- By Marco Cocomello
- Jan 8, 2021
- 11:04 am
We know that there is a new Nintendo Switch coming our way as the company is working on a hardware revision which is said to include more power and premium materials. However, up to now, we have only heard rumours of possible 4K support for the console. New rumours from ResetEra claim the device will actually pack an OLED screen, a new dock and a new SoC which powers the 4K resolution through a TV.
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SciresM, who is known for his console hacking and data mining, discovered a new Nintendo Switch codename Aula. The new hardware revision claims to use a Mariko SoC, support both docked and handheld gaming and the rumoured OLED screen. The report, which was spotted on ResetEra details the new hardware revision’s so-called features. Most importantly, the new console will not be the previously-rumoured “dock-only” Calcio hardware.
Nintendo actually is working on a new model with upgraded display stuff and has been for ~1.5-2 years. I personally believe it’s 4K given the signs I’m seeing in the firmware, but that’s not confirmed yet and could be wrong.
The new hardware is codenamed Aula, it’s using a Mariko SoC. There’s a bunch of references to it in code (atmosphere supports the new display already in theory).
Aula explicitly supports handheld mode. It is not docked only; that’s calcio, which seems like it’s for internal only/never releasing since Calcio has no gamecard slot and no battery.
SciresM claims that the hardware will feature an upgraded OLED screen but the resolution of the said screen is not known yet. The console will support 4K in some form. By the sound of things, this will be possible through the dock. Reports claim the dock will pack a Realtek chip that powers the 4K UHD gameplay.
he tablet itself definitely has an upgraded display, I don’t know if it’s 4K.
Aula has firmware support some Realtek chip that advertises itself as a “4K UHD multimedia SoC”, too, hence my belief it’s 4K. That chip might be inside a new dock and not inside the tablet, though, there’s no way to tell from the firmware code yet.
Mariko has *substantially* better cooling and battery life. It’s a bona fide die shrink over the original generation.
My best guess (pure speculation, no firmware indication this is the case) is that if they need extra performance, they’ll push it to higher clock rates across the board.
But yeah, I speculate games will be like “DSi enhanced” games were, or like how some games benefited from PS4 Pro despite working on PS4.
While this sounds awesome, don’t get excited about it just yet. These are still just rumoured so take them with a pinch of salt. I don’t see Nintendo adopting an OLED screen any time soon given the price of them. However, I do think the 4K TV output is legit. We will just have to wait and see.
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