Nintendo beefs up Nintendo Switch battery life with improved model

Nintendo revealed an improved model of the Nintendo Switch Wednesday that includes a decent bump in battery life, allowing for 4.5 - 9 hours of play compared to the original model's 2.5 - 6.5 hour range.

The improved Nintendo Switch model is identical to the current standard Switch model except for its insides, so it doesn't have a fancy new name or anything like that. If anything, the new models will quietly phase out the old models, and most people won't even notice when they roll out in mid-August.

If you're in the market for a Switch or have cash to burn on a console with a slightly better battery life, you have to pay attention to the serial numbers on the boxes and consoles if you want the one with the best battery life. According to Nintendo's Switch product page, the new models' serial numbers start with "XKW" while the old models start with "XAW."

It's a subtle difference that wouldn't even be noticeable unless you were looking for it, but could mean the difference between playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for 3 hours versus 5.5 hours in handheld mode.

Nintendo also mentioned in a statement that the new consoles will have new packaging, but we don't know what that will look like yet.

This news comes one week after Nintendo revealed the handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite, which has a battery life range of 3 - 7 hours.

Before the Switch Lite was announced, Nintendo filed a Class II Permissive Change to the FCC for the Nintendo Switch, which is basically a request to change parts of the Switch without the need to establish it as a new product despite the differences. That filing included mentions of changes to the console's system-on-chip (which acts as both its graphics processor and CPU) and memory, but did not mention battery.

It's possible that these improved models revealed Wednesday also include improvements to these other pieces of hardware, which could mean faster loading times, less lag and buffering, and more storage space for software. Or maybe the only difference is the battery.

Nintendo declined to comment on these specifics when asked.