The Nintendo Switch will be getting a screen upgrade, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Nintendo previously announced a cheaper, smaller Switch in the form of the Switch Lite. The inbound device will feature new hardware, as well as improved battery life among other things.
This more portable Switch is due for launch on September 20. But, in the meantime, the regular console could be getting an upgrade that should qualm the complaints. If you already own a Nintendo Switch, you're probably unimpressed by your display. Future customers, though, should be pleased to find that their consoles are more pleasant to watch given that, according to WSJ's report, they will be fitted with IGZO screens.
IGZO (Indium gallium zinc oxide) is an artificially made transparent oxide produced by electronics maker Sharp - or at least successfully mass-produced. If the report is to be believed, the product will be supplied to Nintendo for use in future Switch models and should help improve the device's power efficiency as it requires smaller transistors.
The semiconductor has better transparency than silicon-based screens, plus there is less of a need for brighter backlighting, while the cloudiness that sometimes shows up on the Switch's screen could be eliminated.
IGZO displays are said to suffer from "less noise" than other forms of screen technology and Sharp says it's more sensitive to the touch because of this. As a downside, the breakthrough screen tech can't match the color range or contrast ratios from OLED displays. The latter is mostly found on high-end cell phones like the iPhone XS and the Galaxy S10, but it was used by Sony for the PS Vita.
In spite of this, if true, future Switch models could come with screens boasting brighter, richer colors and heightened sensitivity.
Nintendo claims that the Switch Lite will be the only new Switch that drops in 2019's remaining months, yet Sharp's IGZO displays could be part of future versions of the console.