Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) - 8th October 2021

[Ronnie]

3 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Our Japanese counterparts are just as disinterested in the OLED Model.

Question: Do you want the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model)?

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/polls/other/42467/result

It'll be interesting to see if that 61% grows as the poll goes on.

I actually think 30% is a pretty high number! This was never going to be the next big thing, just an iterative update for new owners and to tempt a handful of older ones.

[Josh64]

The OG Switch screen still seems ok to me but given I have an original model and it's getting a little creaky in places (not to mention my kick stand always breaks off lol) I wouldn't mind upgrading at some point. While I'm not too fussed about the OLED, i AM interested in less bezels (ugh) and more internal storage that this new one offers. Definitely not a day one purchase but certainly on standby for when my OG becomes too decrepit. 

[MindFreak]

It surprises me that they want to keep the original Switch around. They should just have phased it out and put this out at the same price. I think that would have resonated better with people and would have given less confusion. 

[Ronnie]

14 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

It surprises me that they want to keep the original Switch around. They should just have phased it out and put this out at the same price. I think that would have resonated better with people and would have given less confusion. 

And lose three months worth of sales? I imagine the original will get a price drop towards the end of the year and they'll keep it around as the budget option.

[MindFreak]

@Ronnie True, they could lose a bit. But at the moment it's still "Yeah, well, in three months a slightly better model will release." So those who will wait are still going to wait, those who want it now just get it now. I don't think it'll matter much.

[Aneres11]

I do use my switch in handheld quite a lot. As I’ve said before, Mario Tennis is my most played game and I feel when playing online that the pro controller has lag. So I much prefer handheld. 
 

But my concern here is whilst OLED is great, the increased screen size and the lack of resolution bump is just going to make things look… worse? 
Interesting we’ve still not seen any picture with the screen on. 
 

Looking forward to when some tech sites get some hands on! 

[Nicktendo]

5 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

I do use my switch in handheld quite a lot. As I’ve said before, Mario Tennis is my most played game and I feel when playing online that the pro controller has lag. So I much prefer handheld. 
 

But my concern here is whilst OLED is great, the increased screen size and the lack of resolution bump is just going to make things look… worse? 
Interesting we’ve still not seen any picture with the screen on. 
 

Looking forward to when some tech sites get some hands on! 

The slightly bigger screen should not make it look any worse from a resolution point of view. It's a very small increase in screen size, much less so than the jump from 3DS to 3DSXL. 

If anything, the OLED display should look considerably better both in terms of colours and black levels. Lag should also be reduced to a tiny extent. 

I'm honestly looking forward to seeing it in person - a video on an LCD TV or PC screen cannot do it justice. Definitely going to upgrade my base model and pick this one up.  

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

It surprises me that they want to keep the original Switch around. They should just have phased it out and put this out at the same price. I think that would have resonated better with people and would have given less confusion. 

I imagine they plan to, they just won't formally announce it until the new year. 

[Julius]

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

It surprises me that they want to keep the original Switch around. They should just have phased it out and put this out at the same price. I think that would have resonated better with people and would have given less confusion. 

Yeah, I think they're going to phase the original out and replace it with OLED version too.

I think the biggest hint of this is the fact that the OLED version will also have a neon blue/red colourway -- there's no way they'd risk the potential confusion this could cause on store shelves unless it's a short-term situation. The fact that their advertising goes in hard on the new white colourway makes me think this too: you don't even see the neon blue/red variant of the OLED version in the trailer, we didn't see it until the website press release went up and it was eventually tweeted out, and the fact that they're utilising the neon colourway to represent the original Switch for now. 

In fact, I reckon there's a good chance that you'll get a 70/30 or 80/20 split for the first few months between the white and neon colourways just to help avoid that confusion (and also because white Joy-Cons are the new thing and they'll continue pushing that as a big differentiator). I think they'd have a very tough time marketing the original and OLED versions alongside each other unless they absolutely need to. 

I think it makes sense that they haven't outright said "this is replacing the original mode" at the moment, though, firstly because they will already have a pretty sizeable amount of original Switch models to sell in this next quarter, and don't want to get in the way of that. Parts shortages continue to get in the way of big electronics launches too, and so I wouldn't be surprised if they had both production lines going until they're positive that they can produce enough of the OLED model to keep up with demand. 

Assuming production goes smoothly, I think we'll start to get the sense that it's being phased out by the end of this financial year (next March). However, if not - due to potential production issues - they've given themselves enough space to potentially pivot, if they really need to, and could always slash the price on the original model like @Ronnie suggested. Not that they need to, though, and they could just as well go the other way and stick with it at its current price until it's gone, just to make the OLED version look all the more appealing to new Switch owners. 

[Dufniall]

Curious to see how many units they can ship in October. One shop in the Netherlands only took pre-orders in their physical shops because of the small amount of units expected, and they were gone within a day. Other shops also sold out in a day. There's one shop still taking pre-orders but they require full payment in advance. So I think I'll just see down the line if I can get it somewhere in stock, even if that's more towards the end of the year.

[Julius]

Hands-on previews are up, and GameSpot is the only one with a video up...probably because there seems to be some weird embargo where we can't even see the console in their hands. 

IGN's preview is here and The Verge's here. 

They seem like positive impressions. All I really learned was that IGN has this annoying habit of linking to their own articles from 15+ years ago with no real reason to do (they link to a GBA SP article in their Switch OLED preview). 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Julius

[Sheikah]

I do use my switch in handheld quite a lot. As I’ve said before, Mario Tennis is my most played game and I feel when playing online that the pro controller has lag. So I much prefer handheld. 
 
But my concern here is whilst OLED is great, the increased screen size and the lack of resolution bump is just going to make things look… worse? 
Interesting we’ve still not seen any picture with the screen on. 
 
Looking forward to when some tech sites get some hands on! 

The reduced pixel density due to the larger screen is something that happened with the 3DS XL too. Most likely they don't care about the pixel density decreasing.

[Ronnie]

The pixel density on the 3DS went from 132 ppi to 96, a big difference, especially on an already low res screen 

This is pretty marginal, 236 > 210. Unavoidable really if people wanted smaller bezels.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Ronnie

[Aneres11]

Yeah don’t imagine they do care about it. Was more of an observation as to what that would do to the look of games in handheld. But as @Ronnie says, it’s fairly marginal in terms of PPI, hopefully it’s not a biggie. 

[Sheikah]

Yeah, the difference is small, probably not very noticeable. Still, I think it's a shame they didn't bother with an improvement in resolution in docked mode at least. It's not like it will make the games look next gen but they would look nice and sharp at least.

[Ronnie]

21 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

Yeah, the difference is small, probably not very noticeable. Still, I think it's a shame they didn't bother with an improvement in resolution in docked mode at least. It's not like it will make the games look next gen but they would look nice and sharp at least.

It's not about them 'not bothering'. Improving the display from 720p to 1080p completely changes the business model of the device, for something that isn't necessary in the slightest. Who looks at the Switch screen in handheld mode and says "there aren't enough pixels on this"?

[Sheikah]

It's not about them 'not bothering'. Improving the display from 720p to 1080p completely changes the business model of the device, for something that isn't necessary in the slightest. Who looks at the Switch screen in handheld mode and says "there aren't enough pixels on this"?

Well that's why I didn't say handheld mode...I was saying it's a shame they couldn't improve the output above 1080p in docked (by changing the internals). While I think 720p is ok for handheld, 1080p does look rather fuzzy these days on larger TVs.

[Ronnie]

23 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

25 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

It's not about them 'not bothering'. Improving the display from 720p to 1080p completely changes the business model of the device, for something that isn't necessary in the slightest. Who looks at the Switch screen in handheld mode and says "there aren't enough pixels on this"?

Well that's why I didn't say handheld mode...I was saying it's a shame they couldn't improve the output above 1080p in docked (by changing the internals). While I think 720p is ok for handheld, 1080p does look rather fuzzy these days on larger TVs.

Sorry I misread, but that would change the business model even more. They obviously weren't aiming for a more powerful device, which outputting at a higher res would necessitate. 

[Sheikah]

Sorry I misread, but that would change the business model even more. They obviously weren't aiming for a more powerful device, which outputting at a higher res would necessitate. 

Yeah I'm saying that it's a shame that is their business model as (judging by a lot of reactions) they would have satisfied a lot more people by having a Pro model, or at least a resolution bump model in docked mode.

I know chasing specs is not normally Nintendo's thing but an OLED upgrade is chasing specs in a small way, just a shame they stopped there. I genuinely think people are hungry for a bit of a spec boost, especially as the Switch struggles already in achieving its billed 1080p with some games while maintaining a solid framerate.

[Glen-i]

Just now, Sheikah said:

Yeah I'm saying that it's a shame that is their business model as (judging by a lot of reactions) they would have satisfied a lot more people by having a Pro model, or at least a resolution bump model in docked mode.

I'm not convinced that's the case.

I bet that the affordable price (compared to other consoles) is one of the biggest selling points of the Switch.

If this is meant to be the eventual replacement for the standard of Switch, then making it way more expensive would be off-putting.

Nintendo have been pretty clear that they're the cheaper, more accessible option. Which is the main reason why I thought the whole 4K Switch Pro was unlikely.

[Sheikah]

I'm not convinced that's the case.

I bet that the affordable price (compared to other consoles) is one of the biggest selling points of the Switch.

If this is meant to be the eventual replacement for the standard of Switch, then making it way more expensive would be off-putting.

Nintendo have been pretty clear that they're the cheaper, more accessible option. Which is the main reason why I thought the whole 4K Switch Pro was unlikely.

They're not the cheaper, more accessible option though. If anything expensive for what you're actually getting. The Series S for instance is 60 quid cheaper than this. Combine that with Game Pass and that's clearly the cheapest option by a long shot.

 

Put it another way, the Switch has been out for over 4 years and instead of a price reduction we're being told the OLED model will cost £30 more. Sure it costs more than the base model to produce but you would expect these internal components cost Nintendo a lot less now, so they could replace the existing Switch with the OLED model at the same price if they wanted to.

 

If they really wanted to, they could probably have sold a system with slightly more powerful internals at this £310 price and turned a profit (perhaps without an OLED screen).

[Louise]

I am happy with the switch I have got, I do hope there do another Mario kart game 

[nekunando]

Preorder placed

If a PS5 and Series X can't do it for me, maybe a really minor upgrade to a console I've already owned more than 4 years already will be more my style..

[Ashley]

Apparently the cost to Nintendo to build this model is around $10 more than the standard one: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-14/nintendo-switch-s-big-price-hike-takes-gamers-into-new-territory

 

[Ike]

White model is up at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Switch-OLED-Model-Neon/dp/B098TVDYZ3/