The new Nintendo Switch Pro hasn’t yet been confirmed by Nintendo, but that didn’t stop the UDC from spilling the beans on their latest investors call. As noted by Steven V. Abramson, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director for the Universal Display Corporation, suggested that “Nintendo has selected an OLED screen for the new Switch Pro.”
As shared by Spawn Wave Media this week, the exact phrasing used by Abramson was, “And in the gaming market, there our reports are, for the first time, Nintendo has selected an OLED screen for the new Switch Pro due to OLED benefits of the higher contrast of faster response times.” The original Nintendo Switch works with a 6.2-inch LCD touchscreen display.
Releasing a Nintendo Switch Pro device with an OLED display would mean improved brightness, the potential for a higher refresh rate, and (as Abramson suggested), higher contrast (black to white). Abramson also went on to remind listeners that Samsung Display recently announced that it’ll “aggressively expand its OLED presence in the gaming, smartphone, and laptop markets.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that Nintendo will work with Samsung for an OLED display – but you never know!
If it’s clear that Nintendo’s chosen a display tech for this device (which, remember, they’ve not yet confirmed exists), it’s possible we’ll see the device released by the end of the year 2021. It’d be ideal for Nintendo to reveal and release the Nintendo Switch Pro by the holiday season 2021, but it would be exceedingly difficult to do so, given supply constraints already affecting the standard Nintendo Switch.
It will require some very fancy footwork with suppliers over the next few months if Nintendo actually intends on releasing a new piece of hardware by the end of the year. If supply is going down, a whole new demand for a new console might be too much to bear.