Nintendo announces Switch OLED model with few new features but focused. The U.S. price surprises, but to have it you’ll have to be patient
It is not the Pro version that everyone expected, but the new Switch OLED model just made official by Nintendo is still a big step forward compared to the current model. The main novelty lies in the display, previously of the LCD type now instead with OLED technology that provides absolute blacks and brilliant colors.
The network has chatted for many months about an update for Nintendo Switch. At one point, insiders said they were sure that the Japanese company would have presented its new console before E3 or at the limit during the event, where instead it did not go beyond the presentation of new games for the console. The new Switch OLED comes almost two years after Switch Lite, official since September 2019, a smaller and cheaper declination of the Nintendo console that cannot be connected to the TV. Switch OLED is born with an important goal: to reach (and exceed) the 101 million Wii consoles sold by Nintendo, considering that with the current Switch have been sold almost 85 million units from launch (2017) to date.
New Nintendo Switch OLED: the features
A goal within reach of a console that shows itself renewed in a few points but strategic. The main novelty of Nintendo Switch OLED is the display, now 7 inches in 720p with technology – in fact – OLED that we have now learned to know thanks to its wide use in smartphones.
In the past it was said that the most powerful Nvidia chip of the future Switch would bring support for 4K in TV mode, but there is no new chip in the Switch OLED that therefore does not go beyond support for Full HD 1080p in TV mode. The revamped display has led to a slight increase in length and weight, about 320 grams compared to not even 300 grams of the previous model.
Tra novelties of Nintendo Switch OLED also include the storage space, grown from the previous 32 GB to the current 64 GB, a new dock that integrates an Ethernet and an improved audio to offer a boost to the gaming experience.
Looking at the other specifications are almost all unchanged, autonomy of 9 hours included, a symptom of the fact that the battery capacity compared to the previous model has not changed. Unchanged even the Joy-Con, and it is not bad news since, therefore, those for the previous console will work without problems even on the OLED model just announced.
New Nintendo Switch OLED: price and availability
To get your hands on Nintendo Switch OLED model will take patience, so much patience for someone: Nintendo has just announced, but to see it on the market must wait until October 8, 2021. Two colors announced: with the Joy-Con in the new white color with a matching dock, or with the classic scheme neon red and neon blue.
On the other hand, the price should not change: in the U.S. will cost 349.99 dollars, or as the model that goes to replace, but the conditional is due to the fact that the Italian price is not yet known and until it is difficult to say whether it will undergo changes due to exchange rate (favorable) and taxes (unfavorable).