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Nintendo’s SECRET New Switch

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Nintendo just swapped the Switch’s guts and didn’t tell anyone.

No press release, no Direct, no fanfare — just a quietly updated box on store shelves. Tech YouTuber Austin Evans dug into the mid-cycle refresh Nintendo slipped into retail in August 2019, a revision that looks like the same console you already own but runs on completely different silicon underneath. It’s the kind of change that only surfaces because reviewers and teardown enthusiasts went looking for it.

• The revised unit carries a new model number, HAC-001(-01), stamped on the rear chassis, versus the original HAC-001, and ships in bright red retail packaging with serial numbers starting in “XK” instead of “XA”.
• Nintendo swapped the launch Tegra X1 chip for the more efficient 16-nanometer Tegra X1+ (codename “Icosa”), pushing battery life to roughly 4.5 to 9 hours of play, up from the original’s 2.5 to 6.5 hours.
• The new chip also patches the early bootROM-level exploits that hackers had used on launch units, while the 6.2-inch 720p LCD screen, kickstand, and dock all stay exactly the same.

Spotting the Difference on the Shelf

According to Evans, the easiest tell before you even open the box is the packaging color — Nintendo switched the retail carton to a brighter red for this revision. Flip the console over and the model number tells the rest of the story: HAC-001(-01) instead of the original HAC-001. Check the serial number and you’ll find it starts with “XK” rather than “XA,” a detail dedicated buyers and secondhand shoppers have started hunting for specifically because Nintendo never announced the change.

Core Internal Changes Explained

The headline swap is the processor. Nintendo replaced the original Nvidia Tegra X1 with the Tegra X1+, internally codenamed “Icosa,” built on a 16-nanometer manufacturing process rather than the older node. Evans noted that Nintendo made this move without touching the core performance profile gamers rely on — games run the same, docked or handheld, with the same battery capacity physically inside the unit.

Same battery, same screen, same dock — just a chip efficient enough to nearly double how long you can actually play on a charge.

That efficiency gain is the entire point of the revision. Battery life jumps from the launch model’s 2.5-to-6.5-hour range up to roughly 4.5 to 9 hours, depending on what you’re playing. For a console that lives half its life being played on a plane, a couch, or a commute, that’s a real, usable improvement Nintendo delivered without raising the price or announcing a new SKU.

No New Screen, No New Kickstand

This is where the early rumor mill got it wrong. Chatter before the refresh pointed to an OLED display and a redesigned kickstand, but neither materialized in this revision. The 6.2-inch 720p LCD panel, the kickstand, and the dock are untouched. The only other functional change bundled in with the new chip is the closing of the bootROM exploits that had made early Switch units a target for hardware hackers — a security patch riding along with the battery upgrade rather than a headline feature in its own right.

Nintendo has a long history of quiet hardware revisions dating back through its console lineage, and this one fits the pattern of a company that would rather let reviewers find the changes than market them outright. If you’re shopping for a Switch and want the longer battery life, the fix is simple: check the box for red packaging, flip the unit for the HAC-001(-01) stamp, or just ask the retailer to confirm the serial number starts with XK before you buy.