Nvidia is planning to stop production of the Tegra X1 SoC that is powering Nintendo Switch and Nvidia Shield, according to Gamereactor. Are new Switch and Shield devices coming soon?
Nvidia inside
Bloomberg is claiming that Nintendo is planning to introduce an upgraded 4K-capable 'Switch Pro' game console later this year. Gamereactor has chimed in, claiming that Nvidia is planning to stop production of the SoC in the current Switch consoles.
- "Both, the regular model and the smaller and cheaper Switch Lite feature the latest version of the Nvidia Tegra X1 Mariko. The source told Gamereactor that Nvidia plans to stop producing the processor in 2021, but did not elaborate further on what comes next or what may happen with the current versions of the hardware," the report said.
Nvidia's Tegra X1 'Mariko' SoC also powers the Nvidia Shield (2019) streaming box.
If true, this would suggest that the current versions of Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, and Nvidia Shield will be discontinued in the near future. An upgraded Switch console is almost a given but what about the Nvidia Shield?
Nvidia Shield and Nintendo Switch are both powered by Nvidia's Tegra X1 SoC
New Nvidia Shield in 2021 or 2022?
Nvidia Shield was last upgraded in late 2019 but the hardware remained largely unchanged compared to the 2017 and 2015 versions.
A more powerful Nvidia SoC could make Shield more capable as a gaming device and enable features like AV1 video decoding and HDMI 2.1.
Also read: Google, Netflix & YouTube to require AV1 video decoding support
Nvidia has previously announced more capable Tegra X2, Tegra 'Xavier', and Tegra 'Orin' SoCs (see Wikipedia) but it is unclear if any of those are intended for upcoming game consoles or streaming boxes.
- Source: Gamereactor, Bloomberg
