DF Weekly: the Switch 2 hardware leak is almost certainly real – so what have we learned?

The anticipation for the Nintendo Switch 2 – or whatever it ends up being called – is reaching levels of mania I didn’t quite anticipate, but a major leak last week of what appear to be prototype components gives us our first hard evidence of what form the machine may actually take, while hinting at the components within.

So, what have we got? Essentially, there are a number of factors to consider. First of all, there has been the relentless and quite remarkable pursuit of Switch 2 facts and rumours from the members of the Famiboard forums, who have chased down every leak and compiled a compelling and almost complete specification. Thanks to tracking shipping manifests out of Taiwan, they have discovered a lot about the technical make-up of Nintendo’s next generation hardware right down to the component level. It’s because of this information that it can be determined that the leak last week is genuine – or at least as accurate as an old prototype dating from October 2023 can be.

The eight-inch LCD. The larger form factor. The new Joycons connecting via magnetic rails. At this point we can assume it’s all true. Following up on the leak came a very interesting video from Xiao Ning Zi, who appears to have had access to the same CAD modelling info as last week’s leaker and has gone on to print out a model, which the channel has then compared to the OLED model, showing how substantially larger it is. The channel also makes performance claims, but much of this is not backed up by any visible sourcing – and I note several clips from the video that come from my own T239 video from earlier in the year.

0:00:00 Introduction0:01:08 News 1: Switch 2 hardware revealed in apparent leak0:23:07 News 2: Dragon’s Dogma 2 patch boosts PC performance0:33:04 News 3: Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster tested0:44:34 News 4: RDNA 4 skips high-end GPUs, FSR 4 to be AI-based1:00:40 News 5: Intel, AMD battled over PS6 contract1:07:32 News 6: Horizon, Days Gone remasters rumoured1:17:50 News 7: John gets a Virtual Boy!1:27:12 Supporter Q1: How does Sony deliver consistently good PC ports?1:32:51 Supporter Q2: What do you make of Nintendo suing for Palworld’s alleged patent violations?1:38:25 Supporter Q3: Would you expect to see a big difference between FSR 2 and PSSR on Pro titles? Is ML-based upscaling powerful enough to keep console prices low?1:43:59 Supporter Q4: What benefits will PS5 Pro bring to the PlayStation Portal?1:46:24 Supporter Q5: Will PS5 Pro titles bring back-compat boosts for PS6?1:49:28 Supporter Q6: How likely is a 40fps PS5 Pro mode for GTA 6?1:53:57 Supporter Q7: Why has Respawn failed to fix fundamental issues in Jedi: Survivor on PC?1:59:44 Supporter Q8: Why isn’t there an Ernest-based game?

Here’s what else we can confirm at this point, based on the prototype leak, at least. Switch 2 has twin USB-C ports top and bottom (Xiao Ning Zi suggests the top one may be for peripherals including an external camera, while our own John Linneman suggests a use-case for charging while in table-top play). It’ll also have a Micro-SD card slot – and we’d hope it supports the latest and greatest formats to allow for bandwidth-heavy games to run. Otherwise you’re reliant on the 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage contained therein. Cartridges are supported too, with strong hints that original Switch media is also supported.