The time has come for Digital Foundry to deliver its verdict on the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware and overall they are impressed with the new system. However, there are naturally instances where they have been less impressed. The hardware is capable, but the screen is a contention point due to its blurring characteristics which are “easily worse than the 2017 Switch’s display.” They also take issue with VRR and HDR, though the console build quality is very good. In summary they close by saying that “this is the original Switch revised and refined into a generally more pleasing and more effective unit.”
“In terms of hardware design, we’re happy overall with Nintendo’s choices. Despite being significantly larger than Switch 1, the thinness of the handheld remains much the same, making it feel significantly less bulky than Steam Deck and other PC handhelds. Similarly, the bigger screen can make for a more immersive experience and colour reproduction is significantly improved over the original model. What’s also surprising – and highly appreciated – is the number of games that either run at native 1080p in handheld mode (like Mario Kart World, for example) or use DLSS to upscale to 1080p, delivering pleasing results.”
“However, the screen itself is problematic in a number of ways. Nintendo promised HDR, but an edge-lit LCD that barely tops out at 420 nits will never deliver anything like a decent high dynamic range experience with the signature HDR contrast and highlights almost completely absent in handheld play. Even more disappointing is motion quality: the Switch 2 LCD has blurring characteristics that are easily worse than the 2017 Switch’s display. Side by side with the Switch OLED panel, the key problems with Nintendo’s choice for Switch 2 come into sharp focus – it’s simply nowhere near as good.”
“There are clear problems with Switch 2’s VRR (variable refresh rate) functionality too. Now, in theory, we believe that there’s no reason why it should not work effectively. The Switch 2 Welcome Tour software includes a VRR showcase that demonstrates what we think is a 40-120Hz VRR window, but crucially it also reveals support for LFC – low frame-rate compensation – outside of that window. A fully featured VRR on Switch 2 is possible!”
“In summary, our thoughts on Switch 2 are generally positive. Screen apart, the hardware is well-built: the revised Joy Cons are an improvement, the larger form factor is not too onerous and the tiny quality of life improvements (such as little ‘feet’ on the bottom of the unit) are appreciated. This is the original Switch revised and refined into a generally more pleasing and more effective unit, delivering a proper generational upgrade with highly impressive efficiency. It comes to something when, screen apart, the biggest criticism I personally have concerns that limited length USB-C cables provided for the power supply and especially the camera. Thankfully, the USB-C cables are detachable and replaceable – but they should have been longer.”
Screen looks good to me. 🤷♂️
Yeah same
Same here. Looks as good as my PS Portal screen.
Yeah me too, I can’t understand what people keep complaining about it. Yeah you can’t do HDR the best with a 450-nit screen or less, but most of us are sitting there playing it in bed, and could you imagine having a 1000-nit screen in your face? I run the screen on about 40% brightness while the wife is playing tv, and I’m completely happy. Not to mention the charging port on the top, I can actually keep it charged while I’m playing now, and not destroy the battery. Sure there’s better screens out there, and slightly higher-end equipment, but this is good enough.
Your a fan girl yall will live the 1 repackaged
If the screen was OLED, they would ask why you didn’t reduce the cost by making it LCD.
Digital Foundry, Digital Foundry, Digital Foundry…
One day, people will realize they’re a bunch of hacks and stop giving them attention. It seems that today isn’t the day, however.
I’m not one of these people who hates Digital Foundry – they produce decent and interesting performance analysis on games and they have been useful to me many times. However, I know the areas they talk about which matter to me and which do not. For me, the Switch 2 screen is absolutely doing the job. And no way I would ever swap it for the OLED screen simply because the extra size is great.
I haven’t identified the “blurring characteristics”, I’m sure if I looked for them I would but I’m not deliberately observing graphical deficiencies when I play games, I’m playing the game and it’s when those deficiencies are overtly noticeable to me when they become a problem. They might be more sensitive to such stuff, so fair enough, but I think we know that the screen is going to be absolutely fine for 95% of the people using the console.
I think it was a fair criticizing and besides overall they still said it’s a great console, not everything is perfect and it could have been worse, at least we still haven’t heard anyone having drifting joycons which is a way bigger problem than the screen in my opinion
DF needs to get laid.
Lmao… you win!
Getting laid wind cure ppl, 😺 doesn’t cure illness let’s just state that there’s plenty of awful ppl that have and it didn’t magically make them good
DF… kindly go away.
Find a PC GPU to scrutinise or something.
You’re not needed here.
All you do is provide red meat for anyone who wants to sling sh!t at the Switch 2… And you know it.
Did any of you read this? They like the console. Are they wrong for saying it isn’t perfect and only saying they had a positive view of it?
I don’t give a f about their opinion. I have my own eyes and they tell me, Switch 2 screen is good. 🤷♂️
This comment section is filled with absolute shills. Time will soon show the disappointments of the switch 2 that many are already pointing out. I wanted the system before it was released and you do not see me glazing it just because it’s the switch 2. You people are embarrassing.
DF confirmed what I noticed about the switch 2. In comparison to my original switch, the switch 2 display feels like a step down. Colors are worse and the games seem blurrier. Glad I am not the only one who noticed.
I’m a bit confused of what you’re talking about about game seeming blurrier? I have a few other handhelds, including the Logitech G Cloud which has an absolutely drop dead gorgeous 1080p LED screen. Screen doesn’t look any better or any worse than that one. I’m very happy to have this as my machine for the next few years to play in bed. Now they’ll just keep the GameCube games coming.
There might be more than one panel being used and they got the bad one.
This would be ok on a IGN review, but not on Digital Foundry who are supposed to investigate things not do regular boring reviews of the free test unit they got.
It’s “blurrier” in that the screen has worse Motion Response times than the Switch 1 LCD or OLED displays.
Meaning the image holds on longer than it should, which in our vision comes across like there is a blur trail when objects on screen move.
Switch 2 is manufactured in two places, china and vietnam. Nintendo has also used more than one panel supplier in the past for their consoles, sometimes even mixing tn panels with ips panels as a lottery.
The real story is not the panel itself, but if it is the only panel they are using or not. And if not what is the split, factory provenience and odds of getting one or the other in each territory.
Remember USA is getting vietnam consoles because of the tarrifs. That might mean the rest of the world is getting china ones preferentially.
They should have supplied two consoles for this.
I think a lot of you let your bias cloud your perspective, honestly.
1000% Correct
Switch 2 screen looks awesome to me y’all keep hating it or not buying it cyber punk is a damn show piece
Everyone, their review was mostly really positive. Their main critique was the screen, and it’s true. Oled screens are much better, and LCD panels that aren’t side lit.
That doesn’t take away from how great the switch is, and that the screen is great and enjoyable for a lot of people. They are stating a fact about the screen tech that is used. Their review sounded really positive, but nothing is perfect. It isn’t a bad thing to note flaws where they exist. And noting flaws doesn’t mean the product is bad.
They gave it a really good review based on what the article said.
You people need to realise, that Digital Foundry is one of last groups, that gives genuine reviews not biased by nostalgia. That lcd panes is shit. Just compare it to display on 200€ phone. SWITCH 2 is fluffing 500€ (here in EU). I miss times where consoles were sold at loss. Only steamdeck and ps5 at launch were sold at loss.
Screen shouldn’t be OLED, it should be MiniLED.
Apple is introducing liquid glass because OLED burns under high contrast stuff and games always have HUDs and the like. Because of this weakness brightness is always severely limited in HDR on OLED, its not that it can’t go higher, it’s just that it’ll go to shit really fast if it does.
Also, motion in OLED also sucks in sub-60 fps scenarios which is why fake frames are all the rage now. Motion didn’t get worse, screens did, OLED specifically. Basically 30 fps content means 33 ms of air time for each frame. Regular screens will spend some of that time transitioning the pixels, which if it takes too much time we won’t like because it’s motion blur. But there’s a spot where it’s just right, our eyes don’t like 32 ms of a still frame and then 1ms transitions like OLED does, that’s like a presentation in powerpoint, just faster. Makes low framerate content, well, look like shit, way slower than we’re used to. And the issue is that we have a lot of content like that.
Current testing of screens treats immediate transitions as a goal because it was designed with LCD in mind, where that’s impossible. They’re ignoring that in practice some blur is necessary, either that or more frames.
It’s not good if Switch 2 has more motion blue than launch Switch, but we also don’t know yet if there’s more than one supplier, if it changes zone to zone and if their quotas are 50:50 or not. Not all switch 2 consoles are manufactured in the same place as well, so it’s very amateur to review it like this. Very ignorant, they would have to source one from china and vietnam and even then, leave a disclaimer that it might not be indicative.
But the worst is that switch 1 lasted 8 years before being replaced. I don’t trust OLED to last that long and still look good, and you shouldn’t either.
As for digital foundry… They know very little of anything for what they say to be of interest.
A bit of nonsense there… Nintendo only sold the Wii U at a loss and the 3DS after its price drop… Meanwhile, Sony was dangerously selling its PS3 at a loss, as well as Microsoft with its first Xbox… For your information, selling a product at a loss for a retailer (excluding the manufacturer, so here Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft) is illegal in the EU.
Love those motherf armchair-know-it-all here telling me, if I say the Switch 2 screen looks good to me, that I am wrong. 😆😆😆
Screen is awesome! Sonic mania looks incredible on this 8 inch screen! Idk what they’re talking about
Imagine a Nintendo fan telling anyone else they need to get laid.
And then that sigma 🤡 calling them hacks lol
Cry more nintendrones
I have only gamed on my switch 2 with the system docked. Undocked long enough to start the setup process (as the system can’t be docked during the first stages of setup) and then to put in my travel case to take it to another house. So, if the worst they can say is the screen and it’s higher refresh rate and more pixels might blur slightly more than OG switch when swinging the camera at unrealistic ways that most people won’t do anyway. Seems like nit picking, but I guess that’s what these nitwits do. It’s a step up in pretty much every metric and gives a boost to regular swtich games for faster loading and whatnot. It’s a fantastic upgrade over the original switch. Some marginal thing most people will never see… I think we’ll all live.