Nintendo will be launching a new version of the original Switch model, with improved battery life

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As we saw last week, Nintendo was planning on adding a few minor revisions to the original Nintendo Switch model, to go alongside the launch of the Switch Lite. Now, we have official confirmation and details from Nintendo on the slight refresh to the line. The new Switch will be given the model number of HAC-001(-01), and will feature an improved battery life. For comparisons sake, the original Switch that launched on March 3, 2017 (model HAC-001) could get about 2.5 to 6.5 hours, and about three hours when playing Breath of the Wild, while the Switch Lite (Model HDH-001) could get just around half an hour more battery life. The upcoming new-old Switch will offer 4.5-9 hours total, with Breath of the Wild likely being playable for 5.5 hours on a full charge. According to Nintendo's official site, these revamped models will have a new serial number, starting with "XKW", and will have a new box design, sporting an overall red color. Nintendo of Japan will be launching these around the end of August, which means the west will likely follow suit shortly after. In the aforementioned previous post, we saw that Nintendo had filed with the FCC to sell a Nintendo Switch that had a slightly modified SoC and storage, which will likely be the case with this HAC-001(-01) console.

Complimenting this reveal is the announcement of two new Joy-Con colorations. Blue and Neon Yellow and Neon Purple and Neon Orange will be releasing on store shelves on October 4th, for typical MSRP.

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:arrow: Source
:arrow: Battery Comparisons
 
Last edited by Tom Bombadildo, , Reason: Clarification

The Real Jdbye

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Nintendo's official website literally lists the battery size as being identical for both: https://www.nintendo.com/switch/tech-specs/

4310mAh
But that is the Switch Lite and not the revised regular Switch. Which, the Switch Lite does not have much of a battery life improvement at all and the little improvement there is is likely just due to a smaller screen.

I agree with them though. Using a slightly more efficient SoC is not likely to increase battery life that much. Maybe Nintendo have switched over to using an OLED screen for better efficiency. An OLED screen would be much nicer to look at as well, though the IPS screen is also nice. I doubt it, but it sure would be nice.

I can't see them increasing the size of the battery by a whole lot in the normal Switch. There's not much room in there as it is. They could definitely cram the components on the board tighter together (just look at how crammed the components inside tablets and smartphones are, it's insane) and with a more efficient CPU they might not need that big aluminum shield and that might give them enough room to cram 20-30% more battery in there. Still doesn't quite account for that huge bump in battery life though. But that combined with an OLED screen would explain it.
 

PityOnU

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But that is the Switch Lite and not the revised regular Switch. Which, the Switch Lite does not have much of a battery life improvement at all and the little improvement there is is likely just due to a smaller screen.

I'm not sure you actually looked at that page at all... It includes the old and new models of the regular Switch. Listed at 4310mAh. The battery on the Switch Lite is listed at 3570mAh.
 

The Real Jdbye

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I'm not sure you actually looked at that page at all... It includes the old and new models of the regular Switch. Listed at 4310mAh. The battery on the Switch Lite is listed at 3570mAh.
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I'm not seeing that at all. It does list the battery life for both models, but that's the only mention of the new model on there. All the rest of the page is for the old model.
 

PityOnU

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View attachment 173488
I'm not seeing that at all. It does list the battery life for both models, but that's the only mention of the new model on there. All the rest of the page is for the old model.

They break out and separately list the old (HAC-001) and new (HAC-001(-01)) models in all of the fields where they differ. Which is runtime. All of the rest of the fields are shared by both. Including battery.

As such, you can be forgiven for not noticing the page included specs for the new model.
 
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The Real Jdbye

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They break out and separately list the old (HAC-001) and new (HAC-001(-01)) models in all of the fields where they differ. Which is runtime. All of the rest of the fields are shared by both. Including battery.

As such, you can be forgiven for not noticing the page included specs for the new model.
That's just an assumption. The way I see it that's just the only piece of the specifications they're willing to reveal at this time. There are obviously other differences, or the battery life wouldn't be improved.
 

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All it means is an enhanced version of the original. Guess what the new switch is? Bingo. Sure this could be another thing Nintendo wanted to release and they’ll be an even better switch, but either way this is a better version.

And either way, Nintendo's not calling it the Switch Pro, so that's not what it is.

You can call it what you like
 
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Looool...The battery improvement deal, sure, sounds good.

What I see here is RCM fixing, nothing else of importance.:unsure:


Damn.. The battery improvement is insane! Probably switched to the newer Tegra which has a smaller transistor size.
Maybe they 'secretly' improved the screen as well. That's the biggest power drain for a device usually. (And silently hoping it's possible to upgrade the screen of my RCM-able switch in the distant future for some extra battery juice as well..)

I love your avatar :)
 

The Real Jdbye

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It has a bigger battery capacity, I don't see what the big deal is for them doing a refresh. Then again, I always keep the Switch docked, so *shrug*.
It's got to be more than that. No way they could fit an 80% bigger battery in there.
Better battery life is a pretty big deal considering how shit it is currently. And I expect them to fix some of the known issues like the JoyCon connectivity if they are making a refresh anyway. If only it was hackable...
 

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The opposite is true due to the diminishing returns principle, but you're not wrong - we should wait for teardowns before making definitive conclusions.

No, the opposite is not true, it would be if the nm reduction was more drastic but not 4nm. We're talking power draw/heat here.

Nintendo's official website literally lists the battery size as being identical for both: https://www.nintendo.com/switch/tech-specs/

4310mAh

Interested to see teardowns this month to see if this is actually the case, if it is, something else in addition to Mariko is accounting for this almost doubled battery life. More power efficient RAM?
 

Foxi4

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No, the opposite is not true, it would be if the nm reduction was more drastic but not 4nm. We're talking power draw/heat here.

Interested to see teardowns this month to see if this is actually the case, if it is, something else in addition to Mariko is accounting for this almost doubled battery life. More power efficient RAM?
Lower heat means less fan spin up. As far as RAM is concerned, they may have doubled the capacity per chip to lower the power draw. There's really not much they can cut down, and the difference is quite sizeable. As for your previous comment, take note that on the PS4 side a shrink from 28nm in the OG to 16nm in the Slim lowered the power consumption from +/- 130-140W to 80-90W peak. Admittedly a much larger shrink, but you have to consider the fact that the PS4 has lots of mechanical parts like the disc drive and the conventional HDD which could not be taken out of the equation. Not saying that you're wrong, just that we won't be sure what changes were made until we see them. The RAM theory is very plausible, now that you mention it.
 
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THYPLEX

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The new Joycons look ghastly, but the extra hour of battery life suggests a die shrink, unless they magically got 20% more efficient, which I doubt. I wasn't so sure if the die was shrunk with the details they showed about the Lite, but now it's much more clear.
It doesn't look so conveniant
 

pedro702

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Lower heat means less fan spin up. As far as RAM is concerned, they may have doubled the capacity per chip to lower the power draw. There's really not much they can cut down, and the difference is quite sizeable. As for your previous comment, take note that on the PS4 side a shrink from 28nm in the OG to 16nm in the Slim lowered the power consumption from +/- 130-140W to 80-90W peak. Admittedly a much larger shrink, but you have to consider the fact that the PS4 has lots of mechanical parts like the disc drive and the conventional HDD which could not be taken out of the equation. Not saying that you're wrong, just that we won't be sure what changes were made until we see them. The RAM theory is very plausible, now that you mention it.
i mean zelda got an 83% batery life improvement so something is very diferent imo, any chance they switched the screen to be lower power comsuption too? i mean they had to do alot of changes the nm, the ram and maybe some other stuff too.
 

Foxi4

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i mean zelda got an 83% batery life improvement so something is very diferent imo, any chance they switched the screen to be lower power comsuption too? i mean they had to do alot of changes the nm, the ram and maybe some other stuff too.
It's possible, but hard when it comes to LCD's, they're already very power efficient. My guess is that the screen is the same, but we'll see.
 

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Not really, the Switch has a fairly flat curve from my experiences with the device, with the exception of the likes of BoTW and Splatoon 2, and maybe some of the Bethesda games which I haven't had a chance to try on the device.
Good point, Nintendo started off with a low TDP SoC that they additionally underclocked. That makes me wonder what *is* different about it, it'll be an interesting release for sure. I'm beginning to think that perhaps their estimation of battery life may be too optimistic.
 

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is it true that the revision will also now support Bluetooth headsets natively?
This is entirely a software issue and has nothing to do with a hardware revision. If the new revision supports it, then old revisions will support it as well, unless Nintendo does something stupid with regards to licensing.
 

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