The Switch 2 is bigger, more powerful, and more expensive than the original console, but the new console’s specifications point to at least one key difference: the Switch 2’s battery life is shorter.
Nintendo claims that the battery life of the Switch 2 depends on the game you play, but it estimates that the console should last approximately “2 to 6.5 hours.” This is significantly less than the battery life of the current Switch or Switch OLED model, according to the company’s support page. According to Nintendo, the Switch OLED “with a serial number starting with ‘XT'” should last approximately “4.5 to 9 hours.” Non-OLED Switch consoles “with a serial number beginning with ‘XK’ are expected to last the same amount of time. Even the original Switch, which has a “serial number starting with ‘XA’,” lasts at least 2.5 hours on battery power. Obviously, the Switch 2’s extra power comes at a price.
Nintendo’s specifications confirm a few other important details. Switch 2 supports Wi-Fi 6, which means that you will get faster internet speeds when the console is not connected to the dock but is connected via Ethernet. Based on Nintendo’s guarantee that the console “supports 120 frames per second at 1920×1080/2560×1440 resolution,” it looks like Switch 2 will not support HDMI 2.1.
In terms of controllers, Amiibo support remains, but if you have a special place in your heart for the Wii-motion controllers you could use on the original Switch, it looks like you’re out of luck with the Switch 2. Neither the left nor the right Joy-Con 2 controllers have an infrared sensor, one of the ways Nintendo used to track motion on the Wii and Switch. That doesn’t mean you can’t use the motion controls on the Switch 2, just that Nintendo isn’t using an infrared sensor to make them work. (At least in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it seems that “mouse control” is fulfilling the role that motion controls did in older games.)
Do these changes fundamentally change the calculation of whether to buy a Switch 2? Probably not, but it’s interesting to see some of the compromises and decisions Nintendo has made to offer what is effectively a “Switch but better.”
