The Nintendo Switch has been a mind-boggling achievement, to such an extent that it has produced many clone gadgets from countless makers. Curiously, it would appear that the following Nintendo Switch clone might be coming from Qualcomm, maker of the chipsets found in most flagship Android gadgets.
Android Police announced recently that Qualcomm is wanting to release an Android-powered game console with a design like the Nintendo Switch. No pictures were published, yet the gadget allegedly has separable Joycon-style controllers on the left and right sides, which will be manufactured by an at present unknown “premium supplier in the controller space.”
The console is additionally expected to have video output support, a 6,000mAh battery, an SD card slot, 5G connectivity, and Qualcomm QuickCharge support.
The console will run Android 12 with an altered launcher and full support Google’s apps and services. Qualcomm is additionally supposedly in converses with Epic Games to incorporate the Epic Games application on the console, giving faster access to Fortnite and different games Epic may publish on its Android store later on.
In any case, Google supposedly pressured OnePlus into not pre-installing the Epic Games application a year ago, so Google probably won’t permit the application’s inclusion on a Qualcomm-made console.
The current launch target is Q1 2022 with a target price point set at $300, proposing a new 800-series Snapdragon chip is probably not going to be incorporated. There’s a lot of time left in 2021 for Qualcomm to report new potential chipsets, however.
We’ve had the option to autonomously affirm that Qualcomm has been dealing with a reference design for a Switch-like console, however we didn’t know whether it would end up as an item completely planned and sold by Qualcomm.
The reputed game console could wind up as the most encouraging Switch elective if Qualcomm at any point decides to release it. Most existing Nintendo Switch clones are either Android-based consoles from lesser-known makers (like the PowKiddy X2), or x86-based gadgets that run full Windows 10 (like the Vastking G800 or Alienware Concept UFO).
