Nintendo may be building a cheaper way into the Switch 2 lineup, and the hardware behind it reportedly comes from Samsung rather than Nvidia's usual silicon.
According to a report from Android Headlines, which cites the Nintendo Patents Watch account on Bluesky via Notebookcheck, a rumored Switch 2 Lite console is in the works and is said to run on a Samsung chip built on an 8nm process node, referred to in the report as 8LPU+. Nintendo has made no announcement, so this remains a leak, not a confirmed plan.
The appeal of that chip, per the report, is cost. An 8nm process is older and cheaper to manufacture than the process used in the current Switch 2, which should in theory let Nintendo sell a Lite model at a lower price than the standard console. The report lists specific claimed gains over whatever baseline chip it's being compared against: a 12% performance boost, a 15% cut in power consumption, an 8% reduction in chip area, a 10% reduction in I/O area, and lower stand-by leakage. None of those figures have been verified against Nintendo's actual silicon, and the source does not specify what the comparison chip is.
Why the timing lines up
The report also points to a jump in Nintendo's R&D spending going back to March 2026, which it says tends to precede past hardware launches. That's circumstantial, not a confirmation, but it does fit a pattern: Nintendo's R&D budget has historically swelled in the run-up to a new console or a new variant hitting production lines.
It also lines up with the Switch 2's own timeline. The console launched roughly a year and a half ago, and Nintendo has a track record of following a flagship with a Lite version eventually, it took more than two years between the original Switch and the first Switch Lite. A Switch 2 Lite arriving on a similar runway wouldn't be out of character, though nothing here pins down an actual release window.
There's also no word yet on whether this rumored Lite model would keep detachable Joy-Con controllers, the larger screen Nintendo added for the Switch 2, or any of the other upgrades that set it apart from the original console. Past Lite hardware has typically stripped out the ability to dock to a TV and ditched detachable controllers in favor of a fixed, more compact body, and a cost-driven chip swap would fit that same playbook.
Pricing pressure may be part of the motivation here too. Nintendo raised the Switch 2's price to $499.99, and a cheaper Lite variant running on less expensive Samsung silicon would give the company a lower entry point without touching the flagship's price tag. Until Nintendo says anything officially, though, every detail in this chain, the chip, the specs, the existence of the device itself, stays a leak.
GDFiled by The Games Desk
Consoles, handhelds, PC gaming and the platforms and hardware behind them.
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