Teardown suggests Switch OLED docking station is 4K 60fps compatible and ‘future proof’

It has been suggested that the docking station that comes with the OLED Switch is capable of outputting 4K 60fps.

The claim comes from YouTuber Nintendo Prime, who managed to get their hands on a console ahead of its official release on Friday. Comparing the revised docking station with the original one, it was found that not only does the docking station itself have the required HDMI 2.0 controller for 4K output, but the cable it comes with is also 4K compatible.

For comparison, the HDMI controller inside the original docking station adheres to the older HDMI 1.4 standard, as does the cable it comes with and is not capable of 4K 60fps.

Nintendo Prime also points out that while there is an ARM-based chip on the dock’s motherboard, it does not have the power to convert a 1080p image to 4K, so any scaling should be handled by a more powerful Switch console.

These results might suggest that Nintendo essentially secured the dock’s sustainability ahead of another hardware iteration that could potentially introduce 4K 60fps. At the end of last month, 11 developers spoke anonymously to Bloomberg, saying they had 4K development kits and were creating games to achieve this resolution – a claim that was quickly and publicly denied by Nintendo.

Then, a day later, a patent was released that suggests Nintendo is working on its own scaling technology similar to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS).

All this naturally corresponds to the rumors that Nintendo is working on a “Switch Pro” system, a machine that insiders claim should be launched next year. Could it be that the OLED Switch is meant to be the Switch Pro, and the current global chip shortage has caused Nintendo to rethink its plans? Or maybe the company has always planned to release the OLED model as a way to refresh the “base” model of the console before the more powerful Pro variant hits the market?

Perhaps – and this is the least exciting theory of all – it’s just harder to get HDMI 1.4 cables and controllers these days, so Nintendo chose to use the HDMI versions. 2.0 most commonly available? Let us know your thoughts below.