In this handout image provided by Nintendo of America, Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co. Ltd., gives the keynote address at the Game Developers Conference. (Photo : Kim White/Nintendo of America via Getty Images)
Nintendo is expected to reveal more details in January about its upcoming Switch video game console. After much speculation on its hardware capabilities, attention is now focused on the video display aspect. One rumor suggests that the device will have a different resolution while on-the-go and when it is docked on its base station.
Rumor has it that while in portable mode, the device will only offer up to 720p resolution, primarily to save power. However, once connected to its docking port, which, in turn, will be connected to a bigger screen, the console will increase the resolution to 1080p and even 4K resolutions, according to a Twitter post by Emily Rogers, described as a Nintendo insider.
"Nah. Portable mode is 720p to conserve battery life. Console mode upscales to higher resolutions (1080p, 4k)," Rogers tweeted.
Additionally, Rogers was responding to a series of posts by Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki, who claims that his source is Ace Research Institute analyst Ace Yasuda. Yasuda reportedly said that the console will have 1080p and WQHD resolutions and not 720p and 1080p that many insiders were previously suggesting. The analyst also added that no VR functionality will arrive and the patent that was uncovered was just for filing purposes, WCCFTech reported.
Mochizuki also tweeted that the Nintendo Switch will use DisplayPort over USB-C, and its internal bus speed will be around 5 Gb per second, which is faster than the 128 Mb per second speed of the Nintendo 3DS.
Several reports suggest that even if Yasuda is a reliable source, many still prefer Rogers as a safer bet because she seems to be connected to a person working in Nintendo as well as to developers.
Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch's GPU is speculated to have a speed of around 307.2 Mhz when in portable mode and could be twice as fast, at 768 MHz, when connected to its docking station. Eurogamer points out that this is faster than what the Nintendo Wii U could achieve but will still lag far behind the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The Nintendo Switch will take centerstage in a big presentation in January next year, where all its technical specifications will be unveiled as well as its retail price.
