Nintendo Switch 2's display is somehow worse than the original Switch

Recently, tech outlet Digital Foundry posted an in-depth review of the Nintendo Switch 2's hardware, which offered a deep dive into all aspects of Nintendo's latest console. Naturally, this included a closer look at the console's 7.9-inch LCD screen, which boasts a 1080p resolution, VRR support with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and wide color and HDR10 support.

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On paper, it sounds like a significant improvement over the original Nintendo Switch's smaller 720p display. And for the most part, it is, with better contrast, color accuracy, resolution, and refresh rate. However, as seen in the Digital Foundry video, the LCD screen's motion clarity and response times are significantly worse.

This is a pretty big issue as it means that fast-moving images on the display can look blurry with noticeable ghosting. The video includes side-by-side comparisons of both the original Switch and Switch 2 displays browsing through game libraries, and it's clear that the Switch 2 is blurrier with more visible ghosting. There's also a demonstration of Super Mario Sunshine with the same outcome.

It gets even worse, as Japanese outlet Chimolog has posted an in-depth review of the Nintendo Switch 2's display. The outlet found that it has the worst response times for any gaming display it has recently reviewed. The Switch 2's LCD response time of 17.06 ms at 60 Hz is significantly slower than several BenQ, Acer, Dell, and other gaming displays.

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Interestingly, the Switch 2's display shortcomings don't stop there. Both Digital Foundry and Chimolog's reviews point out that the overall brightness of the display isn't bright enough to deliver a great HDR experience, with the effect barely noticeable. Disappointing stuff. For those holding off on picking up a Switch 2 now in favor of waiting for an OLED model, that could be the way to go, as the response time on an OLED display would see the 17.06 ms drop down to under 1 ms.

On the plus side, the Chimolog review points out some of the Switch 2's impressive display features, including 99.4% DCI P3 color accuracy and a contrast ratio of 1309, which is a big step up from the original Switch.

Can the current Switch 2 display be improved? The Digital Foundry review says that a firmware update could introduce an overdrive mode, as seen in many gaming displays, to improve response times and motion clarity issues - however, this would come at the cost of battery life. Still, with both Digital Foundry and Chimilog concluding that the response times make it one of the worst LCD panels for gaming, here's hoping that some sort of update can improve things.