Switch 2 Lite May Tap Samsung's 8LPU+ Process For Better Battery Life
According to the official IEDM session abstract, Samsung's 8LPU+ process brings a 12% performance boost, a 15% cut to power consumption, and an 8% reduction in logic area versus the previous-gen 8LPU. Samsung is pitching the tech primarily for low-cost automotive, robotics, and edge AI. Its 8nm process hasn't been the hottest thing on the block in a minute, but it makes plenty of sense for chips that don't need bleeding-edge fabrication, particularly when production costs and power consumption matter more than peak performance.
That's exactly where Nintendo comes in. The Switch 2 already uses NVIDIA's T239 processor, manufactured on some variant of Samsung's 8nm-class technology—potentially an 8nm/10nm hybrid, if Geekerwan is to be believed. A revised implementation could conceivably benefit from a more efficient process without requiring Nintendo and NVIDIA to undertake a major redesign.
A hypothetical Switch 2 Lite could follow the original Switch Lite's playbook: a smaller enclosure, integrated controls, and a lower price in exchange for giving up the hybrid console's nominative trick. A more efficient SoC could help improve the Switch 2's mediocre battery life, but it's honestly hard to imagine Nintendo developing a discounted model amid the ongoing RAMpocalypse. It's impossible to sell a cheaper device when the RAM costs five times as much as the rest of the machine.
If Nintendo is indeed working on a revised Switch 2, I'd expect a higher-end model rather than a discounted one. There's really only one part of the current design I'd particularly like to see improved, and it's that bunk display. The Switch 2 packs a 7.9-inch IPS-type LCD with 1080p resolution and a 120-Hz refresh rate.
The specs sound respectable, except the panel's response times are abominable. It apparently eschews LCD overdrive altogether, pushing gray-to-gray response times beyond 40ms. Moving objects (and not just particularly fast ones) leave conspicuous ghost trails, undermining the motion-clarity benefits you'd ordinarily expect from a high-refresh-rate display. The original Switch's LCD wasn't exactly a speed demon at around 20ms, but the Switch 2's panel is half as fast.
The obvious fix would be an OLED, like the displays on the Steam Deck OLED and Switch OLED, as well as the new ASUS ROG XBOX Ally X20 (for which we have a review forthcoming). In fact, given that Nintendo has already shipped a system with an OLED screen, it's a little crazy that the Switch 2 ended up with this bare-bones integrated LCD. If you're really working on a new machine, Nintendo, let's do something about that display. Please.
I shouldn't have to say this, but Samsung's projected process improvements have very little to do with a finished console; there's more to a machine than its main SoC. Before that, though, there's no confirmation that Nintendo or NVIDIA intends to use 8LPU+ for anything at all. Indeed, Nintendo Patents Watch explicitly acknowledges the connection as out-and-out speculation. Still, it's a highly plausible idea, even if I'm personally far more interested in hearing about a new screen than a revised SoC.
