The Nintendo Switch has been a massive success, and Nintendo aims to emulate the same with its successor – the Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch is based on Nvidia’s Tegra X1 SoC, an ARM-based chipset which was already previously released for streaming devices such as the Nvidia Shield TV.
While AMD dominates the console market (as seen in the Xbox and PlayStation consoles), it has not managed to make an appearance on the Switch 2. This is to be expected for two major reasons – backwards compatibility and Nvidia-specific upscaling advantages.
AMD loses out to Nvidia for the Nintendo Switch 2 once again
Nintendo has chosen to go with Nvidia for the Switch 2, as per multiple recent reports. AMD has lost out to Nvidia yet again against Nintendo hardware, despite once partnering with Nintendo for a wide range of home consoles prior.
After all, AMD (or ATi, the GPU division at time) did power the Gamecube, Wii and Wii U before. With the launch of the Switch though, Nintendo wanted to try something different and went toward Nvidia instead, which paid off quite well for them.
For the uninitiated, the Switch is based on the aging Tegra X1 SoC, which is an incredibly efficient chip that offered reasonable levels of performance on release. Given its age (the SoC was already outdated when it was bundled with the Switch after all), Nintendo is planning to replace it with a successor – with a clear focus on backwards compatibility in mind.
It is perhaps for this very reason that AMD was never considered by Nintendo for the Switch 2. After all, switching to AMD would have required a complete change in architecture, which would have removed backwards compatibility with Switch 1 titles entirely. Backwards compatibility is something Nintendo has always prided itself upon, and this shift would not have sat well with its player base either.
Additionally, the next gen Nvidia Tegra SoC is rumored to bring with it DLSS support which should make for an even bigger advantage over AMD. After all, FSR is quite inferior when compared to DLSS – which uses hardware acceleration to approximate images better, resulting in a much finer image.
Coupled with the Tegra SoC’s amazing power efficiency the decision to stick with Nvidia seems like a no-brainer. FSR is a lot less efficient in comparison, requiring higher presets in order to achieve the same level of quality as DLSS.
Could RDNA 4 change the game?
AMD has been making some rapid progress though, especially when we take into consideration its upcoming RDNA 4 based GPUs and APUs. RDNA 4 is a major shift in AMD’s existing lineup, boasting more raw processing power and most importantly, better upscaling methods in the form of FSR 4.
FSR 4 could very well bridge the gap between FSR 3.1 and DLSS, given that it does utilize some form of hardware accelerated approximation. AMD is already a dominant force in the PC handheld market, with Intel barely scraping by – and Nvidia having 0 presence.
However, handheld PCs cover a tiny fraction of the entire handheld console market, and a lack of backwards compatibility with existing hardware means that AMD is never likely to grace Nintendo again – at least until they decide to make a non-hybrid home console once more.
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