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another NEW Switch

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Nintendo just quietly upgraded the Switch you already own — without calling it a Pro.

A week after unveiling the handheld-only Switch Lite, Nintendo dropped a second surprise on July 17, 2019: a stealth hardware revision of the standard Switch console, model number HAC-001(-01). YouTuber Kevin Kenson broke down the update in his video “another NEW Switch,” picking apart whether this counts as the long-rumored “Switch Pro” or something far more modest.

• The revised Switch stretches estimated battery life from 2.5–6.5 hours on the original unit to 4.5–9.0 hours on a single charge.
• Nintendo says The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild now runs roughly 5.5 hours on the new hardware, up from about 3 hours on the launch console.
• The gain comes from a die-shrunk “Mariko” version of Nvidia’s Tegra X1 chip and more efficient LPDDR4X memory — not a bigger battery, and not a graphics boost.

Internal Hardware Revisions Explained

Recent FCC filings and teardown analysis pointed to the real story before Nintendo even confirmed it: this isn’t a new battery cell, it’s a smarter chip. The updated system-on-a-chip is a die-shrunk revision of the same Tegra X1 processor Nvidia built for the original Switch back in 2017, paired with LPDDR4X memory that draws noticeably less power than the original RAM. Together, those two changes are what stretch a charge from a 2.5-to-6.5-hour range up to 4.5 to 9.0 hours, depending on the game.

Nintendo backed that up with a real-world benchmark, noting that Breath of the Wild — long used as the company’s go-to stress test for battery drain — now runs about 5.5 hours on the new hardware compared to roughly 3 hours on a launch-day unit. That’s close to double the runtime on one of the system’s most demanding titles, without touching resolution or frame rate.

No Pro, No 4K, No New Price

Kenson’s video zeroes in on what didn’t change, which is the entire point. Nintendo made no claims about improved graphical horsepower, no docked 4K output, and none of the features fans had pegged for a rumored “Switch Pro.” The console keeps the same $299.99 MSRP and the same form factor — same screen, same Joy-Cons, same dock. This is an efficiency revision, not a performance one.

Nintendo made no claims of increased graphical performance, 4K rendering, or new features commonly speculated for a high-end “Switch Pro.”

That distinction matters for anyone stacking their library for the fall — whether it’s grinding through Pokémon on a long commute or burning hours in Minecraft away from an outlet. More battery, same chip performance, same price tag.

Identifying Retail Product Packaging

Since Nintendo isn’t marketing this as a new model with a new name, the only way to tell units apart at retail is the fine print. The revised console ships in packaging with an all-red front background, versus the original box art. Serial numbers on the new units start with “XKW,” replacing the original “XAW” prefix, and the model code on the box reads HAC-001(-01) instead of the launch HAC-001. Store shipments were slated to begin in mid-August 2019, meaning shoppers grabbing a Switch off the shelf that summer had a real chance of getting either version without any marketing to flag the difference.

Kenson’s take lines up with what the FCC paperwork already suggested: Nintendo swapped in the Mariko chip purely to buy back battery life, not to chase the “Pro” spec sheet the internet had been drafting for over a year. Anyone chasing that hardware jump is still waiting — the new HAC-001(-01) just makes the wait a little more comfortable on a plane.