Happy Nintendo Switch 2 launch day to all who celebrate! While I wouldn't swap my rig for anything, I do just so happen to be watching my tracking information like a hawk while I wait for the postie today. So, despite my better judgement, I'll be saying 'um, actually' to another thing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said in the meantime.
The Switch 2 features a "custom processor made by Nvidia" according to the official tech specs, so Huang recently spoke about Nintendo and Nvidia's collaborative relationship in a recent Nintendo Creator’s Voice Special Edition. During this victory lap video, Jensen claims the Switch 2's custom Nvidia processor offers "the most advanced graphics ever in a mobile device"—conveniently forgetting that gaming laptops are also a thing and they're pretty mobile, too.
Nvidia has also said in the past that the Switch 2 chip represents "1,000 engineer-years of effort across every element," and features, "an Nvidia GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for [[link]] stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements."
The capabilities Huang does go on to list in the aforementioned promotional video are also impressive for a handheld console costing less than $500, and to be totally fair to the Switch 2, I never thought I'd see either "full hardware ray-tracing" or Cyberpunk 2077 on a Nintendo console. Still, it's wild to position the Switch 2 as a pint-sized powerhouse that puts all other mobile devices to shame.
For instance, our Dave took a deep dive into Nvidia's own RTX 5090 mobile processor back in March. With RTX 50-series laptops coming in hot, I'm finding it hard to believe the Switch 2 will leave all of that hardware in the dust.
To be very clear, I'm not at all trying to imply the comment that the Switch 2 possesses "the most [[link]] advanced graphics ever in a mobile device" is a genuine mistake on Huang's part. When I offer an 'um, actually' in response to something said by Jensen Huang, it's only to gently encourage the thought that perhaps one shouldn't take the words of a company's CEO 100% at face value.
