New Nintendo Switch with longer battery life out this September

It looks the same on the outside, but not on the inside

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The news got a bit lost in all the excitement for the Switch Lite, but Nintendo is also releasing a new version of the original Switch this year.

It’s not a new model as such but it does feature a major increase in battery life and a new processor and flash storage chip.

This absolutely isn’t the much-rumoured ‘Switch Pro’ though and it will still cost the same as the original version – and it may be that Nintendo don’t even advertise the changes on the packaging.

[任天堂HP]バッテリー持続時間が長くなったNintendo Switchの新モデルに関するお知らせを掲載しました。 https://t.co/ONuBgOIrd2

— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) July 17, 2019

These sort of minor revisions are common for consoles, especially Nintendo portables, with the main improvement here being the extended battery life.

The Japanese Nintendo website quotes battery life of 4.5 to 9.0 hours, depending on the game. That’s more than both the original model, at 2.5 to 6.5 hours, and the Switch Lite (which is presumably limited by being physically smaller) at 3.0 to 7.0 hours.

Despite what you might imagine the battery in the new version of the Switch seems to be the same as the old one and it’s actually the more efficient processor that’s allowing for the increase.

Although there’s a chance the new processor may allow for a small power increase in terms of visual horsepower that’s not something Nintendo is talking about and it’s probably best to assume there’ll be no difference.

That increase in battery life is notable though, so if you are thinking of buying a Switch then it seems sensible to wait until September – either for the new version of the original model or the Switch Lite on 20 September.