but potentially 4K, as well.

Nintendo has been remarkably tight-lipped about the Switch thus far. During a demonstration on the Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon made no use of a touchscreen, leaving fans wondering if the console features one at all. We’ll likely find out next month. On January 12, Nintendo will release more information on the console through a video, including a final release date and price point.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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