‘Sharp supplies igzo screen panel for new Nintendo Switch models’

Sharp supplies igzo panels for ‘new video game machines’ from Nintendo. That writes the Wall Street Journal on the basis of statements by a CEO of the Japanese producer Sharp. The new version of the Switch may therefore be more economical.

Katsuaki Nomura, a Sharp vice president, has indicated that his company will supply igzo panels to “a video game customer,” the WSJ writes. Nomura herself does not explicitly mention Nintendo; that’s a conclusion the WSJ draws, based in part on previous information. Nintendo declined to comment.

Nintendo will release a new Switch in September, which lasts longer on a single battery charge without increasing the battery capacity. The use of an energy-efficient IGZO panel could explain the longer battery life. The new version also gets an overhaul of the Tegra X1-soc, which is presumably more economical and different memory.

Nintendo will also release the Switch Lite in September, a smaller and cheaper version of the existing Switch that does not have a dock function. This model will be released on September 20. According to Nintendo, that model also has a longer battery life than the current version, but the improvement is less significant. This cheap version may not get an igzo panel. The screen is also smaller at 5.5 “.

Igzo, or indium gallium zinc oxide, is not a new panel type, but a semiconductor material that can be used as a thin film transistor in displays. Compared to the amorphous silicon usually used in screens, the electrons in the IGZO technology move faster through the material and the transistors can thus control smaller pixels. This leads to a higher pixel density and lower energy consumption and because the signal-to-noise ratio is better, according to Sharp, touches on a touchscreen are better recognized. The existing Switch is based on amorphous silicon as a semiconductor in the screens.

A disadvantage of the izgo technology, which is patented by the Japan Science and Technology Agency and licensed to Samsung and Sharp, is the fact that the material has to be applied to the backplane of a screen with lasers, which makes it relatively expensive in principle to to produce.