The Nintendo Switch’s 10.0.0 firmware update seems to be hiding information on a potential new Switch model featuring dual-screens, according to Twitter user and self-confessed “reverse engineer and infosec enthusiast” Mike Heskin.
Earlier this week, Nintendo released the Switch’s latest firmware update, version 10.0.0, to the public, adding accessibility features, like full button remapping (opens in new tab) to the device. However, according to Heskin, a vulnerability researcher based in London, the update also hid “preliminary support” for a new model of Switch currently codenamed “nx-abcd.”
Firmware 10.0.0 adds preliminary support for a new hardware model: "nx-abcd".3 of the 5 new DRAM profiles are for this new hardware type and there's evidence of a secondary display of sorts being added exclusively on this model. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)April 14, 2020
In his tweet about the discovery, Heskin added that “3 of the 5 DRAM profiles are for this new hardware type” and that “there’s evidence of a secondary display of sorts being added exclusively on this model.”
That’s all the information we have for now; however, it does fit with previous Switch reveals. The “nx-abcd” codename follows the Nintendo Switch Lite (opens in new tab)’s “nx-abcb” codename, and the “NX” abbreviation was itself the codename (opens in new tab) for the original Switch model.
Whether this indicates a clamshell like design or something more akin to the Wii U and its gamepad, we will have to wait to see. However, given that the codename was found on current Switch firmware, any new models are unlikely to be full-fledged new game consoles (opens in new tab).
