The Nintendo Switch 2 will be a big step up in terms of performance from the original switch, but that extra muscle appears to be at a cost.
During today’s Switch 2 Direct, there were many aspects of the upcoming console that made Nintendo feel a bit off.
One of them was priced, but I found that even though the game’s price was a bit reasonable $449 for the console itself.
Another big thing that Nintendo didn’t discuss much was the console’s battery life. They seem to have a good reason for this. That’s a shame and potentially even worse than the original switch, in around 2-6.5 hours.
More capacity, but shorter lifespan
According to the official Switch 2 specifications provided by Nintendo, the Switch 2 battery has a capacity of 5220 MAH from its predecessor’s 4310 MAH battery.
For reference, it’s more than the average latest smartphone. The iPhone 16 has a 3561 MAH battery. It is almost the same as a steam deck with a 5200 mAh cell.
However, the 2-6.5-hour estimate of the battery life of Nintendo Switch 2 is slightly worse than the estimates from the original model for the 2.5-6.5-hour switch. Meanwhile, the Switch Lite clocked in at 3-7 hours, and the revised Switch model in 2019 and subsequent OLED versions improved battery life to 4.5-9 hours.
Still, this battery life puts it in the ballpark of other handheld gaming devices. The Steam deck offers a 2-8 hour battery life estimate on LCD models, and slightly longer on OLED models and ASUS Rog Ally.
In any case, if you plan to play Switch 2 mainly in handheld or tabletop mode, you’re expected to spend a lot of time near the outlet so you can refill the battery, just like modern gaming handhelds. But hey, at least, unlike the original switch, you can actually charge this when in tabletop mode with the top USB-C port.
