There have been a few conflicting reports on the Nintendo Switch’s technical capabilities within the past couple of weeks. For months, many sources claimed it would be a Pascal-derived product, only then for other sources to say it that Maxwell and the 20nm Tegra X1 would be the basis for Nintendo’s newest system. All information has led people to believe that the Switch will be producing 720p, but a recent report claims that the system will be capable of far higher resolutions.
Takashi Mochizuki, the Wall Street Journal’s Tokyo-based technology reporter, recently published a series of tweets with quotes from Ace Research Institute analyst Ace Yasuda, who claims that the display for the upcoming console will be producing a 1080p screen with a resolution target of 1440p (or WQHD) when docked. Yasuda also suggested that previous rumors of virtual reality development for the Switch will not likely be used, with development on VR mainly being done for patent purposes.
While the news of higher resolutions on a Nintendo console are amazing, whether or not the Switch can actually push 1440p all boils down to what kind of games end up being developed for the console. Gamers can expect to see the range of resolutions being handled similar to the way the PS4 Pro handles 4K, producing native 4K in some titles while resorting to checkerboarding in order to upscale the others. Of course, there’s really no reason why the simple, lightweight titles Nintendo is used to publishing can’t make meet WQHD resolutions. Ultimately, though, Nintendo fans won’t be too concerned with resolution, and are more likely to base their purchases on exclusive titles as well as whether or not the Switch’s unique styles of gameplay works.