It’s only the seventh day of the year and we already have some wild rumors about Nintendo circulating online, so grab some salt and read on.
Known data hacker and console SciresM would have discovered new details about the Switch ‘Pro’ model rumor by going through the firmware code – although it warns that these details could not to be fully accurate and there is also a bit of speculation.
In view of this, the revised system is apparently codenamed “Classroom” and uses a Mariko SoC. In addition, it is believed that it will support both docked and portable playback, support 4K in one way or another and could present an OLED screen. The Realtek chip can also be in the dock rather than in the system.
Here is the complete breakdown of SciresM, through ResetEra:
In fact, Nintendo is working on a new model with updated display elements and it has been about 1.5-2 years. I personally think it’s 4K, given the signs I see in the firmware, but this is not confirmed yet and could be wrong.
The new hardware is codenamed Aula, using a Mariko SoC. There are a lot of references to it in the code (the atmosphere supports the new display already in theory).
The tablet itself definitely has a modernized screen, I don’t know if it’s 4K.
The classroom has support for the firmware of a Realtek chip that is advertised as a “4K UHD multimedia SoC”, so I think it’s 4K. That chip could be inside a new dock, and not inside the tablet, however, there is no way to tell from the firmware code yet.
The classroom explicitly supports portable mode. It is not only docked; this is calcium, which seems to be for internal release only / never, because Calcio has no slot for playing cards and no battery.
You can check the display code of the sysmodule boot system if you are curious. The new display does not support pwm power management, it has its own vendor-specific versions that I had to reverse engineer and implement a month or two ago.
Mariko has a * substantially * better cooling and battery life. It is a death of good faith over the original generation.
My best guess (pure speculation, no firmware indications in this case) is that if they need extra performance, they will push it to higher clock rates everywhere.
But yes, I speculate that the games will be like the “improved DSi” games or how some PS4 Pro games benefited despite working on the PS4.
I checked my previous discussions with hexkyz, the display of the updated tablet is an OLED screen. It’s probably not a higher resolution on the tablet itself, so I think the 4k realtek chip is more likely to be a new dock than I thought.
Vanilla probably won’t.
We are in the realm of speculation. The classroom has a new GPIO that Redbox doesn’t have to do with this, so I’d temporarily assume that Redbox drives won’t support the new thing.
Rumors of Switch ‘Pro’ have been circulating for several years and a number of industry analysts are still confident that it will appear at some point this year. You can keep up with all the previous developments in our comprehensive guide.
What are your own thoughts on all this? Do you think it’s the real deal or is it as fake as that fake Nintendo Direct leak? Tell us in the comments below.