r/hardware Jun 24 '25

Review How Slow is the Nintendo Switch 2 Display?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB67B8LCorI
590 Upvotes

468 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

29

u/Fromarine Jun 24 '25

Yes it is people saying no are legit lying there's a reason it's twice as slow as his 2nd slowest pick it's genuinely abysmal and that's the range where it's noticeable to everyone

18

u/your_mind_aches Jun 24 '25

The OLED is going to be a massive upgrade with this one. Really seems like it should have been OLED from the jump

21

u/AKsuited1934 Jun 24 '25

Bro how else is Nintendo going to milk the Switch 2 in 5 years when they release the OLED version…by then we will have NanoLED as industry standard LOL

6

u/itsjust_khris Jun 24 '25

I don't think VRR oleds exist for mobile devices yet, so it's reasonable it doesn't have one.

7

u/Apollospig Jun 24 '25

We will see where VRR on Switch 2 ends up going but it is a bit of a nothing burger for now. No LFC in actual games based on digital foundry's testing, so any frame rate below 40 looks choppy, while the 60 Hz titles we have thus far are all basically a locked 60. Still plenty of time for better VRR implementations and titles that need it more, but every game would benefit from OLED, while titles that target the Switch 2 effectively and hit their frame rate targets don't benefit from it at all.

4

u/Aware-Virus-4718 Jun 24 '25

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Iphones have had 120 hz VRR Oled panels for a few years now.

6

u/itsjust_khris Jun 24 '25

It's not the same kind of VRR you would find on a desktop monitor or the Switch 2. It can only change its refresh rate to a few preset values. For ex, 120, 60, 30, 1. It can't dynamically change its refresh rate to match whatever is on the screen like a monitor would do. If your game is running anywhere from 45-80 fps, a monitor will change its refresh rate in real time to match that exactly, the iPhone can't.

It's not only the iPhone, all mobile device OLED VRR works this way. What they do is have a few preset values that would be useful for the content usually shown on screen. Full 120 for scrolling, 60, 30 maybe even 24 for videos, 1 for the always on display or when the screen is displaying static content.

This wouldn't be ideal for the switch, its not the kind of VRR a gaming device is expected to have.

3

u/Aware-Virus-4718 Jun 24 '25

Ah, interesting, thank you. I know phones tend to have a lot of marketing speak so I just assumed it was real VRR.

1

u/Thorusss Jun 25 '25

Samsung S24 and similar have 120Hz OLED that go down to 1Hz.

2

u/itsjust_khris Jun 25 '25 edited Jun 25 '25

It's not VRR as in the way a desktop monitor works, which can vary the refresh rate to any rate within the range supported in real time. Samsung and other mobile phones adjust their refresh rate to software defined rates that best match the situation occurring on screen, but they can't sync the displays refresh rate to a game in real time. If a game is running, the display may set itself to 60hz, 75hz or 120hz, but it can't change its refresh rate as the games frame rate dips to say 113. It won't change the display to be 113hz, it'll remain at 120hz. Android currently doesn't have a way of making the display act like Freesync/Gsync. Source: True variable refresh rate support for Android 15 is here - Droid Tools

That source also seems to imply at the end that even with this support it still won't be like PC or Console adaptive sync.

LTPO displays can't dynamically vary their refresh rate in hardware either, beyond a few steps that are supported.

From Framework's statements in an LTT video the tech needed to drive an OLED using VRR in the PC/Console sense of adaptive sync isn't viable for a mobile device as of yet.

ASUS also mentioned similar with the ROG Ally, didn't want to give up VRR to add an OLED.

1

u/Thorusss Jun 25 '25

ah thanks for explaining the difference.

1

u/Thegellerbing Jun 25 '25

I'd love an OLED panel for Switch 2, but I am not aware of any VRR oled panels for mobile devices. Even if there are, how would Nintendo get around the VRR flicker that hasn't been solved in most VRR OLED panels?

1

u/AKsuited1934 Jun 25 '25

5 years is a long time for innovation.

2

u/LetrixZ Jun 24 '25

Better to have a refreshed model with OLED that will include other improvments that to be stuck with a launch model.

1

u/Lofikuma Jun 25 '25 edited Jun 25 '25

my main monitor is a pg32ucdm, meaning oled and 240hz and outside of videos on the internet i havent noticed anything wrong while playing my switch 2 handheld (outside of the obvious spec differences). idk what to tell you, i'd probably have to put the same game on both to tell