A few hours ago, Nintendo officially unveiled the Switch 2. Expected for many months, with so many rumors and leaks, it was high time for the Japanese company to officially lift the veil on this new machine which is now scheduled for June 5, 2025 at a price of 469.99 euros for the console alone and 509.99 euros for the console in a pack with the game Mario Kart World (digital).
As rumors and leaks suggested, this Switch 2 will arrive quickly and its characteristics are divisive. While for many gamers, especially early Nintendo fans, this remains very convincing and in line with their expectations, for others, the first information on the console's technical specifications leaves them a little skeptical.
Indeed, Nintendo has remained rather vague on the matter, not revealing information about the console's CPU and GPU. And not specifying whether the 4K offered in docked mode will be Native or Upscale 4K. And not specifying whether 120FPS will be possible in portable and TV mode or only in docked TV mode.
With the information we have, what can we deduce from this? How does it compare to current machines? And where can we place / compare the Switch2? Let's take stock right away.
The Switch 2: a (still) complementary console?
When it was released in March 2017, the first Switch was already far from being at the level of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles that had just been released. On the other hand, the console could, without too much blushing, compete with the PS4 and Xbox One, which were only halfway through their lifespan. With its Octa-core processor (4xARM Cortex-A57 + 4xARM Cortex-A53) @ 1020 MHz, Nintendo's hybrid console, which allowed you to play in TV mode and portable mode, proved to be quite efficient.
Over the years, and especially with the arrival of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020, Nintendo's console has fallen behind, becoming the perfect console to own to play "on the side" when you go on a trip. Owning a PS5 and/or an Xbox Series X was the right plan for exclusive games and third-party publishers. And the Switch completed the experience with lighter games, great exclusives or games from third-party publishers that could follow us everywhere!
For the moment, it's difficult to know if the Switch 2 will follow this same path. The console seems to have some guts, although at the moment we don't have enough information to draw any real conclusions.
| Console | Switch 2 PS5 Pro 14.2857%;">Xbox Series Pro | |||||
| Release date | June 5, 2025 | November 7 2024 | November 19 2020 | November 10, 2020 | November 10, 2020 | November 10, 2016 |
| Introductory price | €469.99 | €799.99 | €499.99 | €499.99 | €299.99 | €399.99 |
| CPU | – | AMD Ryzen Zen 2: 8 cores at 3.5Ghz, possibility of going up to 3.85Ghz | 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz (variable) | 8-core @ 3.8GHz (3.66GHz with SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU | 8-core @ 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU | AMD Jaguar (8-core) 2.1GHz |
| GPU | – | 33.5 Tflops, AMD Radeon RDNA3: 60 Compute Units | 10.28 Tflops, 36 CUs at 2.3GHz | 12 TFLOPS, 52 CUs at 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU | Custom RDNA 2 GPU (TFlops unconfirmed) | AMD Radeon 911 MHz with 36 graphics cores (4.2 TFlops) |
| Storage Space | 256GB | 2TB Custom SSD | 1TB Custom SSD | 1TB Custom NVME SSD | 512GB NVME SSD | 1TB Custom HDD |
| Resolution | 4K (TV) / 1080p (Portable) | Up to 8K | Up to 8K | Up to 8K | Up to 2K | Up to 4K Upscaled |
| FPS | Up to 120 FPS | Up to 120 FPS | Up to 120 FPS | Up to 120 FPS | Up to 120 FPS | Up to 60 FPS |
| Backward Compatibility | Most Switch games | All PS4 Games | All PS4 Games | Yes | Yes | No |
| AI-assisted | N.C. | PSSR | No | No | No | No |
With the Switch2, it is currently unclear whether the console is seriously lagging behind the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. On paper, it is possible that the latter could have similar power to a 2016 PS4 Pro. Thanks to the magic of NVIDIA DLSS, it should provide a significant boost, but the question remains how far this magic can work.
Although we don't play a Nintendo console for its technical prowess, we have the right to wonder if the Switch2 will be able to keep up, even with its exclusive games, or if it will quickly run out of steam, like the first Switch in recent years.
For the moment, it is not yet possible to know if this Switch 2 seems to be heading towards the same use as its big sister, as a complementary console. The machine's line-up seems to show that Nintendo has greater ambitions and that the manufacturer wants to make its Switch 2 more "next-gen".
We can thus cite the upcoming arrivals of CyberPunk 2077, Elden Ring or even, soon, Borderlands 4 which shows that this Switch 2 seems to be able to fight. At least, at its launch. On the other hand, it remains quite difficult to imagine (or even impossible) to envisage a GTA 6 running on the Switch 2.
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