Nintendo Switch 2’s unique SoC is “unlike anything” Nvidia has ever made, claims CEO

The Nintendo Switch 2 is just days away, but Nintendo has played coy with a lot of the console’s actual specifications. While the internet’s digging has unleashed a bevvy of specs relating to the handheld’s custom Nvidia T239 SoC, both Nintendo and Nvidia have said very little about the chip at the heart of the device.

However, in a special Creator’s Voice video on the official Nintendo YouTube channel, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang explained that the hardware inside the new console is “unlike anything” the company has ever made before. After supplying the downclocked Tegra X1 chip for the original handheld, Nvidia’s work on its successor has been much more in-depth.

Nintendo Switch 2 is powerful enough for big cinematic games

In the video, Huang explained that the brief for the original Nintendo Switch was to create a “console powerful enough for big cinematic games, but small enough to take anywhere”. The CEO explained that this was the initial desire held by the sadly deceased former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Huang says that Nintendo and Nvidia wanted to “build a new console that takes the original vision further” with bespoke hardware designed exclusively for portable gaming. The CEO explained that the new custom chip is “unlike anything we’ve ever built before”, cramming DLSS, ray-tracing and high performance into a tiny handheld chip.

The Nvidia head also claimed that the new SoC at the heart of Nintendo’s quickly approaching handheld is a “technical marvel”. Not only is the console’s use of DLSS and ray-tracing impressive, but doing so while maintaining a high degree of backward compatibility is extremely impressive.

Nintendo has already explained that games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza were impossible to create on the original Switch. However, the third-party support for the new handheld is even more impressive.

Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy and more that were impossible on the last-gen handheld are not only playable on the new system, but some titles have better image quality than Xbox Series S. While Xbox’s cheap entry-level current-gen console still has a faster CPU for more 60fps experiences, Nintendo Switch 2 is still able to play ball.

However, there are some concerns that released titles are already too big for the new handheld. Ubisoft’s sole gameplay of the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws port for the new system already shows significant performance issues.

Nevertheless, the original Switch was filled with miracle ports of games like DOOM Eternal and The Witcher 3, and we fully expect the same to happen with its predecessor. With The Witcher 4 targeting 60fps on base PS5, could we see a 30fps version on Switch 2? It seems likely.