Nintendo announced its newest Switch model in a very Nintendo-like manner, simply dropping the announcement with no pre-amble or warning – at least we know it’s coming, now! The Switch (OLED model), or Switch OLED as it’s already being called, looks fantastic.
It’s not the major upgrade some people were hoping for, with performance remaining on par with older Switch consoles. It does, though, bring a bigger and fancier screen to the table. Find out everything you need to know, including how to buy it, right here.
Switch OLED price and release date
The newest member of the Switch family will be available worldwide on 8 October 2021, although pre-orders are already available in a few places.
Due to the upgrades to its screen, the console is slightly more expensive than the standard Switch, at $349 or £310. That’s not the biggest price bump, so we’d say if you don’t have any sort of Switch yet it would definitely be worth picking up the new version.
How to buy the Switch OLED
Here’s the key – how can you buy the console?
Well, at the time of writing pre-orders have opened at a few retailers, including Game in the UK, where you can actually get your order in.
In the US things are a little less developed – at Best Buy and GameStop you can check out the console on their sites, but pre-orders haven’t opened yet.
In Australia, finally, the model is live at EB Games for a pre-order price of $539.
Switch OLED – what’s new?
- 7-inch OLED display with smaller bezels
- LAN port in dock
- Internal storage doubled to 64GB
Of course, you might need a refresher on what’s actually new about the Switch (OLED model) – although the clue is slightly in the name. Nintendo has a useful comparison between the Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED you can check out, but here are the key points.
Firstly, the screen has the biggest upgrade, going from a 6.2-inch LCD display to a 7-inch OLED panel. That’ll make for much more vivid colours and deeper blacks, and obviously a bit more space to enjoy your game’s visuals in.
Another change comes on the dock, where a new LAN port will open you up to more stable internet connections if desired. The on-board audio system on the OLED model have also apparently got a small upgrade to make for clearer sound quality.
Finally, the amount of storage has doubled from 32GB to 64GB to make it a lot easier to get some games onto your Switch without immediately needing to order a microSD card to get more space.
This all comes with the barest, tiny change to the overall size of the console, which has got 0.1 inches longer, while staying the same height and thickness as the normal Switch, which should mean that most accessories and cases will fit it unless they were really tight on the original model. It’s also about 20g heavier.
The OLED version does have another change, though, in the form of a wider, sturdier flip stand to make it easier to play the Switch on a table.
Switch OLED – what’s the same?
- Identical resolution outputs
- Same graphical capabilities
- Battery life unchanged
If that doesn’t sound like the biggest list of changes, you’re not going crazy – a lot has remained the same on the Switch OLED, too.
The battery life is identical at between four and a half and nine hours depending on the game you’re playing.
More importantly, the graphical capabilities of the system haven’t changed at all, and that’s also true for its output resolutions. You’ll still get 720p in handheld mode, and 1080p in docked mode on a TV. There was a longstanding assumption that any new Switch model would have 4K options, but we know that isn’t true, now.
This means all the same games will work on both the older Switch and the OLED model with the same performance – you’ll just be able to see it a bit better in handheld mode on the newer model, in effect.
