Nintendo Switch Hardware Upgrade Is Likely Years Away

The Nintendo Switch has single-handedly put Nintendo back on top. It is currently one of if not the best-selling console and the planned list of games is far from being empty. Naturally, some fans are already anticipating a follow-up, an upgrade to that successful console. But that is also exactly why this report of a Switch upgrade, while potentially true, is probably not going to happen anytime soon, especially considering this is Nintendo we're talking about.

There have actually been no leaks of any sort yet as Nintendo is pretty good at keeping its projects under wraps. Clues to a Switch revision comes, instead, from passionate fans who have mined the latest 5.0 firmware update for any clue they can chew on. That led to the discovery of a hardware update being called "Mariko".

Pieced together by various Switch fans, Mariko will supposedly switch (no pun intended) the current NVIDIA Tegra 210 with a 214. It's a minor update, considering there have been no new Tegra chips launched, but one that is going to be significant from Switch homebrew modders. The Tegra 214 will supposedly be less vulnerable to hacking. The new Switch will also supposedly double the RAM from 4 to 8 GB and up the storage to 64 GB.

Almost sounds like a smartphone or tablet upgrade and that's not exactly wrong. Strip away the OS and the Switch is pretty much like a 7-inch tablet with custom-made Bluetooth controllers. Perhaps that's why some gamers are expecting the same quick upgrades just a year after the Switch launched.

But this isn't Samsung or Apple. This is Nintendo. The company is anything but quick in churning out consoles. Especially when that console hasn't been milked yet of all its cash. While the Switch does have some flaws and leave some things to be desired, it is fine overall, giving Nintendo very little incentive to put out a new model and compete with itself.

Then again, we are seeing some cultural changes within Nintendo that could lead to a faster iteration in hardware. But if this Mariko is actually more of a devkit, then we can expect a New Nintendo Switch in 2019 at the earliest.