New Nintendo Switch May Have Dual Screens, Firmware Suggests
Is a Switch-3DS hybrid on the way?
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 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’s “nx-abcb” codename, and the “NX” abbreviation was itself the codename 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.
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Michelle Ehrhardt is an editor at Tom's Hardware. She's been following tech since her family got a Gateway running Windows 95, and is now on her third custom-built system. Her work has been published in publications like Paste, The Atlantic, and Kill Screen, just to name a few. She also holds a master's degree in game design from NYU.
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1_rick Has anyone seen anything beyond the bare assertion of "evidence of a secondary display"? I didn't see anything on Twitter.Reply