Nintendo is working on a Switch Pro model that will include a seven-inch 720p OLED screen and will be capable of outputting up to 4K when connected to a TV, per a Bloomberg report.
Nintendo plans to unveil the souped-up version of the console in time for the 2021 holidays, Bloomberg reports. Samsung will start production on the screens as early as June, with an initial monthly target of nearly 1 million units set to ship to assemblers in July.
1080p in handheld is a waste of power -- both in terms of performance and battery. Even on your phone, which probably has a super high resolution, games run at 720p because you won't notice the difference, but you would notice your battery draining in 20 minutes.
— Jeff Grubb (@JeffGrubb) March 4, 2021
The new OLED screen would be more battery efficient and include greater contrast when compared to the current Switch liquid-crystal display. It would also be larger than both the base Switch's 6.2-inch screen and the Switch Lite's 5.5-inch screen.
Although the 720p resolution has been criticized online, the pixel density of a 720p screen is equivalent to a Retina display provided it's being held at least 16 inches away from the user's face. Pushing to 1080p would likely be a negligible increase in perceivable fidelity, but would tank the system's battery life.
Nintendo first released the Nintendo Switch in March 2017. Even as Sony and Microsoft have released their next-generation consoles over the last year, Nintendo has remained on its own new console release schedule.
Neither Nintendo nor Samsung have responded to Bloomberg's report.
