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The story
Amid reports that Nintendo is considering a budget “Nintendo Switch 2 Lite” model, a new report suggests it will use Samsung’s new 8nm “8LPU+” process, cutting power consumption by 15% compared to the current chip. The Switch 2’s handheld-mode power draw has long been criticized for being as high as a home console’s, with short battery life cited as a persistent issue. On 5ch’s hardware/industry (“geha”) board, discussion quickly moved past how much power savings would actually materialize, instead splitting over how much a Lite model would cost — and whether Nintendo should even prioritize a handheld model over a dedicated home-console version.
Samsung’s improved 8nm process, “8LPU+,” set to launch within the year, may end up being used as the chip for the budget Nintendo Switch 2 Lite that’s been rumored since January. Since 8LPU+ cuts power consumption by 15% compared to its predecessor 8LPU, the Nintendo Switch 2 Lite is expected to get better battery life than the current Nintendo Switch 2.
Source: gazlog.jp / Original article here
What people said
Process node naming is pretty sloppy these days.
Samsung's "8nm" itself is really just a tweaked 10nm to begin with.
Yeah, it's possible.
Even on the same process, they keep refining it.
Later on, yields improve and costs drop,
more good chips come out of each batch,
and you start getting units that run cooler or tolerate higher clocks.
That's why low-heat and high-performance CPU/GPU variants tend to show up later in a product's life.
I've had enough of the rumors.
Apparently the Lite is launching around late 2027,
so factory leaks of the real unit probably won't surface until the second half of next year 🥺
Playing a demanding game online, it doesn't even last 2 hours.
True, but pretty much every handheld right now is about the same.
The ones with longer battery life end up way heavier than the Switch 2.
Just buy whatever power bank you like — problem solved.
It supports 4K, so just release a dedicated home-console version already.
Just leave your current Switch 2 docked permanently — that basically makes it home-console-only, no?
Architecture and process node are tied together, so jumping nodes while keeping the same architecture is a big hurdle.
Ampere at Samsung only comes in 8nm — moving to 7nm would require a whole separate redesign.
That's probably also one reason the PS5 Pro got so expensive — going from 6nm to 4nm wasn't easy either.
if they sold that for ¥39,800, I think it'd sell like crazy.
Trying to shrink the Switch 2 down would probably push the price up instead, and the dock's manufacturing cost isn't that significant anyway, so I don't think that works.
That's the ideal.
Realistically it's probably more like ¥50,000.
Basing your argument on illegal stuff, lol
Switch 2: $500 / ¥60,000 (¥70,000 for the multi-language version)
If you apply that same 1→2 price-increase ratio straight to the Lite:
Switch 1 Lite: $200 / ¥22,000
Switch 1 Lite: $333 / ¥40,000 (¥47,000 for the multi-language version)
Though honestly, there's already upward price pressure on the current standard Switch 2, so they probably can't release it at $333/¥40,000 anyway…
So by the time the Lite comes out, I could totally see the Switch 2 at ¥70,000 and the Lite at ¥60,000.
As big as Pokémon is, it's still only going to sell something like 10-20 million copies worldwide, right?
A lot of Pokémon buyers only ever buy Pokémon,
so if they don't also buy other software, that's a massive loss.
Not sure if any more Pokémon spin-offs come out, but maybe something like Animal Crossing could help.
Plus there's the next mainline Pokémon game, and the chance some of those buyers get hooked on online play — those are plus factors too.
So think of it as a flat price difference, not a ratio.
Switch went from ¥40,000 → ¥30,000,
so Switch 2 would go from ¥60,000 → ¥50,000.
Well, as long as the Switch 2 doesn't get hit with any more price hikes from here, that's probably about right.
Re: #46 was about the home-console-only version, not the Lite.
They could drop internal storage to 128GB
and add a regular SD slot for Switch 1 games/media
alongside the SD Express slot for Switch 2 games 🤔
That's why it ranks higher priority than a home-console-only model, which really only has "cheap" going for it.
Honestly, that's exactly why I want one.
The question is just how small they can actually make it…
Given the battery, it doesn't seem like they can shave off that much weight.
The battery drains fast, but charging while playing causes double the heat buildup and chews through the battery hard, so I don't want to do that.
Seriously, this.
Even some entry-level smartphones have that feature these days.
Heat dissipation is basically equivalent to power consumption.
The Switch 2 in handheld mode draws about 10W,
versus 7W for the original Switch and 4W for its revised model.
How much process improvements can cut that power draw is the key factor.
The Lite, on the other hand, is the worst option of all — "hard to make," "even harder to make cheap," and "incredibly hard to sell" (the Switch 1 Lite sold at a low ¥20,000 price point, but that same price just isn't repeatable with the Switch 2).
And to begin with, the mere existence of a Lite model already breaks the argument that "if it can't Switch between docked and handheld, it's not a Switch."
If a handheld-only model is allowed, then obviously a home-console-only model should be allowed too.
A home-console-only unit that skips expensive parts like the LCD screen, battery, and power/space-saving components would end up the cheapest option of all.
That was already proven by the VitaTV, which retailed at ¥10,000.
A home-console-only model only has "cheap" as a selling point.
The Lite, besides being cheap, also serves
people who find the standard model too big and heavy, plus second-unit demand —
and that gap alone gives it higher priority over a home-console-only model.
These days the biggest cost is memory and storage, so even going home-console-only won't cut the price as much as you'd think.
Back in the Vita's day, the LCD was the expensive part and memory was dirt cheap, which is why that old comparison doesn't hold up now.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
The core of this rumor is that process-node names don’t necessarily line up with actual cost or performance. As several posters pointed out, Samsung’s “8nm” is a different generation from TSMC’s “8nm” and is really positioned as a refined version of its 10nm generation, making it hard to judge the real gains in performance or power efficiency from the name alone. The thread also noted that the Switch 2’s handheld-mode power draw, at roughly 10W, is significantly higher than the original Switch’s 4-7W, and is seen as a factor behind the console’s larger size and heat-management needs. On pricing, some posters applied the roughly 1.8x price increase seen between the original Switch and the Switch 2 directly to a hypothetical Lite model, but since the current Switch 2 is itself already under upward price pressure, that simple math likely won’t hold up. Others pointed out that since memory and storage account for a large share of the unit’s cost, shrinking the device or improving power efficiency alone is unlikely to bring a major price cut.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board thread “Switch 2 Lite Getting a Power-Saving Improved 8nm?! Lower Power, Lower Price.”
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