Patent suggests Nintendo Switch internals are held back in portable mode

With its official demonstration now under a month away, the Nintendo Switch rumors are dropping hard and fast. 

The most recent leak is a Nintendo patent which, though dense, offers a couple more interesting tidbits about the console. 

Chief amongst them, as outlined in this Medium post, is the fact that the console will limit the clockspeed of its internal CPU and GPU while in portable mode in order to preserve battery life. 

Powerful dock

This is consistent with previous rumors which suggested that the dock is able to increase the performance of the console, though by providing power and cooling rather than any additional processing power.

The prime rumored difference in performance between docked and portable modes is apparently resolution. The tablet itself has a resolution of 720p, while the console is able to output a full 1080p resolution when docked.

The patent reveals a couple of other interesting pieces of information about the tablet’s grips. They’ll apparently be equipped with an infrared camera for the purposes of motion-tracking, and reading the user’s pulse.

The patent also revealed that we might see the Switch equipped with a VR headset.

With the amount of leaks about the console, we’re hoping that Nintendo still has a few surprises up its sleeve by the time its January event rolls around.

• Check out everything we know about the Nintendo Switch release date, news and features.

December 16, 2016 at 05:01PM
Jon Porter