With the Switch 2 set to be unveiled at some point within the next 90 days, it stands to reason that Nintendo would need to finalize the hardware specifications for its next-generation device. This will, inevitably, result in patents being published, which is exactly what has happened recently. As spotted by Laura Kate Dale, noted industry pundit, a patent filed on December 31st, 2024, practically outright confirms that Nintendo’s next hybrid console will feature some form of Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology.
“Another new Nintendo patent published yesterday seems to yet again verify claims the Switch 2 will use DLSS style AI upscaling (Nvidia chip) to improve output resolution for games, rather than trying to natively run them at higher internal resolutions,” Dale writes. While DLSS is not mentioned by name in the patent, the Switch 2 will be built with Nvidia’s mobile technology. Since Nvidia has spent the better part of a decade refining DLSS on its RTX desktop GPUs, it wouldn’t make sense to create an entirely new upscaler for Nintendo’s platform.
Most of the patent goes into the legal side of things without much mention of how the Switch 2 will seemingly perform its upscaling. As Dale notes, though, there seem to be options for allowing users to run upscaling while in portable mode via a toggle. The console, presumably, runs with upscaling off by default in handheld mode to save on battery life, though the user can seemingly opt to turn it on at their discretion. Otherwise, upscaling is saved for cases when the Switch 2 has a constant battery connection, such as in docked mode.
Whether or not this winds up being true is anyone’s guess, but it’s been heavily rumored for years that the Switch successor would provide some form of upscaling. When the console was still being referred to as a “Switch Pro,” people were on board to claim that it would upscale to 4K. 4K still seems like it would be a pipe dream for the SOC that the Switch 2 will use, but you never know.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
