A new Switch hardware change makes a bit leap and new Joy-Con colours

Overnight Nintendo announced that the Switch is getting a hardware revision, for the mainline model, that will significantly increase the battery on it, other changes, if any have not been made known yet. There is speculation that the changes are likely the same as mentioned in the recent FCC filing in the USA, but no-one knows for sure yet.

The new model will have a new serial number beginning, but the model number does not appear to change, here is the official word from Nintendo about the currently available one.

Model number: HAC-001(-01)

(product serial number begins with “XKW”)

Approximately 4.5 - 9 hours

*The battery life will depend on the games you play. For instance, the battery will last approximately 5.5 hours for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Now this is the new model

Model number: HAC-001

(product serial number starts with “XAW”)

Approx. 2.5 to 6.5 hours

*The battery life will depend on the games you play. For instance, the battery will last approximately 3 hours for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The fact that you can get double the gameplay in Breath of the Wild is insane, how it will fair on titles like the upcoming DOOM Eternal though, will be the real test. This model Switch will replace the current model and not impact the Lite, which was announced last week, with the phasing happening in September for most of the world, but that was not all they announced.

In addition to a Switch update, they announced three new Joy-Con colours, Blue, Neon Purple and Neon Orange. The new Blue colour is going to be paired with a Neon Yellow, which people might recognise from the ARMS set, whereas Neon Purple is getting paired with the Neon Orange, which sadly is not Spice Orange.

Both these sets are hitting on October 4 and will retail for the same price as the current sets of Joy-Con and you can order the Blue/Yellow here and the Purple/Orange here.