Nintendo Switch Hardware Revision Coming Soon
Nintendo will refresh the hardware inside Switch in 2018, adding new features
Nintendo Switch is selling out faster than retailers can get stock into stores but a hardware revision in 2018 might help alleviate the shortage by adding a second SKU to the mix.
The Switch has been designed to easily upgrade the consoles’ onboard 32GB flash storage chip and this will be the first upgrade to the Switch console family.
Nintendo Switch already supports SD Cards up to 2TB, however such a card with that high a capacity doesn’t exist in the consumer sphere and while a 256GB card will hold quite a few games, DLC and screenshots there’s consumer demand for an all-in-one approach. More titles are hitting the console every month and titles like Dragon Quest Heroes and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild already take up a lot of room (32GB and 13GB respectively).
Nintendo is also working on bringing video sharing to the console which will further eat into that 32GB of onboard storage the console currently holds. For gamers who want a no nonsense approach to digital game and content storage, Nintendo will likely release a 128GB model in time for holiday season 2018.
Isn’t There a Storage Shortage?
The electronics industry has been experiencing a shortage of NAND memory since 2016. The reasons are varied but can be pointed to Toshiba’s financial problems unrelated to (but affecting) its semiconductor division and to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 recall which meant a large batch of memory chips had to be returned and replaced.
Thankfully other players in the semiconductor business have stepped up to fill the demand of NAND storage, including the likes of Samsung. The extra production could even lead to an oversupply in the coming years, sending prices down. Still, the shortage has started to take its toll on prices of consumer products such as SSD with the category slowly becoming more expensive as the year rolls on.
Right now, there’s about a five month waiting period for flash storage which scraps the expectation of an earlier release for a higher capacity Switch console. However, Nintendo was forward thinking with the design of the Switch’s internals and as soon as higher capacity chips become available you can bet the console will receive the upgrade for new buyers.
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