Microsoft’s Xbox Series S may not be long for this world as new Nintendo Switch 2 specs leaks detail an incredibly powerful handheld on par with Xbox’s budget-focused gaming device.
Fresh leaks of the Nintendo Switch 2 specs reveal a console with 12GB of RAM, 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage alongside 42 Tensor Cores and 12 ray-tracing cores, thanks to its new Nvidia SoC. On paper, it’s still not technically as powerful as Microsoft’s smaller Xbox, but with its Nvidia features, it’s the Series S’ biggest threat.
With the arrival of Nvidia’s Tensor Cores and ray-tracing hardware, these Nintendo Switch 2 specs confirm previous reports of Switch 2 DLSS support. DLSS support will allow developers to internally render games at a lower resolution and output them on your TV at a higher resolution.
This is the Nintendo Switch 2’s secret weapon against the Xbox Series S. Without any internal Nvidia hardware, the Series S is limited to AMD’s much worse FSR technology to increase game resolution. Due to its lower power, many Series S games look rough, blurry and even aliased on a big TV.
With DLSS, the Nintendo Switch 2 has the potential to display games in a higher resolution compared to the Series S. While it may not have the same texture quality or even model quality, games will look cleaner while also allowing you to take those same games anywhere you want due to its portable nature.
While it is underpowered, the current Switch tablet was already a marvel of Nintendo engineering, but its successor is apparently going to go above and beyond. Approximately 12 times more powerful than the Wii U, Nintendo’s last home-only console, the Nintendo Switch 2 is a surprisingly powerful beast.
Of course, Nintendo’s consoles offer a very different vibe compared to Xbox, one that’s more family friendly in nature. However, with the new Nintendo console not falling too far behind the entry-level Xbox, a large number of third-party games targeting Microsoft’s box may also make their way over to Switch.
We’ve already seen massive support for the original Switch with impossible ports like The Witcher 3 and Wolfenstein 2 bringing games designed for more powerful systems to the dinky tablet. However, with the arrival of tech like DLSS and ray-tracing, these “impossible ports” will be far more possible.
But with Switch 2 likely capable of playing a larger percentage of modern games, has the purpose of Xbox Series S already disappeared? While an Xbox Series portable is allegedly in the works at Microsoft, a surprisingly powerful Switch may have already swept the wind out of its sails.