Thread by @hexkyz

Now that the first Mariko based Switch has finally been announced, I believe it's a good time to provide some insight on what has been going on inside the Switch's HOS regarding new hardware.

I've talked about it before and I've been adding RE'd information to the switchbrew wiki for quite some time. Some folks actually noticed and were able to connect the dots as seen in a recent @digitalfoundry video, but there's quite a bit more to this story.

Since firmware 5.0.0, one of the Switch's system modules (PCV) has been crucial in providing insight on future hardware. This is what we know for sure:
- Three hardware lines: one for Erista/T210 units (Original Switch), two for Mariko/T210B01/T214 units (Lite and "New" Switch);

- Original T210 units were called: Icosa (retail), Copper (SDEV) and Hoag (EDEV);
- New T214 units are called: Iowa (retail), Hoag (EDEV) and Calcio (unknown);

- Original T210 hardware line had 2 form factors: nx-abca2 (retail and EDEV) and nx-abcb (SDEV);
- New T214 hardware line has 3 form factors: nx-abca2, nx-abcb and nx-abcc (these 3 forms exist for *both* Lite and "New");

- Original T210 hardware has 4GB (retail) or 6GB (dev) LPDDR4 DRAM;
- New T214 hardware has 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4x DRAM with planned support for 10nm chips;

- Original T210 hardware used the GM20B GPU;
- New T214 hardware uses the GM20B_B (internal name) GPU;
- Original T210 hardware used the MAX77621 PMIC (for CPU and GPU);
- New T214 hardware uses the MAX77812 PMIC (for CPU, GPU and DRAM).

So, we've known for a while that two Mariko units have been planned, one being the recently announced Switch Lite and the other being an upgrade to the already existing Switch (which has been further corroborated by a recent FCC filling for the HAC-001-01).

Both Lite and "New" (real name remains unknown) have the same T214 SoC (which backports security mechanisms from more modern SoCs) and both use LPDDR4x DRAM (which grants a small battery longevity boost due to the lower voltages required).

While Switch Lite features a smaller display and non-detachable joycons, the "New" model appears to be exactly the same as the current Switch. However, the GM20B_B GPU in the "New" Switch is clocked at higher values, potentially giving a modest performance boost.

New eMMC sizes are also possible and it's speculated that "Calcio" units may serve this purpose. It is unclear if the main "Iowa" units will ship with larger eMMC capacity and "Calcio" units will pack a smaller capacity chip or if it's the other way around.

Finally, there's absolutely no evidence of an actual "Pro" version. At least not in the sense that it would be based off of the Tegra X2 or have massive performance and/or memory improvements.