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The expected Nintendo Switch 2 It will arrive on June 5, and to be able to meet the huge initial demand, the firm has allied with Samsung. They are good news for the South Korean company, which manages to “steal the portfolio to TSMC” in this case. Here, however, there is small print.
Chips to Gogó. As indicated In BloombergIn Nintendo they hope that in the first nine months of the new console (until March 2026), 20 million units will be sold. Having a manufacturer like Samsung as an ally to take care of chips is crucial, because there are very few who can assume that rhythm of production.
Nvidia as a fundamental partner. When the Nintendo Switch 2 was revealed It was officially confirmed that this console would make use of a personalized NVIDIA processor. The chip integrates a GPU with RT nuclei and tensioning nuclei to provide a promising graphic jump and also improvements based on AI algorithms. Thus, it will be possible to enjoy Ray layout In real and theoretically, some type of DLSS system to offer higher resolution games.
But the chip is disappointing. All data They have appeared allow to deduce that the chip used by the Nintendo Switch 2 is the NVIDIA TEGRA T239. It is a surprisingly old chip – the technology is 2020/2021 – whose GPU has ampere architecture, as in the NVIDIA GPUS 30 GPUS series. In fact, the photolithography process is 8 nanometers, when normal in state -of -the -art chips is to use nodes of 3 Nm, such as Apple in its M4, Intel in their lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, or whichcomm in its Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.
Bad news for users? A priori this are bad news for those who buy the Nintendo Switch 2, at least if they think they are paying for the latest technology. Being old, the chips used in Switch 2 have clear disadvantages in areas such as energy consumption that will affect battery autonomy. A chip of 5 or at least 7 Nm would have improved this section significantly.
But this is Nintendo being Nintendo. The Japanese company has been adopting this strategy for many years. He already did it with the original switch, which despite launching in 2017 used Tegra X1, a 20 Nm chip that was announced in January 2015. In its previous success, the Wii, its graphic chip was significantly less powerful than that of direct rivals such as the Xbox 360 or the PS3. Nintendo It does not care technically behind the rest: Sales have almost always proved him right.
And the games are still wonderful. While their competitive theorists usually boast megaproductions with spectacular visual quality, Nintendo maintains a splendid tradition: what matters is to make videogames whose playability is extraordinary. The visual section matters, but is in the background. That makes the requirements so important either for Nintendo, or for its users at the hardware level: a large console can be made without having the best or latest of the latest in some of its sections.
Controlling costs. Samsung thus wins a juicy contract that will allow you to squeeze the juice of its factories, but Nintendo is the one that really takes advantage of this strategy to reduce the component bill. These chips are of course cheaper than more modern alternatives, which allows saving in this section.
The probable objective: Do not lose money with each console sold. The launch of the PS5 complied with the unwritten norm in the world of consoles: manufacturers They usually lose money with each console sold. It also happened with the Xbox Series S/X, and in both cases what they lost with the hardware then recovered it (and fondabilized) with the sale of video games.
Eaten for served. Nintendo is also the exception to the rule, or at least it was, because some analysts point out that the firm will lose money with the console, which in Spain will cost 469 euros. Others indicate that Nintendo will not lose money, but Nor will it win it just.
A good logistics decision. Nintendo’s strategy is also interesting because it will not “compete” for hiring production capacity in a TSMC that is very requested by companies such as Apple or Nvidia for their advanced chips. There are rumors that in the future there will be a 2 Oled switch, and it is likely that it is Samsung that also provides these panels, as has happened With the Switch Oled.
Image | Nintendo | Dennism2
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