01011001
Banned
So Nintendo's own words are highly suggesting that a 4K Switch will be a thing soon.
The first thought many people will immediately jump to is "how could they even make it powerful enough?" because when people hear 4K they automatically think Xbox One X or PS4 Pro and how games look on them + how much hardware power they needed to come even close to being 4K ready.
BUT that's not how Nintendo would go about if they really wanted a 4K Switch.
How did it work for Xbox and Sony?
well Sony went the checkerboarding route with their 4K system, meaning they designed the system so that it would have about twice the GPU performance of the base PS4 and so that it's able to push twice was many pixels per second, which is roughly what you need to reach 2160cb.
Microsoft wanted to reach native 4K as best as possible, they needed a 4x boost at least and went with a5x boost so that 900p Xbox One game can run at 4k.
notice how it's always about playing base system games at higher resolutions! not about improving graphic in general necessarily.
this means that if this 4K Switch is a Pro system and not a successor, all is would need is a chip that's 4x as powerful as the current Switch.
looking at the Switch revision that uses an upgraded Tegra X1 we see that even that chip can theoretically reach way higher performance numbers than what it currently does due to it being severely under clocked in order to improve battery life.
that chip could reach basically around 2x the performance it currently does in the Switch revision without any hardware changes.
it is not that far fetched to expect Nvidia to have such a chip ready by next year or even now already.
games would still be developed with the original Switch and the Switch Lite in mind (tho I would expect that the 4K Switch will replace the base Switch, but not the Lite) and would simply run at 4x the resolution on the 4K Switch or maybe offer performance modes like PS4 Pro and One X games do.
this would obviously mean that not every game would reach native 4K as many Switch titles run below the 1080p target resolution of the current Switch, but even games that only run at 720p on the base Switch could at least reach a still solid 1440p on such a theoretical 4K Switch, for many people that's more than enough and a giant step up from the 720p on the base Switch.
this theoretical Switch could also offer a 1080p Screen since such a chip should have no issue running games at close to 1080p in Handheld mode while also having similar or better battery life compared to the launch Switch model.
ontop of that the new model could offer a power saver mode in Handheld mode which runs games at base Switch/Switch Lite settings.
TLDR:
so in short, a simple 4x increase in GPU performance could offer Switch games at 1440p to 4K, with 1080p Handheld modes and keep the current Switch ecosystem intact, while still offering a way better experience for people who use their Switch on a 4k TV.
the current chip inside the revised Switch could already offer around 2x the performance it currently does if it was clocked at its peak spec clocks. so it's not hard to imagine a chip that could offer a 4x boost (which would amount to a chip that is 2x as powerful as the current Switch's chip clocked at peak clocks)
______________
so I don't expect this to be a Switch 2, instead it will IMO target Switch graphics at 4x the resolution, exactly like the One X did for Xbox One games, which will also mean the current Switch owners will not be left behind.
The first thought many people will immediately jump to is "how could they even make it powerful enough?" because when people hear 4K they automatically think Xbox One X or PS4 Pro and how games look on them + how much hardware power they needed to come even close to being 4K ready.
BUT that's not how Nintendo would go about if they really wanted a 4K Switch.
How did it work for Xbox and Sony?
well Sony went the checkerboarding route with their 4K system, meaning they designed the system so that it would have about twice the GPU performance of the base PS4 and so that it's able to push twice was many pixels per second, which is roughly what you need to reach 2160cb.
Microsoft wanted to reach native 4K as best as possible, they needed a 4x boost at least and went with a5x boost so that 900p Xbox One game can run at 4k.
notice how it's always about playing base system games at higher resolutions! not about improving graphic in general necessarily.
this means that if this 4K Switch is a Pro system and not a successor, all is would need is a chip that's 4x as powerful as the current Switch.
looking at the Switch revision that uses an upgraded Tegra X1 we see that even that chip can theoretically reach way higher performance numbers than what it currently does due to it being severely under clocked in order to improve battery life.
that chip could reach basically around 2x the performance it currently does in the Switch revision without any hardware changes.
it is not that far fetched to expect Nvidia to have such a chip ready by next year or even now already.
games would still be developed with the original Switch and the Switch Lite in mind (tho I would expect that the 4K Switch will replace the base Switch, but not the Lite) and would simply run at 4x the resolution on the 4K Switch or maybe offer performance modes like PS4 Pro and One X games do.
this would obviously mean that not every game would reach native 4K as many Switch titles run below the 1080p target resolution of the current Switch, but even games that only run at 720p on the base Switch could at least reach a still solid 1440p on such a theoretical 4K Switch, for many people that's more than enough and a giant step up from the 720p on the base Switch.
this theoretical Switch could also offer a 1080p Screen since such a chip should have no issue running games at close to 1080p in Handheld mode while also having similar or better battery life compared to the launch Switch model.
ontop of that the new model could offer a power saver mode in Handheld mode which runs games at base Switch/Switch Lite settings.
TLDR:
so in short, a simple 4x increase in GPU performance could offer Switch games at 1440p to 4K, with 1080p Handheld modes and keep the current Switch ecosystem intact, while still offering a way better experience for people who use their Switch on a 4k TV.
the current chip inside the revised Switch could already offer around 2x the performance it currently does if it was clocked at its peak spec clocks. so it's not hard to imagine a chip that could offer a 4x boost (which would amount to a chip that is 2x as powerful as the current Switch's chip clocked at peak clocks)
______________
so I don't expect this to be a Switch 2, instead it will IMO target Switch graphics at 4x the resolution, exactly like the One X did for Xbox One games, which will also mean the current Switch owners will not be left behind.