In a surprising move, one of Sharp’s top executives revealed that the company will supply its IGZO displays to Nintendo. Usage of IGZO screens promises to reduce power consumption of Nintendo’s game consoles, though it is unclear which model will get a new type of LCD first.

Katsuaki Nomura, an executive vice president of Sharp, told the Wall Street Journal that the company would supply its IGZO displays to Nintendo. The exec did not disclose specifications of the panel or which of Nintendo’s consoles will get IGZO displays first.

The game console maker is about to release a handheld-only version of its Switch game console as well as a new version of the fully-fledged Switch. Both new devices could benefit of Sharp’s IGZO displays because of their lower power consumption and potentially higher image quality, but it remains to be seen whether Nintendo decides to shift both of its upcoming game consoles to a new type of LCDs.

The upcoming versions of Nintendo’s Switch promise considerably longer battery life when compared to existing Switch consoles while using similar batteries. One of the key reasons why the new units feature lower power consumption is believed to be a new SoC from NVIDIA.

Sharp and Nintendo have a long history of working together as the former designed auto stereoscopic display for the latter's 3DS console.

Related Reading:

Source: Wall Street Journal

Comments Locked

25 Comments

View All Comments

  • dropme - Friday, August 9, 2019 - link

    No, I'm not kidding. I was just stating facts and you're being emotional. Nintendo's new Switch equipped with another LCD panel has NOTHING to do with the current dispute between the two countries.

    Look, you can have your paranoia thinking all day long but don't expect someone to empathize with it. What's your problem?
  • Samus - Thursday, August 8, 2019 - link

    Like everything, Nintendo builds these things down to a price. They don't push cutting edge shit, they never have.

    Even the Sega Genesis which came out years before the Super Nintendo was technically superior in a few key areas, specifically clock speed and synthesizer. A few years ago, the Star Fox engine was PORTED to the Sega Genesis to demonstrate the 68000 was actually capable of doing what the SNES Ricoh + MARIO\FX chip did.

    The only cutting edge console Nintendo has ever produced was the N64. Everything else was built using off-the-shelf tried and true processors using standardized components, keeping things cheap and accessible and keeping Nintendo insanely profitable, at one time the most profitable company in Japan.

    So don't expect anything high tech in the Switch. It actually makes perfect sense it's getting a panel based on technology from 2012.
  • 0siris - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link

    If the pixel response times on these IGZO panels are anything like the ones I've seen on laptops recently, I can't imagine how they're suitable for a game console.
  • nathanddrews - Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - link

    Does it really matter at 22fps?
  • sheh - Thursday, August 8, 2019 - link

    "In a surprising move... Sharp ... will supply ... to Nintendo."

    "...Sharp and Nintendo have a long history of working together"

    Where's the surprise?

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now